Woman Was Injured in Van Accident, Then Vehicle Was Towed with Her Inside. Soon After, She Died: Complaint

When a drunk driver crashed into a minivan in San Diego in 2023, a tow truck came to pick up the van.

The tow truck driver had no idea that Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was inside the Honda Odyssey minivan, where the woman — who was experiencing homelessness — had been living.

A month later, Cameroni De Adams was found dead inside the minivan in the impound lot where the vehicle had been towed, police said, Live 5 News reports.

Now, her family has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the city for failing to notice she was inside the van, allegedly “entombing her in her car,” her family’s lawyer said, Live 5 News reports.

“Her death was proximately caused by leaving her alone, struggling with her injuries inside of her car, entombing her in her car, taking her car to the tow yard and leaving her there to die,” the family’s attorney, John Carpenter, said, Live 5 News reports.

The drunk driver, Jordan Lopez, 24, crashed into two vehicles on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2023, police said, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

On Wednesday, March 19, 2025, Lopez was sentenced to probation with a six-year prison sentence suspended for five years after pleading guilty to DUI causing injury and having a blood-alcohol content of over 0.15%, the Union-Tribune reports.

The minivan and the other car Lopez struck were taken to an impound lot.

De Adams was still in the minivan when it was towed, having been sleeping in the middle row when Lopez crashed into it, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Her body was found after an employee noticed a smell coming from the minivan, the lawsuit claims.

“In our assessment, she died some time after impact and probably perished in the tow yard,” said Carpenter, according to the LA Times. “The officers and the tow truck operators failed to take any kind of inventory, or to see if there was a live person inside.”

According to a collision report in the lawsuit, the van’s side door was allegedly pushed into the middle row where De Adams was sleeping, according to the LA Times.

As a result, De Adams “sustained severe but survivable blunt force injuries from the collision that required medical attention,” Carpenter said, according to the LA Times.

She was found “wedged under miscellaneous items in the vehicle’s middle row,” according to the lawsuit, the LA Times reports.

She suffered fractures to her ribs, spine and arm. The cause of her injuries was most likely blunt force trauma, the report states.

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“The most basic review of a vehicle should include checking for occupants,” Carpenter said in a statement. “Instead, they towed the van away, essentially burying Monica alive.”

De Adams’ daughter filed a missing persons report for her mother when she failed to respond to birthday messages, Live 5 News reports.

The San Diego Police Department and the San Diego City Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.