Minivan towed after crash with woman inside, and her body was found a month later. Now the family’s suing

SAN DIEGO (Idaho Statesman) — A San Diego woman’s family members reached out to wish her a happy birthday, then reported her as missing the next day after their messages went unanswered, according to a $50 million legal claim filed over her death.

About a week earlier, an accused drunk driver rammed into Monica Cameroni De Adams’ minivan as it was parked in San Diego, at about 1:08 a.m. on Nov. 5, 2023, the claim says, as Cameroni De Adams was inside in the middle row.

Cameroni De Adams, 65, had been asleep in her vehicle, according to KFMB-TV, which reported she was experiencing homelessness.

“Just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean that they don’t have a family that loves them,” attorney John Carpenter, of Carpenter & Zuckerman, who represents Cameroni De Adams’ family, told KFMB-TV.

After the crash, the driver was arrested on a DUI charge by San Diego Police Department officers, according to the claim, which accuses the officers of failing to fully investigate the crash site.

They didn’t notice Cameroni De Adams, who was trapped inside her van, alive, with “severe but survivable blunt force injuries from the collision,” the claim states.

The officers had Cameroni De Adams’ vehicle towed by a local company, according to the claim, which says the van then sat in a tow yard.

The San Diego Police Department and the San Diego City Attorney’s Office declined McClatchy News’ requests for comment March 14.

About a month later, an employee noticed a “pungent smell from (Cameroni De Adams’) van” at the tow yard on Dec. 6, 2023, according to an autopsy report written by an investigator with the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office, the claim says.

The employee called authorities, leading to the discovery of Cameroni De Adams’ body “wedged under miscellaneous items in the vehicle’s middle row,” James Ramirez, the medical examiner investigator, wrote, according to the claim.

Her remains were badly decomposed and her face “was unrecognizable,” according to Ramirez, the claim says.

The claim was filed against the city of San Diego by Cameroni De Adams’ daughter, Natalia Danielle Cameroni-Adams, and her son, Eliot Cobb Adams. The legal action, which comes before a lawsuit, accuses officers of negligence and reckless conduct.

“It’s incredibly difficult for (them) to know that their mother passed this way,” Carpenter said in a statement to McClatchy News on March 14. “And to find out that their mother died in a car that was locked away like a piece of garbage left there to die by our government, by the city of San Diego.”

The city attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

In Cameroni De Adams’ autopsy report, Ramirez noted that her liver, kidneys and lungs were healthy, according to the claim, which includes a copy of the report.

She was a “normally developed woman” and her heart “showed no evidence of significant coronary atherosclerosis or scarring of the heart muscle,” Ramirez wrote.

Toxicology test results determined Cameroni De Adams had no commonly abused drugs in her system, according to the report.

Her death was caused “in whole or in part from or related to the accident or injury, either old or recent,” Ramirez wrote.

The report mentioned that Cameroni De Adams’ vehicle was significantly damaged from being rear-ended by the intoxicated driver, according to the claim.

The rear door was “crushed inward” and intruded into the middle row, where Cameroni De Adams was located, the claim says.

Cameroni De Adams died and remained in her car for a month because the officers failed to realize she was there, according to the claim.

“The 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,” Carpenter said while speaking with KFMB-TV.

Cameroni De Adams’ son and daughter are seeking damages for their mother’s death, including for the loss of her “love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, moral support, training and guidance,” the claim shows.

The driver accused of hitting Cameroni De Adams’ car also rear-ended a another parked vehicle, according to the claim.

He took a plea deal and faces six years in prison and five years of probation, KFMB-TV. He’s scheduled to be sentenced March 19.

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