Just after 1 a.m. on Nov. 5, 2023, a vehicle driven by Jordan Lopez, then 24, crashed into two vehicles along Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.
San Diego police responded to the crash and found Lopez at the scene. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The two vehicles Lopez struck, including a Honda Odyssey minivan, were towed away “as they were filled with property,” police said in the incident report.
A month later, a worker at the tow yard noticed an odor emanating from the minivan and contacted the police.
Inside was found the body of 65-year-old Monica Cameroni de Adams who had been homeless and living in her vehicle in San Diego for several years.
On Wednesday, Lopez was sentenced to probation, with a six-year prison sentence suspended for five years, and ordered to complete a work furlough program after pleading guilty to DUI causing injury and having a blood-alcohol content of over 0.15%.
Lopez could face a murder charge if he violates the terms of his probation.
“I will not squander the opportunity,” Lopez told San Diego Superior Court Judge Dwane K. Moring during his appearance. He also offered his apologies to the victim’s children who were present at the hearing via video conferencing.
The family made no comments during the proceedings.
The sentencing comes as the children of Cameroni de Adams prepare a lawsuit against the city claiming negligence for not discovering their mother in her vehicle immediately after the crash.
In a claim filed against the city last November, the family alleged that the officers “failed to look inside” the vehicle to find Cameroni de Adams who had “sustained severe but survivable blunt force injuries from the collision that required medical attention and care.”
The city rejected the claim in November, but attorney Carlos Hernandez said the family plans to file a lawsuit within six months of the rejection.
According to the claim, Cameroni de Adams’ daughter filed a missing persons report on Nov. 14, 2023, after she and her family had sent birthday messages to her mother but received no response. Her daughter had also searched for the van and failed to locate it prior to filing the report.
On Dec. 6, more than a month after the crash in Clairemont, a worker at the tow yard noticed a smell coming from the van and contacted law enforcement.
After gaining entry to the vehicle, Cameroni de Adams was found “under miscellaneous items in the vehicle’s middle row,” according to the medical examiner’s report.
The cause of death was ruled to be multiple blunt-force injuries — she was found with rib fractures and a spine fracture — and the manner of death was ruled an accident by the medical examiner.
The claim alleges negligence and reckless conduct on behalf of the San Diego police officers who responded to the scene as “the Decedent remained injured inside of her vehicle in the second row” and “left trapped inside of her vehicle without necessary care for her injuries, which subsequently caused her death.”
“The most basic review of a vehicle should include checking for occupants,” attorney John C. Carpenter said in a statement. “Instead, they towed the van away, essentially burying Monica alive.”
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office and the San Diego Police Department declined to comment on the incident citing the pending litigation.
