Suspect jumps from building after police say he hit woman with truck, dragged body 8 miles

A 38-year-old hit-and-run suspect who police say struck a woman and dragged her body for more than eight miles under his truck jumped from a three-story building as law enforcement attempted to arrest him on Saturday in Madera County, according to authorities.

Shawn Ginder is suspected of hitting 29-year-old Monique Contreraz with his Chevy Silverado in the city of Fresno on Friday, according to Fresno police spokesperson Lt. Bill Dooley.

Contreraz was pushing a shopping cart and walking her dog on a leash when she was hit at the intersection of Herndon and Milburn avenues in Fresno.

Investigators said Ginder then drove to a La Quinta Inn and asked for a room, but when he was told there were no vacancies he got back into his visibly damaged truck and pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

A guest at the hotel saw something fall from underneath the truck and called 911 after suspecting that it was a body. Police arrived at the hotel around 2 a.m. and confirmed what the guest saw were the partial remains of a person’s body, according to Dooley.

Late Friday, police found the damaged truck at an apartment complex in Fresno. Ginder was later found at a home in Bass Lake, about 50 miles northeast of the city, Dooley said.

Madera County Sheriff’s deputies attempted to arrest Ginder, but he jumped from a three-story house and was taken to a hospital in critical condition. As of Monday morning, the Madera County Sheriff’s Department had not responded to requests for comment on his condition.

Police did not have any information about the dog Contreraz was walking when she was struck.

KSEE24 in Fresno reports Contreraz was unhoused and was a kind person who took care of her friends on the street.

“When we were homeless together we didn’t have much to eat. She would give me the last of the food and she would stay up at night just so I could sleep so she could take care of me,” Tailor Sanchez, who met Contreraz when they were teenagers in a group home, told the news station.

“She died the same way her mom did,” said Sanchez. “Her mom was hit by a car and was dragged too.”