After a store robbery, a suspect and car go missing. 8 days later, a deadly crash
A woman is dead, another is facing a charge of vehicular manslaughter. Fresno police say a crime eight days earlier led to the tragedy Wednesday evening.
Deputy Chief Michael Reid said Thursday that a crash in central Fresno that killed Debbie Criado, 55, of Pinedale was caused by a woman driving a car that was connected to an armed liquor store robbery on Feb. 19. Detectives handling the robbery investigation were getting ready to serve a warrant Wednesday afternoon for the main suspect, Jimmy Contreras, when the car was spotted and then its driver fled from police.
The robbery
Reid said five Crime Stoppers tips led investigators to Contreras as the suspect of an armed robbery at Varsity Liquor on Ashlan Avenue at First Street. Reid allegedly took $500 from the store. A clerk there identified Contreras in a police lineup, Reid said.
Detectives learned Contreras lived at a home on Holland Avenue near Fresno Street and arrived Wednesday to serve him a warrant. Contreras was not at the home but was spotted nearby; detectives called a tactical unit to help make an arrest and Contreras was booked into Fresno County Jail on a charge of armed robbery and being a felon in possession of a weapon.
But things didn’t end there.
Reid said that as detectives spotted Contreras, a resident pointed out a car with a white rear driver side door. Detectives already knew that a vehicle matching that description was involved in the Feb. 19 robbery. Reid said Contreras got out of that same car just minutes before he was arrested.
Undercover officers began following the vehicle. A woman, later identified as 28-year-old Ruby Garcia of Fresno, was alone in the car. Reid said she was obeying traffic laws but an officer soon got an order to conduct a traffic stop.
When lights flashed and sirens wailed, Garcia sped southbound on Fresno Street in an attempt to evade officers, Reid said. Moments later, the deadly crash happened.
One dead, three injured
Garcia was traveling about 50 mph and had swerved through traffic. She ran a red light at Shields Avenue and continued south, Reid said.
About a quarter-mile south, a car was pulling onto Fresno Street from Princeton Avenue. Three adults and a 6-year-old boy were in it. Reid said that at about 5:40 p.m. Garcia plowed into the car.
“In this case, it’s really the behavior of the suspect, Ruby Garcia, that caused this and her attempt to flee,” Reid said at police headquarters Thursday.
First-responders tended to the injured, Reid said. Criado died at Community Regional Medical Center. The other three were significantly injured, he added, but as of 2 p.m. Thursday were listed in stable condition. One of the adults is visiting from Oklahoma.
Detective work
Reid praised the investigation by the Street Violence Bureau detective Kam Xiong, who coincidentally is set to be recognized Friday as the department’s detective of the month. In the Varsity Liquor case, Reid said, Xiong’s review of store surveillance video helped him identify the car with the white door as the getaway car and the images were clear enough to capture Contreras’ face.
Then on Wednesday afternoon, Xiong acted fast to assign officers to follow Garcia, who had no extensive prior criminal history. The car driven by Garcia had been the “last missing piece” in the robbery investigation, Reid said.
After she was treated at CRMC, Garcia was booked into Fresno County Jail and will be charged with vehicular manslaughter, evading police and driving while intoxicated, Reid said; detectives will continue to investigate her involvement with Contreras.
“We want to find out if there was any other reason this female ran. Right now there’s nothing to connect her to the robbery on the 19th,” Reid said.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 5:53 PM with the headline "After a store robbery, a suspect and car go missing. 8 days later, a deadly crash."
