Man arrested for hit-and-run that killed woman in West Central Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Crime scene investigators had an area of a West Central Fresno roadway shut down for several hours after a woman's body was found in the roadway.

"This area is very dark and there's a lot of homeless that live in this area and she was. You gotta just slow down and be careful because you never know who could pop out at any time," said Lit. Jerardo Chamalbide.

Police say it was 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon when they were called to Hughes Avenue between Belmont and Nielsen.

They discovered the victim, but the car that hit her was nowhere to be found.

The woman was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

"Officers conducted follow up and located a license plate in the area," Lt. Chamalbide said.

Investigators went to the address the license plate was registered to and found the driver, 46-year-old Gil Donato.

"(Donato) stated to us that he thought he hit a shopping cart. Didn't know he hit a person so he went home," Lt. Chamalbide said.

Police say after further investigation Donato was arrested for felony hit-and-run.

No drugs or alcohol played a factor.