Mom and child killed in separate accidents just miles & minutes apart

VALLEY HEAD, Alabama (WDEF) Two shocking accidents devastate one family and their community in northeast Alabama.

A mother and her young daughter were killed in separate accidents Tuesday in Valley Head, just outside of Fort Payne.

Police say 39 year old Julia Yates Patterson’s vehicle collided with another one on Highway 117 in the middle of town around 3 PM.

She died at the scene.

Two people in the other vehicle were taken to Erlanger.

Then, just 30 minutes later, eight year old Libby Patterson was hit by a vehicle when she was crossing the same Highway 117, east of Mentone on Lookout Mountain.

She also died at the scene.

The two accidents happened less than 10 miles apart.

DeKalb County Coroner Tom Wilson told al.com “It’s such a terrible thing to happen.”

Community mourns the tragic deaths of Julia and Elizabeth Patterson https://t.co/djJicnmTub pic.twitter.com/eFbEizKaax

— WHNT (@whnt) March 23, 2017