UPDATE: DeKalb County Coroner Tom Wilson Tuesday morning confirmed that the little girl fatally struck by a 2008 Ford Focus was Julia Patteron's daughter, Libby, who was believed to be 8 years old.
Wilson said the little girl was crossing Highway 117 when she was struck, but he was unable to say why she was crossing the road.
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ORIGINAL STORY: Alabama authorities are continuing investigations into two fatal traffic incidents that happened within 30 minutes and seven miles of each other on Alabama Highway 117 in DeKalb County Tuesday afternoon.
One incident claimed the life of a child pedestrian and the other killed a motorist, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's Highway Patrol division.
The child, described as a minor pedestrian but no age was given, was struck at 3:29 p.m CDT Tuesday by a 2008 Ford Focus on Highway 117 at the 2 mile-marker about four miles east of Mentone, Ala., spokesman trooper Curtis Summerville said via email. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Ford Focus was not injured or named in the report.
About a half-hour earlier on the same highway at the bottom of Lookout Mountain, 39-year-old Valley Head, Ala., resident Julia Yates Patterson was killed and two others were injured when her Ford Explorer crashed head-on into a Dodge Ram truck at the 9 mile-marker inside the Valley Head city limits, Summerville said.
Patterson was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Dodge and a passenger, who were not named by authorities, were injured and transported to a local hospital for treatment, Summerville said.
Investigations are continuing in both incidents, he said.