A father pulled over to find out that his wife and daughter were killed in separate crashes minutes apart

Facebook/Kevin Patterson

Tragedy struck an Alabama family Tuesday afternoon, as a husband pulled over his car to find out that his 39-year-old wife and 8-year-old daughter were killed in separate crashes 30 minutes apart on the same highway.

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AL.com reports that Julia Yates Patterson was killed when the Ford Explorer she was driving crashed head-on with a Dodge Ram truck on Highway 117. A driver and passenger of the Dodge Ram were taken to the hospital. Their conditions are not known at this time.

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Thirty minutes later, Elizabeth “Libby” Patterson was hit by a car as she was crossing the road, shortly after getting off of the school bus.

The tragedy has devastated husband and father Kevin Patterson, who found out the news after pulling over his car.

He’s taken to Facebook to express his sorrow.

I can’t believe this is real… I really don’t know how to feel. Anybody who know me, knows how much I loved Elizabeth, she turned 8 years old on Saturday… And with all our issues, I was still deeply in love with Julie… I regret that Julie and I didn’t work it out recently. But I believe God got involved. We spent a magical week together starting on my birthday two weeks ago, but I ended it because I couldn’t believe and trust in Julie… And now all I can think about is what might have been for us and the most intelligent, thoughtful and loving little girl I have ever known.. Tell me this is just a bad dream, please God!

He later shared a link to YouCaring page to raise funds for Patterson.

“Thank you to everyone. Most of you don’t even know me but the outpouring of care and concern from friends, family and strangers has meant more than you all could possibly know,” he wrote.

The campaign has raised $4,105 of the $5,000 goal at the time of this writing.

Both deadly crashes happened near the family’s home.

“It’s such a terrible thing to happen,” DeKalb County Coroner Tom Wilson said.

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Police are investigating the causes of both crashes.

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