‘Girls’ vacation’ turns tragic after luggage spills from car onto road, police say

An early start for a “girls’ vacation” proved tragic when one of the women was killed while scooping spilled luggage off the road, Alabama investigators say.

Elizabeth Ann Atkinson, 47, died “in the same vicinity” as her home in Daphne, police said in a news release. Daphne is about 13 miles southeast of Mobile, along Mobile Bay.

It happened around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 2, and police say they got concerned 911 calls before and after the crash.

“The Daphne Police Department received a report that a woman was in the roadway on State (Highway) 181 near Rigsby Road attempting to retrieve spilled luggage,” Chief of Police Brian Gulsby said in the release.

“At 6:25 a second call was received reporting a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle in the same vicinity.”

Atkinson died at the scene, he said.

She was accompanied by “her two daughters and their two friends for a girls’ vacation,” WALA reported.

“We believe the back hatch of the truck came open and a piece of luggage fell out and came open on the highway and scattered clothing which she stopped and tried to pick up ... along with another family member,” Capt. Reginald Ardis told the station.

The vehicle that struck Atkinson was headed north on Highway 181 and “was traveling at or near the posted speed limit at the time,” police said.

Atkinson’s two daughters are students at Bayside Academy, which is on holiday break through Jan. 8. The school posted a tribute to Atkinson on its Facebook page and scheduled a campus prayer service in her honor.

“Elizabeth has been the poster child of the most sincerely involved mom,” one commenter wrote on the school’s Facebook page.

“She was graceful, smart, beautiful, and strong — she brought so much to the Bayside community!”

This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 3:54 PM with the headline "‘Girls’ vacation’ turns tragic after luggage spills from car onto road, police say."