Woman killed in crash near Fairfax Towne Center, capping deadly week for local pedestrians

A 63-year-old woman from Fairfax died yesterday (Sunday) after a driver hit her while she was crossing West Ox Road near Fairfax Towne Center, police reported.

Ligia Jeannette Herrera Betbeder was crossing from east to west on West Ox north of Legato Road when the driver of a 2015 Honda Civic traveling south struck her at 5:54 a.m., according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

Betbeder was pronounced deceased at the scene, where the driver remained as rescue personnel responded.

An investigation by the FCPD’s Crash Reconstruction Unit is underway. The police noted that Betbeder was outside of a crosswalk when she was hit, but there is no crosswalk on the north side of the West Ox and Legato intersection. The crosswalks that do exist on the south and east side of the intersection have no lines, Google Maps shows.

“Preliminarily, speed and alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash,” police said. “The investigation remains active, and details of the investigation will be presented to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for review.”

As noted by The Washington Post, Sunday’s crash in the Fair Oaks area was just the latest in a recent spate of crashes that injured or killed pedestrians in the D.C. area.

Based on FCPD reports, Betbeder is the 16th pedestrian to die on Fairfax County roads this year. After seeing no such deaths in all of September, the county has recorded three pedestrian fatalities in the past week, including Betbeder.

Thursday (Oct. 6) saw two crashes involving pedestrians on Richmond Highway — one in Fort Belvoir that killed 53-year-old Melodie Kiem and another on Fordson Road where the pedestrian survived. On Oct. 2, a week before Betbeder’s death, 74-year-old Dalchoon Park of Annandale died after a hit-and-run crash in the 4200 block of Annandale Road.

In neighboring Arlington County, a woman in her 80s died at a local trauma center after she was hit by an SUV while crossing a neighborhood street and went into cardiac arrest, according to FFXnow’s sister site, ARLnow.

By this time in 2021, there had been 11 pedestrian fatalities on county roads, per the FCPD. This year’s tally of 16 deaths doesn’t include two men killed this summer on the Dulles Toll Road and Airport Access Highway, which are overseen by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police.

Photo via Google Maps