Samantha Jo Petersen and Sarah Beth Petersen identical Minnesota sisters hatch plans to avoid severe criminal charges following fatal crash that left two Amish children dead.
Identical twins from Minnesota are accused of swapping places after one of them, allegedly driving high on meth on a rural highway, crashing into an Amish horse-drawn carriage and killed two children.
Police spent months building the case before announcing charges in which they stated finding ’suspicious inconsistencies.’
Prosecutors allege Samantha Jo Petersen was behind the wheel Sept. 25, 2023, when the motor vehicle she was driving slammed into a horse-drawn carriage, killing two Amish children and injuring their two siblings.
Driver with too much to lose
At the time of the incident, the woman’s identical sister, Sarah Beth Petersen, assumed responsibility at the scene, and had incorrectly claimed being the one driving, the prosecutors stated.
The crash resulted in the death of 7-year-old Wilma Miller and 11-year-old Irma Miller. Two other siblings, aged 9 and 13, were injured in the crash.
At the time of the crash, Samantha Petersen had an expired driver’s license and no driver’s insurance for her silver Toyota 4Runner, according to court documents.
The sisters’ alleged motive for the switch also hinged on Samantha’s drug use at the time of the crash. With burnt marijuana blunts discovered inside the vehicle, along with admissions of ongoing use of methamphetamine in recorded texts, Samantha feared imprisonment.
Identical sister sought to take the fall for the other
Sarah, who had recently been in prison, may have felt obligated to take the fall for her sister. It remained unclear what led to Sarah being imprisoned and for how long.
A previous report cited Samantha having two prior convictions, one for driving under the influence and one for giving a false name to police.
At the time of the crash scene, an officer left his recorder running, momentarily walking away, whereby he allegedly recorded Samantha Petersen telling her sister, ‘I think one of the guys is onto me, but I really don’t care … there’s no way they would ever know the difference between the two of us, so they can’t tell.’
Samantha, with an expired driver’s license and no insurance, now faces 21 counts, including vehicular homicide, DWI, and leaving the scene of an accident. Meanwhile, Sarah is due in court on April 1, facing 16 felony charges, including aiding and abetting.
