In a bizarre attempt to evade charges for a crash that killed two children, a Minnesota woman tried to pin the whole thing on her identical twin sister.
Samantha Jo Peterson, 35, faces 21 counts that include criminal vehicular homicide, DWI, and careless driving and speeding after the car she was driving crashed into a horse-drawn Amish buggy carrying four children last September, authorities said.
Two of the children died at the scene. Deputies identified them as 7-year-old Wilma Miller and 11-year-old Irma Miller. Their 9-year-old brother and 13-year-old sister suffered serious injuries. All four siblings were on their way to school when the Sept. 25 crash in southeastern Minnesota happened. The horse also died.
Fillmore County authorities arrived to find Peterson and her twin sister, Sarah Beth Peterson, at the scene. The criminal complaint alleges that Sarah Beth took responsibility for the crash and told deputies she was the one driving the silver SUV that hit the buggy. A separate black SUV, one authorities believe Sarah Beth actually drove to the site after the crash, was also on the scene when authorities arrived.
Investigators quickly learned that Peterson could have been the actual culprit after being contacted on the day of the crash about a set of text messages between her and another person. Those texts reportedly revealed that she admitted that she was driving the car, was high on meth, and asked her twin to shoulder the blame for the crash.
As for why Peterson’s twin would take the blame, Samantha’s co-worker told authorities that when Samantha’s sister was in jail, Samantha took care of her children, and now her twin might feel obligated to return the favor, according to charging documents obtained by ABC 6 News.
The complaint also includes evidence from the scene to corroborate the cover-up, including video evidence that suggests the twins switched clothing when authorities got to the crash scene. A witness…
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