A Minnesota woman whose SUV crashed into a horse and buggy last fall, killing two children and injuring two others, tried to fool authorities into believing her twin sister was the driver, according to court documents.
The woman, Samantha Petersen, 35, was charged Monday in Stewartville, Minn., with 21 charges, including vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident. She had legal representation. Neither she nor her sister could be reached for comment Tuesday night.
The complaint filed in Fillmore County District Court says Petersen's statements imply he was trying to mislead investigators to avoid going to jail.
According to the complaint, Petersen was driving a silver SUV on a rural road about 100 miles southeast of Minneapolis on the morning of September 25 when he collided with an ATV and was sent into a ditch. Two children, aged 11 and 7, died from their injuries. The 13-year-old boy suffered facial injuries, and the 9-year-old boy suffered a fractured shoulder, internal injuries, a concussion and bleeding on the brain, according to the complaint. The horse in the buggy also died.
Samantha Petersen said she called 911 after the accident and then called her sister, according to the documents.
Witnesses driving on the road told sheriff's deputies they noticed the debris and the injured children and stopped. One witness said he noticed two women with similar appearance and blonde hair. One person was wearing a black coat, black leggings and sandals. The other person was later identified in sheriff's office footage as Samantha Petersen, the driver of the silver SUV, who was seen wearing a red Hy-Vee uniform from the grocery store. .
A woman wearing a black coat, Sarah Petersen, 35, identified herself to sheriff's deputies and claimed she was driving a silver SUV, not the silver SUV involved in the incident when asked for her driver's license. , he said he was in a black SUV. crash. Deputies interviewed her in her car and said she was driving home from a night shift in Rochester, Minn., when she didn't notice the buggy in her street and crashed into it.
The deputy then left the vehicle, but a recorder that was turned on near Petersen showed her telling her twin sister that she believed one of the agents was coming after her, according to the complaint. The statement was reportedly recorded. “There's no way they would know the difference between the two of us,” she added. “That's why they can't tell the difference either.”
However, the false story was soon debunked. An employee at Hy-Vee, where the sisters worked, told investigators that he received a hysterical phone call from Samantha Petersen the morning of the crash, saying she was high on methamphetamine and had killed two Amish children. he said.
She also sent a text message to another person admitting to killing the children, according to the complaint. She added that she “made Sarah come there and pay for her crimes so I wouldn't go to jail.” According to her public records, Samantha Petersen has several prior convictions, including driving under the influence and providing a false name to law enforcement.
Another Hy-Vee employee told investigators that Sara Petersen, who was in prison, took responsibility for the accident because she believed she owed her sister a favor for looking after her children while she was away. He said it was possible.
When I later checked the search results on Samantha Petersen's cell phone, I found out that she was asking questions such as “What would happen if an Amish buggy crashed and killed two people?'' and “If I got hit by an Amish buggy and killed two people, would I go to jail?'' It turned out that there was an investigation. ? ”
The Fillmore County Sheriff's Office and the Fillmore County Attorney's Office had no comment as of Tuesday evening.
