Minnesota identical twins have been accused of hatching a plot to switch places after one was accused of killing two Amish children in a crash while high on methamphetamine.
Samantha Peterson, 35, allegedly hit a horse-drawn buggy on a road outside the small town of Spring Valley on September 25 last year.
The fatal crash killed two children, Wilma Miller, 7, and Irma Miller, 11.
Peterson was high on meth, and in order to save her prison time, her identical twin sister Sara Peterson agreed to confess to the accident, according to local police.
Police took Sarah’s statement and initially found that she matched the description of a blonde woman given by witnesses to the crash.
However, they soon grew suspicious as she was wearing a black top rather than a red-and-black Hy-Vee shirt.
Samantha Peterson (pictured) allegedly hit a horse drawn buggy on a road outside the small town of Spring Valley on September 25 last year
Sara Peterson (pictured) agreed to confess to the accident to save her sister potential prison time
One witness also told police he saw one blonde woman at the crash site, then shortly later another woman who liked similar arrive, and embrace the first woman.
Dashcam footage from the car of the first deputy to arrive on the scene showed two blond women on the roadway.
A short time later, it showed one of the women enter a vehicle in a Hy-Vee shirt and emerge in a black tank top.
On the recording by the device left in the deputy’s truck, Sarah is heard telling Samantha: ‘I think that one of the guys is onto me but…there’s no way they would ever know the difference between the two of us.’
When police searched the twins shared apartment in town Samantha’s internet search history revealed damning entries.
‘What happens if you get in an accident with an Amish buggy and kill two people,’ she searched, as well as for ‘how to lock an iphone cops have.’
Wilma, 7, (second from right) and Irma, 11 (right) were killed in the collision in September
One witness also told police he saw one blonde woman at the crash site, then shortly later another woman who liked similar arrive, and embrace the first woman
Samantha has now been charged with vehicular manslaughter under the influence and fleeing the scene.
Sarah has also been charged with falsely taking responsibility for the deaths.
Both sisters have a colorful rap sheet, including two DWI convictions for Samantha, one for alcohol and one for a controlled substance.
Sarah was convicted in January 2022 on a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and is currently on parole.
While Sarah was in prison on the drug charge, Samantha care for her two children, a potential motive for Sarah offering to cover for her in return, according to the criminal complaint.
It is also not the first time the twins have attempted to change places to evade law enforcement.
Sarah was convicted of giving law-enforcement her sister’s name in 2017 and giving a false name earlier that same year, according to court records.
Samantha was convicted of giving a false name in 2007.
Menno Miller the heartbroken father of the two girls who died, Wilma, 7, and Irma, 11 told the Wall Street Journal his community does not believe in the criminal-justice system.
‘It was not a good scene, I’ll tell you that, when you see your kids scattered along the road,’ he said.
‘They were thinking about themselves,’ he said of the twins, and said he has accepted the authorities decision to bring charges.