A pair of identical twins from Minnesota have been accused of hatching a plot to switch places after one was accused of killing two Amish children in an accident while high on methamphetamine.
Samantha Peterson, 35, allegedly crashed into a horse-drawn carriage on a highway outside the small town of Spring Valley on September 25 last year. Two children, Wilma Miller, 7, and Irma Miller, 11, died in the accident.
Peterson was high on methamphetamine, and to save her jail 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 accident.
However, they soon became suspicious as she was wearing a black blouse instead of a red and black Hy-Vee shirt.
Samantha Peterson (pictured) allegedly crashed into a horse-drawn carriage 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 spare her sister a possible prison sentence.
A witness also told police he saw a blonde woman at the scene of the accident, and shortly after another woman who liked something similar arrived and hugged the first woman.
Camera footage from the car of the first officer who arrived on the scene showed two blonde women in the road.
A short time later, it showed one of the women entering a vehicle wearing a Hy-Vee T-shirt and exiting in a black tank top.
In the recording from the device left in the agent’s van, Sarah is heard telling Samantha: “I think one of the guys has me figured out, but… there’s no way they’ll ever know the difference between the two of us.”
When police searched the apartment the twins shared in the city, Samantha’s Internet search history revealed damning entries.
“What happens if you have an accident with an Amish buggy and kill two people?” he searched, in addition to “how to block an iPhone that the police have.”
Wilma, age 7 (second from right) and Irma, age 11 (right), died in the collision in September.
Samantha has now been charged with DUI Vehicular Homicide and Fleeing the Scene.
Sarah has also been accused of falsely taking responsibility for the deaths.
Both sisters have colorful backgrounds, 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 probation.
While Sarah was in prison on the drug charge, Samantha was caring for her two children, a potential reason for Sarah to offer to cover for her in exchange, according to the criminal complaint.
It’s also not the first time the twins have tried to switch locations to evade law enforcement.
Sarah was convicted of giving authorities 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 that his community does not believe in the criminal justice system.
“It wasn’t a good scene, I’ll tell you that when you see your kids scattered across the road,” he said.
“They were thinking about themselves,” he said of the twins, saying he accepted authorities’ decision to press charges.