A Minnesota woman whose twin sister tried to take the blame for an Amish buggy crash that killed two children and injured two others was sentenced on Thursday to four years in prison.
Jeremy Clinefelter, a Fillmore County District Court judge in Minnesota, sentenced the woman, Samantha Petersen, 37, of Kellogg, Minn., and ordered her to pay nearly $40,000 in restitution, according to a sentencing memo.
Ms. Petersen was charged in February 2024 with 21 counts of criminal charges. She pleaded guilty in July to criminal vehicular homicide under the influence and criminal vehicular operation under the influence. The other charges were dismissed.
The judge’s conclusion was “reasonable and fair,” Ms. Petersen’s lawyer, Carson J. Heefner, said in an email on Saturday.
While Mr. Heefner said he believed there was enough evidence to support a probationary sentence, Ms. Petersen “was fully prepared for this outcome, and is determined to serve her time in a meaningful and productive way.”
According to court documents, Ms. Petersen was driving a silver S.U.V. on a rural road in Stewartville, Minn., about 100 miles southeast of Minneapolis, on Sept. 25, 2023, when she hit an Amish buggy, sending it into a ditch on the side of the road.
Two children, ages 7 and 11, died from their injuries, according to a complaint filed in Fillmore County District Court.
A 13-year-old and a 9-year-old survived with severe injuries, the complaint said. The horse pulling the buggy was killed.
According to the complaint, Ms. Petersen called 911 and then called her twin sister, Sarah, after the crash.
Sarah Petersen arrived at the scene in a black coat, black leggings and sandals, while her sister was wearing a red Hy-Vee grocery store uniform.
Sarah Petersen approached a sheriff’s deputy and said that she had been driving the silver S.U.V. involved in the crash. During an interview in the deputy’s car, she said she had hit the buggy on her way home from work in Rochester, Minn.
The deputy then exited the car but left his digital pocket recorder, which taped Sarah Petersen telling her twin sister, “I think that one of the guys is onto me but I don’t really care,” and “There’s no way they would ever know the difference between the two of us, so they can’t tell,” the complaint said.
But Samantha Petersen’s plan to deceive investigators quickly unraveled.
In addition to the recorded conversation between the sisters, an eyewitness told sheriff’s deputies that the driver of the S.U.V. was wearing a black and red Hy-Vee uniform.
An employee at Hy-Vee, where both sisters worked, also told investigators that Samantha Petersen called on the morning of the crash and said that she had killed two Amish children.
During that call, Ms. Petersen sounded “hysterical” and said that she was high on methamphetamines, the complaint said.
Ms. Petersen had also searched on her phone: “What happens if you get in an accident with an Amish buggy and kill two people?” and “If you hit a buggy and kill two people are you going to prison?”
Another Hy-Vee employee told investigators that Sarah Petersen, who had been in prison, may have felt like she owed her sister for looking after her children while she was gone.
Sarah Petersen has had previous run-ins with the law, including traffic and drug-related offenses, according to public records. It was not clear what prison sentence she had served when her sister was looking after her children.
Samantha Peterson also had several prior convictions, including driving under the influence and giving a false name to law enforcement, according to public records.
Sarah Petersen was convicted on two counts of aiding and abetting criminal vehicular operation and completed a three-month jail sentence earlier this year for her role in the crash, according to court documents.
Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.
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