A Minnesota girl whose S.U.V. struck a horse and buggy final fall, killing two kids and injuring two others, tried to trick the authorities into believing that her twin sister was the motive force, based on courtroom paperwork.
The girl, Samantha Petersen, 35, was charged Monday with 21 counts, together with legal vehicular murder, driving underneath the affect of medicine and leaving the scene of the crash in Stewartville, Minn. It was not instantly clear whether or not she was in custody, or had authorized illustration. Neither she nor her sister may instantly be reached for touch upon Tuesday night.
Statements Ms. Petersen made suggest that she had tried to deceive investigators to keep away from going to jail, based on a grievance filed in Fillmore County District Court.
According to the grievance, Ms. Petersen was driving a silver S.U.V. on a rural street about 100 miles southeast of Minneapolis on the morning of Sep. 25 when she hit the buggy, sending it flying right into a ditch. Two kids, 11 and seven, died of their accidents. A 13-year-old was left with facial accidents, and a 9-year-old with a damaged shoulder, inside accidents, concussion and bleeding in his mind, based on the grievance. The buggy’s horse was additionally killed.
According to the paperwork, Samantha Petersen mentioned that she had known as 911 after which known as her sister after the accident.
Eyewitnesses who had been driving on the street advised sheriff’s deputies that that they had stopped once they observed the rubble and injured kids. One witness mentioned that he had observed two girls, each with blond hair, who appeared related. One wore a black coat, black leggings and sandals; the opposite, later revealed to be Samantha Petersen, the motive force of the silver S.U.V., wore a pink Hy-Vee grocery retailer uniform, footage from the sheriff’s workplace later confirmed.
The girl within the black coat, Sarah Petersen, 35, recognized herself to a sheriff’s deputy, and claimed she had been driving the silver S.U.V. When requested for her driver’s license, she mentioned it was in a black S.U.V., not the silver one concerned within the crash. During an interview within the deputy’s automotive, she mentioned that, whereas driving residence from an evening shift in Rochester, Minn., she had not seen the buggy on the street, and hit it.
The deputy then left the automotive, however his recorder — which remained on close to Ms. Petersen — taped her telling her twin sister that she believed one of many deputies was onto her, based on the grievance. “There’s no way they would ever know the difference between the two of us,” she added, “so they can’t tell.”
But the false story shortly unraveled. An worker at Hy-Vee, the place each sisters labored, advised investigators that they had obtained a hysterical name from Samantha Petersen on the morning of the crash wherein she mentioned she was excessive on methamphetamines and had killed two Amish kids.
She additionally despatched a textual content message to a different individual admitting she had killed the youngsters, based on the grievance. She added, “made sarah come there and take the fall for it so i wouldn’t go to prison.” Public information present Samantha Petersen has a number of prior convictions, together with driving underneath the affect and giving a false identify to regulation enforcement.
Another worker at Hy-Vee advised investigators that Sarah Petersen, who had been in jail, may need taken accountability for the crash out of a perception that she owed her sister for taking care of her kids in her absence.
A evaluate of searches on Samantha Petersen’s cellphone later revealed she had appeared up: “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?”
The Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office and Fillmore County Attorney couldn’t be reached for touch upon Tuesday night.
