An identical pair of Minnesota twins have been accused switching places after killing two children when one of them crashed into an Amish buggy.
Twins try to fool police after fatal Amish buggy accident
One of the siblings reportedly crashed into an Amish carriage while driving on rural highway last September.
The impact killed two young children, aged seven and eleven, after she smashed her car into the back of the buggy.
The crash also severely injured the deceased children’s nine and thirteen-year-old siblings, who were treated at a local hospital for their injuries.
Sarah Beth Peterson, 35, told police that she was the one driving the vehicle at the time, but her identical twin sister, Samantha Jo Peterson, was already on the scene when officers arrived.
Fillmore County Sheriff John DeGeorge said that short period of time was all the sisters needed “to come up with this story where Sarah would take responsibility for the crash and start to mislead the investigation from that point.”
According to investigators, Samantha was actually the one who was driving at the time of the crash, and she was criminally high on crystal meth. Samantha was also both uninsured and driving on an expired license at the time.
The twin’s scam began to unravel in the days after the crash, when “inconsistencies started to appear in both sisters’ stories.”
Twin sister swap revealed in Amish buggy crash that killed two children
Uncovering the truth took the authorities considerable time, and after months of investigation, they were able to use interviews and cell phone data analysis to determine that Samantha was one who had crashed into the buggy.
Once police were granted a search warrant for the Peterson sisters’ phones, they learned that Samantha had implicated herself with a text message that admitted she had “hit that Amish buggy and killed” two children.
“Made Sarah come there and take the fall for it so I wouldn’t go to prison,” the message read.
Now their both looking at significant jail time, with sentences that could stretch up to ten years if convictions are obtained.
Sarah faces 16 felony charges, including aiding an offender, while Samantha’s criminal actions are reflected in 21 felonies, ranging from vehicular homicide to driving under the influence.
According to CBS News, the twins were no angels and both have past criminal records. At the time of the crime, Sarah was out on parole for a 2022 conviction for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Samantha, who was driving impaired, has previously been convicted of both third and fourth-degree DWIs.
Pregnant Amish woman slain while her two young children were home
In a separate crime in a Pennsylvania Amish community, 52-year-old Shawn C. Cranston faces charges for the heinous homicide of a pregnant Amish woman.
Cranston was charged with criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary and criminal trespass, after police found the lifeless body of 23-year-old Rebekah A. Byler in her Spartansburg living room last week.
Byler was violently murdered by both having her throat slashed and being shot in the head while her two toddler aged children were in the home.
Her husband, Andy Byler, discovered her body when he arrived home at lunch, but thankfully found the children unharmed.
Police are not sure what Cranston’s motive for the murder was, as it is unclear if he knew the Bylers personally and his residence was around ten miles away.
He is currently being held without bond at the Crawford County Correctional Facility, until he appears in court on March 15.
