Woman admits to twin-swapping ruse to cover up who killed 2 Amish children in crash with buggy in Minnesota

A 36-year-old woman is pleading guilty to concocting an identity-swapping scheme with her twin sister to deceive law enforcement about who was actually driving an SUV that hit an Amish buggy in southeastern Minnesota, killing two of the four children aboard.

Sarah Beth Petersen, 36, of Kellogg, Minn., pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Fillmore County District Court to two counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash shortly before 8:30 a.m. Sept. 25, 2023, along southbound County Road 1.

The collision southeast of Stewartville killed Wilma Miller, 7, and Irma Miller, 11. Surviving their injuries were siblings Allan Miller, now 10, and Rose Miller, now 14. The four children were riding to school at the time of the crash, with Rose holding the reins, a family friend said.

The plea agreement between the prosecution and the defense calls for Petersen to serve no more than six months in jail and be put on four years’ supervised probation.

“Obviously, Sarah’s heart goes out to the Millers,” her attorney, Daniel McIntosh, said shortly after the guilty pleas were entered. “She’s a mother herself.”

The other twin, Samantha Jo Petersen, of Wabasha, Minn., remains charged with criminal vehicular homicide, criminal vehicular operation, driving under the influence of an illicit drug and other lesser counts. She is due in court on June 10 for a pretrial conference. Her trial is scheduled for July 14.

McIntosh said the plea deal does not include his client being required to testify against her twin, should a trial occur, but she would have to take the stand if issued a subpoena.

Court records show Sarah Petersen was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2017 for giving her twin’s name to a Fillmore County sheriff’s deputy who pulled her over for driving erratically. The deputy was told soon after the stop by a fellow deputy that Sarah Petersen “has given Samantha’s name in past interactions with law enforcement.”

According to the charges against both twins and related court documents:

The twins were at the scene when a deputy arrived. Sarah Petersen told him she was driving the silver SUV involved in the crash, which is registered to her twin. Parked close by was a black 2002 Toyota 4Runner, also registered to Samantha Petersen. While Sarah Petersen was left alone in a squad car, Samantha Petersen walked over and the two spoke.

A deputy’s pocket recorder captured Sarah Petersen saying, “I think one of the guys is onto me, but I don’t really care ... There’s no way they would ever know the difference between the two of us, so they can’t tell,” the charges said.

Still at the scene, Sarah Petersen insisted to a deputy that she was the driver who hit the buggy.

Samantha Petersen left work at a Hy-Vee in Rochester shortly before 8 a.m. on the day of the crash in the silver SUV. Internet mapping measures the southbound route to the crash scene as roughly a 24-minute drive. The crash occurred at 8:25 a.m.

Hy-Vee staff told law enforcement that Samantha Petersen admitted on a work messaging platform that she had used methamphetamine and was high at the time of the collision. “The messages also indicate that [Samantha Petersen] was the driver,” a court filing disclosed.

A State Patrol investigation found that the silver SUV was traveling between 61 and 71 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone at the time of impact.

Samantha Petersen has a criminal history in the state that includes two convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and one for giving false information to police. Her twin, Sarah Beth Petersen, has no serious crimes on her record in Minnesota.

A test of Samantha Petersen’s blood by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to the charges.