PRESTON, Minn. — The identical twin sister accused of lying to investigators about who was driving an SUV involved in a fatal Amish buggy crash was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 120 days of house arrest.
Sarah Beth Petersen, 37, of Kellogg, appeared in Fillmore County District Court for her sentencing hearing on Monday.
Petersen and her identical twin sister Samantha Jo Petersen, of Wabasha, are accused of attempting to switch places after Samantha’s SUV struck a two-wheeled horse-drawn buggy on Sept. 25, 2023, in rural Fillmore County. Two children and a horse were killed. Two other children were injured.
Sarah Petersen was charged in February 2024 with 16 felony counts, relating to aiding an offender and taking responsibility for criminal acts. One year later, she pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal vehicular operation that caused great bodily harm, both involving her taking responsibility for the criminal acts of another.
A memorandum filed by the state earlier Monday said both the prosecution and defense agreed that Petersen would serve no prison time.
Sarah Beth Petersen, left, and Samantha Jo Petersen
During her sentencing hearing, Fillmore County Attorney Brett Corson requested that Petersen be ordered to serve six months in jail.
Corson proceeded to inform the court of Petersen’s previous convictions in 2016 and 2017 when she was charged with misrepresenting herself as her sister when stopped by law enforcement.
A victim services advocate read a statement from the parents of the children who died. Their letter said it hurt them to see “how lightly” Petersen took the incident.
“We’ve been given a life sentence, and our lives will never be the same,” the letter read.
Although Petersen deceived law enforcement by claiming she was the driver, defense lawyer Dan McIntosh argued that Petersen was not the one to directly cause harm.
“It was misguided and it was wrong, but she was trying to help out her sister,” he said.
McIntosh called Timothy Volz, Petersen’s therapist, to the stand. Volz testified that Petersen has been dealing with the “emotional trauma” of the accident and plans to continue seeking treatment, regardless of the sentence.
Petersen then addressed the court, apologizing to the family and law enforcement.
Judge Jeremy Clinefelter accepted her guilty plea and ordered her to begin serving a 90-day jail sentence on April 25. She will also serve 120 days on house arrest and was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine. He dismissed the remaining 14 counts.
“This conduct was not your conduct that caused the tragic events of that day,” Clinefelter said.
However, he told Petersen that her lies to law enforcement still deserve consequences. He referenced that in the initial police reports, one of Petersen’s children told their teacher what happened at the crash scene.
“Even your kids knew better than you did,” Clinefelter said.
A hearing is scheduled for Samantha Jo Petersen on June 9. After Monday’s hearing, Corson told the Post Bulletin that a negotiated resolution in Petersen’s case is in the works. She is charged with criminal vehicular homicide, felony criminal operation and driving while impaired, among other violations. Four counts, including the element that Petersen was under a combination of methamphetamine and THC, were dismissed. Petersen’s criminal history includes previous convictions for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Witnesses who first arrived at the crash scene told a captain with the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office that they saw a woman they presumed was involved in the crash speaking on a phone. Later, another woman appeared at the scene who looked similar to the first woman but was wearing different clothing.
As Sarah Petersen sat in the squad car, audio recording equipment picked up a conversation between the sisters. The two discussed how law enforcement could not tell them apart.
“There’s no way they would ever know the difference between the two of us so they can’t tell,” Sarah Petersen could be heard saying.
In a search of Samantha Petersen’s phone, investigators found text messages from her to friends including one where she wrote: “Made Sarah come and take the fall for it so I wouldn’t go to prison.”
Samantha had also used her phone to search “What happens if you get in an accident with an Amish buggy and kill two people,” “how to lock an iphone cops have,” and “if you hit a buggy and kill two people are you going to prison?”
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