Criminal vehicular homicide charges have been filed against a southeastern Minnesota woman who allegedly tried to shift blame to her identical twin sister for a September collision with a horse-drawn buggy that killed two Amish children.
Samantha Jo Petersen, 35, is facing 21 total charges in the case, including eight felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide, eight counts of criminal vehicular operation, also felonies, two gross misdemeanor counts of driving while impaired, and two misdemeanor counts of failing to provide proof of insurance and careless driving. In addition, the charges include one petty misdemeanor for speeding.
Weeks after the Sept. 25 crash, Fillmore County investigators were working to determine who was driving the silver SUV that ran into the buggy.
Sarah Beth Petersen, 35, of Spring Valley, was initially identified as the driver, but later investigators believed they had cause to think that it could have been her identical twin sister, Samantha Jo Petersen, who was driving.
According to initial reports from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office, at 8:25 a.m., a 2005 Toyota 4Runner driving south on Fillmore County Road 1 came up from behind and struck a two-wheeled horse-drawn Amish buggy. The accident happened near the intersection with County Road 102.
Seven-year-old Wilma Miller and 11-year-old Irma Miller died in the crash. Their siblings, 9-year-old Alan Miller and 13-year-old Rose Miller, were injured. The horse was also killed.
The 18-page criminal complaint lays out a complicated set of events at the scene of the crash.
According to the complaint, a captain from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office spoke with a witness on the scene who said he saw a woman he believed was the driver on the phone, calling 911. The man described the woman as a “blonde female wearing a Hy-Vee employee shirt that was black and red.”
Another witness on the scene described the woman he believed was the driver as “wearing black clothing, no eyeglasses, really light blonde hair, was taller.” The second witness later noticed another woman appear at the scene who looked similar to the first woman, but wearing different clothes.
“The second lady had a T-shirt with no sleeves on and she looked a little bit smaller than the first lady. (The second witness) wasn’t sure how the second lady got there; she just sort of appeared. Leroy saw the second lady give the first lady a hug and heard the first lady say that she didn’t see them until it was too late,” the complaint said.
Court documents say Sarah Petersen identified herself as the driver in the crash.
While on the scene of the crash, squad car audio picked up a conversation between the sisters while Sarah was sitting in the vehicle. The two discussed how law enforcement could not tell them apart.
During the recording, the complaint says, Sarah can be heard saying, “I think that one of the guys is on to 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.”
Later, after a deputy read Sarah Petersen her Miranda rights, Sarah said she “didn’t feel like she did anything wrong but knows that she hit someone, killed someone, and would have to live with that for the rest of her life.”
She later said she wanted to speak to an attorney. Her phone was seized and logged into evidence.
While at the scene, Samantha Petersen asked to grab an ID under the floor mat from the silver SUV involved in the crash. Inside the silver SUV, a deputy noticed burned marijuana blunts and “a small tin can commonly used to hold marijuana.” The vehicle was later towed and inventoried. A red T-shirt and black smock worn by Hy-Vee employees was located inside the silver SUV.
Both sisters worked for Hy-Vee, according to the court documents.
A human resources employee told law enforcement that Samantha Petersen had punched out for work at 7:47 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2023. Around 10 a.m. that day, Samantha texted the human resources employee asking HR to call her.
Samantha told the employee that she was on methamphetamine and that she had killed two Amish children after crashing into their buggy.
“I f—– up. I just killed two Amish people,” Samantha Petersen said, according to court documents.
The human resource employee asked Samantha if she had been drinking and Samantha said, “No, (HR), you know that’s not my first choice… I’m high on meth.”
According to the complaint, Samantha told the human resources employee that she had left the scene after Sarah arrived. Police also reviewed security camera footage, taken at Hy-Vee earlier on the day of the crash, that showed Samantha driving the vehicle that later crashed into the buggy.
The store manager said Samantha had messaged the manager and HR on Sept. 25, 2023, “saying that she messed up and was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the crash.”
When asked why Sarah would take the fall for Samantha, the manager said they believed “it was because Samantha took care of Sarah’s children while Sarah was in prison and now, she feels like she needs to help Samantha.”
The phone number used to call 911 is the same number that Samantha provided to law enforcement at the scene.
A search warrant for a blood draw and a full set of fingerprints for Samantha was requested and granted by a judge on Sept. 26. The results of showed the presence of methamphetamine, amphetamine and Delta-9 THC.
Law enforcement also spoke with a social worker who had had a conversation with Sarah’s 13-year-old daughter. The girl allegedly told the social worker that “my mom wasn’t the one that was driving.” The child was worried that when she got home later that day her mother and aunt would be gone.
The criminal complaint says that a review of messages exchanged between Samantha and another person from Sept. 25 through Sep. 26, 2023, showed Samantha saying she “hit that amish buggy and killed two ppl” and “made sarah come there and take the fall for it so i wouldn’t go to prison.”
According to the complaint, Samantha had also searched “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?” and similar searches.
Minnesota State Patrol concluded that the driver of the silver Toyota 4Runner SUV was traveling between 63 mph and 71 mph at the time of the crash. The speed limit on County Road 1 is 55 mph. The view on the road was clear for 1,452 feet before the crash scene and there were no obstructions.
Shortly after the date of the crash, both Samantha and Sarah Petersen moved out of their Spring Valley residence, according to court documents. They are believed to be living in the Kellogg area.
Sarah Petersen is not currently facing charges related to the incident.
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