Woman accused of lying for twin sister after fatal Amish buggy crash enters guilty plea

Yahoo

05-02-2025

Feb. 4—PRESTON, Minn. — The twin sister accused of lying to investigators after a 2023 Amish buggy crash entered a guilty plea in court.
"I did," Petersen said during the settlement conference on Tuesday, Feb. 4. "I lied."
Sarah Beth Petersen, 36, is accused of lying to investigators after the crash on Sept. 25, 2023. She was charged in February 2024 with 16 felony counts, relating to aiding an offender and taking responsibility for criminal acts.
Petersen 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. In exchange for probation, Petersen may face up to four years of probation and six months in jail.
Petersen and her twin sister Samantha Jo Petersen are accused of attempting to switch places after Samantha's vehicle struck a two-wheeled horse-drawn buggy at 8:25 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2023, on Fillmore County Road 1 near the intersection with County Road 102. As a result of the crash, two children and a horse were killed. Two more children were injured.
During the hearing, Sarah Beth admitted that her twin sister called her around 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2023.
"She was crying," Sarah Beth said. "She was panicking and scared."
Sarah Beth said in court that once she got to the scene of the crash, her sister told her she didn't see the buggy while driving over the hill. Samantha Jo then asked Sarah Beth to tell law enforcement that she was driving.
"At first, I said no," Sarah Beth said. "Then she made a comment saying she would go to prison for a long time."
Sarah Beth continued answering questions from her attorney, Dan McIntosh of Knutson Casey, PC, including telling the court she persisted with lying to law enforcement.
At Sarah Beth's sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for March 31, District Judge Jeremy Clinefelter said the court would then accept her guilty plea and dismiss the 14 other charges.
Samantha Jo Petersen is facing 17 charges, relating to criminal vehicular homicide, felony criminal operation, driving while impaired, failing to provide proof of insurance and careless driving. Four counts including the element that Petersen was under a combination of methamphetamine and THC, were dismissed.
Following Sarah Beth's hearing, Fillmore County Attorney Brett Corson said there is a chance that the testimony heard in court on Tuesday would impact Samantha Jo's case. He did not specify how.
Samantha Jo's trial is scheduled to begin on July 14.
Witnesses who first arrived at the crash told a captain with the Fillmore County Sheriff's Office that they saw a woman they presumed involved in the crash on the scene on a phone. Later, another woman appeared at the scene who looked similar to the first woman, but wearing different clothes.
As Sarah sat in the squad car, the car's 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 could be heard saying.
In a search of Samantha's phone, investigators found text messages from Samantha 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?"