Law enforcement and community members speak on charges against the Petersen sisters
(ABC 6 News) – It was a bright sunny day in Fillmore County.
“Yeah, I was just on my way to work and saw some vehicles pulled over,” said Tim Lanning of Chatfield.
Until a dark cloud cast over the karst landscape. Lanning remembers it like it was yesterday.
“And as I proceeded to get closer to the accident scene I noticed the buggy in pieces, I noticed the deceased horse laying down in the ditch, which those kids absolutely loved that horse,” said Lanning.
Court documents claim Samantha Petersen was high on meth when she got behind wheel before slamming into a horse-drawn buggy carrying four Amish children, two sisters losing their lives in the crash.
— RELATED: FCSO warrants: Woman accused of driving car in fatal buggy crash may have swapped places with sister —
Law enforcement says the months following the crash was critical in getting justice.
“It’s important for us to wait for these things before we start these legal proceedings because if we were going to make an arrest right away because we think we know what happened, that starts this court process. If this were to go to trial before we had all this evidence back, we risk losing this case,” said Fillmore County Sheriff John DeGeorge.
According to court documents Sarah Petersen, Samantaha’s identical twin sister, tried to take the fall for the events on that September day.
“Our deputies started an investigation and later it was determined through search warrants interviews and analysis of different data that Samantha, Sarah’s twin sister, was driving that vehicle,” said Sheriff DeGeorge.
Now both sisters facing a long list of charges for allegedly causing that deadly accident. And according to law enforcement for all the lies that have been telling since.
— RELATED Charges: Driver in deadly Amish buggy crash was on meth, had her twin sister take the fall —
“Justice will finally be served hopefully. I honestly hope they throw the book at these girls because what they did is just despicable. And even their actions afterward just show you what type of people these girls are,” said Lanning.
Justice this quiet community has been waiting for since that sunny day turned dark.
Samantha Petersen is scheduled to make her court appearance on March 25 and her sister Sarah on April 1.