Rachel Shannon

And then maybe Sarah could keep both of them out of jail.

Given that they were twins, they thought that they could seamlessly switch places and no one would ever know the difference.

What they didn't account for was the fact that Samantha literally admitted to a co-worker immediately what she did.

She admitted to a friend over text.

what happened she made multiple google searches and it doesn't even seem like she deleted them there were multiple witnesses who saw that they were wearing different clothing multiple surveillance cameras who saw them on opposite sides of the county just before the crash clearly this wasn't a well thought out plan and neither of them are very smart or devious and they literally talked about their plan while one of them was still in the police car

I'm not sure if the officer informed Sarah that he was recording, but I feel like it's pretty common knowledge that you're probably being recorded while you're in a police car or in a police station or talking to police officers in general.

They have a camera right there on their vest.

So saying to your sister, I think they're on to me while you're in a police car is

That's kind of just setting yourself up for failure here.

After finding out all of this information, then 35-year-old Samantha Peterson was hit with 21 criminal charges, including vehicular manslaughter, criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm,

driving under the influence, careless driving, and criminal speeding.

Meanwhile, Sarah faced two charges of taking responsibility for criminal acts for her role in trying to cover for Samantha.

For the year and a half that followed, the defense worked as hard as possible to prolong this case as long as possible, challenging every bit of evidence they could.

They tried to challenge the recording the officer took of Samantha and Sarah talking in that patrol car.

It was said that the deputy informed Sarah of their recording device, but when Samantha came to speak with Sarah while in the car, she was unaware of the device.

They also tried to challenge the warrants officers got for the blood and urine tests, as well as the one they got for Samantha's phone.

Eventually though, by July of 2025, Samantha did ultimately work with the prosecution to construct a plea deal.

In the deal, Samantha agreed to plead guilty to one count of criminal vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of a controlled substance and one count of criminal vehicular manslaughter causing great bodily harm.

All 19 other charges were dropped.

Under the terms of the plea deal, the maximum time she was allowed to get was six years.