A 35-year-old woman undergoing breast cancer treatment was arrested by mistake after authorities believed she is the Missouri teen they are looking for. The Missouri teen is accused of killing her weeks-old daughter.
The 35-year-old woman, identified as Erin Peters, said that she was stopped on Friday at a Walmart store in Idaho. She said that she was questioned by officials for 45 minutes. After that, she was subsequently handcuffed after being questioned. She was said to be mistaken as the 18-year-old mother named Whitley Evenson, Q13 Fox reported.
Evenson is from Independence, Missouri and was being hunted down due to murdering her 6-week-old baby. Evenson reportedly suffocated the child. She has been charged over the case. The incident happened last year, and she fled the area while on bond. Evenson was apprehended hours after the encounter of the police with Peters at the same Walmart. Peters added, "If they harassed me any longer they may have missed her." Evenson reportedly has one more daughter, who was 1 year old at the time that she allegedly killed her second baby.
Peters pointed out that the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force believed that she was Evenson due to her very short hair, which was because of her breast cancer treatments. She said that she shaved her hair, making police all the more believe that she was trying to conceal her identity due to the crime.
Peters was shopping headbands for her daughter at the Walmart, New York Daily News reported. She initially thought that she was being mugged because she was handcuffed form behind. She also told officials that she is not the teenage suspect, but they told her she does not have to lie anymore. She also offered numerous identifications in order to prove that she is not Evenson.
Peters is a pre-kindergarten teacher who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. She had double mastectomy in August. Accordingly, the officials who caused the inconvenience to her have not apologized to her yet. She noted that she is not looking to file a lawsuit but wants them to admit that they were wrong and apologize. FBI spokesman Richard Collodi says he regrets that Peters was bothered but said they just wanted to be sure.
The officials involved in the matter have not been identified yet.
