NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Same red hair, similar features and size — the teenagers even had identical earrings.
The difference is, one of them is suspected of helping an armed man rob a convenience store, and the other spent more than a week in jail for it.
Amanda Sylvester, 17, was arrested Oct. 23 in connection with the robbery. She was freed Oct. 31 after a tip led police to charge Kayce Schildhauer, 19, in the case.
Police apologized to Sylvester, whom another suspect had picked out of a photo lineup, and said her close resemblance to Schildhauer had thrown them off.
"There is a lesson to be learned here, that everything isn't always what it appears," Chief Martin Gutschenritter said. "It's uncanny, I have never seen anything like this."
Sylvester had been arraigned on charges of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and aiding and abetting a robbery, with bail set at $25,000. Police now say they suspect her of nothing.
Cindy Bradley, Sylvester's foster mother, said she had been unable to afford bail.