Woman Pleads Guilty to Fatally Stabbing Identical Twin in Drunken Argument She Doesn't Remember

Amanda and Anna Ramirez
Amanda Ramirez, left, and her twin sister, Anna. Facebook

Amanda Ramirez wept in court as she pleaded guilty to killing her identical twin sister.

A New Jersey mother has pleaded guilty to stabbing to death her identical twin sister during a drunken argument she remembers little about.

Amanda Ramirez, 27, entered her plea Thursday in Camden County Superior Court. She wept as her lawyer questioned her about the early morning when she killed her sister, Anna Ramirez.

"Now because of how much you drank, you don't remember what the fight was about, but you do remember fighting with her," asked Jordan Zeitz.

"Yes," she answered, according to NJ.com.

"And at some point during the fight you had a knife in your hand. ... And you used that knife and stabbed your sister once in the chest?" he queried.

"Yes," she answered. 

"And after that happened you put that knife on the ground and the other person you were with took it and went inside. ... And you stayed with your sister and waited while the police arrived?" Zeitz asked.

"Yes," she answered. 

Amanda said in court that she and her sister were drinking heavily at her home in Camden on June 22 when they began arguing. She said she could not remember what started the fight, but it ended with her plunging a knife into her sister's chest.

Her guilty plea was part of a deal with prosecutors that reduced her charge from aggravated manslaughter to second-degree manslaughter. She could face as much as 10 years in prison, or as little as three, when she is sentenced at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 15. 

Amanda had scratches on her face, a cut on her finger and blood in her ear when police answered two 911 calls placed from her home. Anna was on the ground, bleeding, authorities said. She died less than an hour later at a nearby hospital, prosecutors said. 

Amanda initially gave conflicting accounts of what happened, officials said. At first she claimed someone else attacked her sister, then later said she had acted in self-defense when her sister assaulter her.

In court Thursday, her relatives cried as she answered questions about the fatal stabbing. As she was led away, family members called out, "Love you" and "keep your chin up."

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