Trial underway for Utah nurse accused of killing friend she believed had cancer

PROVO, Utah (KSL) — Jurors will be tasked with deciding whether Meggan Sundwall encouraged her friend to commit suicide or actually killed the friend with a fatal insulin overdose in a trial that began on Wednesday.

Deputy Utah County attorney July Thomas said in her opening statement that Sundwall, a nurse living in Santaquin, “had a plan” to go to her friend’s house and inject her with insulin until the friend died. Thomas said texts between the two friends outlined the plan, and that Sundwall was incentivized because the friend repeatedly told her she was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

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Prosecution: ‘Kacee neither wanted nor intended to die’

Thomas said Kacee Lyn Terry, 38, of Highland — the victim in the case — told lies that grew. She said her family believed that she had cancer right up until she was hospitalized in a diabetic coma shortly before she was taken off life support and died. Terry went so far as to order saline to the home and had a port where she would administer it, claiming it was a chemotherapy drug.

Terry sent Sundwall texts saying “tell me that I’m not dying,” and portrayed that she was in pain from cancer and wanted to be free from the pain. Thomas said that was a frequent topic of conversation for the two women.

“I believe you will find that Kacee neither wanted nor intended to die on Aug. 12,” Thomas told the jury, “even though she pretended she did want to in an increasingly desperate attempt to keep Meggan’s attention and affection. The evidence tends to establish that Kacee thought she could handle Meggan, but she didn’t count on Meggan’s determination.”

CLICK HERE to read Kacee Lyn Terry’s obituary

Thomas said Sundwall told her friend things like “there is nothing left for you here” and “you have to let go, it is past time.” Terry would, in turn, pretend to be doctors and nurses texting Sundwall to say she was nearing death and in hospice.

According to Thomas, Terry pretended to be suicidal and interested in ending the pain — but it was pain that did not exist. She said Sundwall spoke about ways Terry could end her life, and provided insulin to her friend while they were roommates and asked if she planned to use it. Thomas said Sundwall also offered to help.

The prosecutor said Terry told her sister she thought Sundwall was trying to kill her, and the family helped Terry move out of Sundwall’s home and into Terry’s grandparents’ home.

Thomas said Terry’s lies “continued to grow and grow … (and) became so outlandish that it appears to be a cry for help.”

Thomas said, at one point, Terry claimed she had used between four and nine bottles of insulin — hundreds of times over what Sundwall said would kill her — and Sundwall did not call her friend out.

WATCH: Day 1 of Meggan Sundwall trial, the Utah nurse accused of killing roommate with insulin

Ultimately, the prosecutor said, Terry agreed that Sundwall could help her end her life on Aug. 11, 2024, but then postponed until the next day.

Thomas said family members saw Sundwall arrive at the home on Aug. 12, 2024. When they returned to check on Terry after multiple missed calls, she was found “lying on her bed struggling to breathe, unconscious or in a coma, and Meggan sitting there, watching,” Thomas said.

The prosecutor said no one called 911 — not Sundwall nor her parents, who arrived after hearing Terry was dying. Thomas said a glucose monitor showed Terry’s blood sugar was checked 19 times over 10 hours. The numbers go from normal to a level where she would have been unconscious, Thomas said, and then she was tested 10 more times.

“For at least seven solid hours, Meggan was there watching Kacee descend from confusion to unconsciousness to a coma,” Thomas said.

The prosecutor said Sundwall was in financial distress after losing a job and a car. She said a message Sundwall sent said, “If you dying would get me out of this mess and darkness I am in, I would take it.” Thomas also said that 283 messages were deleted from Sundwall’s phone.

“Meggan wanted Kacee to die to relieve her from the stress of her financial situation, and that plan worked,” she said.

Defense: ‘Kacee is begging (Sundwall) to help her’

In his opening statement, defense attorney Scott Williams said the “largest question” in this case is whether Terry needed Sundwall and could not have killed herself without her friend’s aid. He said evidence does not prove there was more insulin administered after she was in a coma and unable to administer it herself.

Williams said Terry had said for years that she was suicidal, but that it had been escalating. She had claimed to be using opioids and was stealing from her grandparents, Williams alleged.

“She certainly ramped up her supposed misery level,” the defense attorney said, adding that a psychologist will testify about the dynamic between the two friends and why Sundwall would accept anything her friend was saying, showing up unconditionally.

“You’re going to see that Kacee is begging (Sundwall) to help her,” Williams said.

He also alleged that police investigating the death had confirmation bias and missed DNA tests on key items.

Sundwall is charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

EastIdahoNews.com is streaming the Meggan Sundwall trial in its entirety on YouTube. Click on the video player below to watch Thursday’s testimony.