Utah Nurse Accused of Killing Friend, Who She Allegedly Convinced Had Cancer, to Claim Her $1.5 Million Life Insurance Policy

A Utah nurse has been charged after being accused of killing her friend, who she convinced had cancer, in an attempt to claim her life insurance policy.

Meggan Sundwal was charged on March 20 for allegedly killing Kacee Terry. She is accused of injecting the victim with unprescribed insulin, causing her to go brain-dead and die, in August 2024, ABC 4, NBC 15 News and NBC News reported.

According to court documents obtained by the outlets, Sundwall, 47, had been plotting to kill Terry, 38, for years, believing she would inherit her $1.5 million life insurance policy, as revealed in text messages sent by the defendant to the victim that date back to 2019. 

On Aug. 12, 2024, Lone Peak police and firefighters received a call about a woman being “unconscious and struggling to breathe” for “several hours.” The caller claimed that the victim had “major health issues,” per the outlets. 

As they arrived on the scene, authorities reportedly found Kerry in her bedroom with Sundwall. She claimed that the victim had terminal cancer, signed a do-not-resuscitate order and did not want to go to the hospital.

Paramedics later found a diabetic needle at the scene and transported Kerry to Mountain Point Hospital in a “life-threatening” condition, per NBC 15 News. The woman had a dangerously low blood sugar level and died days later in the hospital.

According to the outlet, Sundwall said she was the only one with Kerry after arriving at the house at 10:00 a.m. local time. She reportedly texted the victim before arriving, “Do you want to take some promethazine when I get there so that you are asleep when this is happening?” NBC 15 News said.

Kerry’s cause of death was an overdose of promethazine, probable insulin and other drugs, per NBC 15 News. An autopsy later revealed that Kerry didn’t have cancer, as she was led to believe, or any other prior health problems. Medical staff also did not recover a DNR report, ABC 4 reported. 

Court documents obtained by NBC 15 News said investigators found 28,000 text messages from Sundwall’s phone sent to the victim “detailing different ways” of killing her and “offering to ‘help’ [the victim] die.” Sundwall also discussed her financial problems in other text exchanges, the outlet reported. 

Sundwall allegedly searched for the victim’s life insurance policy after her death and “deleted over 900 texts in an effort to erase the evidence,” according to the outlet. 

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Sundwall has been charged with first-degree felony aggravated murder and third-degree felony obstruction of justice. She is being held without bail at Utah County Jail pending a pretrial hearing, according to the reports. It is unclear if she currently has legal representation to comment on her behalf.

The Utah Division of Professional Licensing has launched an investigation into the allegations, per ABC 4.

The Lone Park Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, March 23.