Woman charged with aggravated murder in insulin death of her friend

By Pat Reavy, KSL.com

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    HIGHLAND, Utah (KSL) — Criminal charges have now been filed against a Santaquin woman accused of killing her friend to get her million dollar life insurance policy — only to find out that she didn’t have a policy.

Meggan Randall Sundwall, 47, is charged in 4th District Court with aggravated murder, a capital offense, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. According to charging documents, “conviction of this offense may carry the death penalty.”

On Aug. 12, 2024, Kacee Lyn Terry, 38, was found unconscious in her basement bedroom in Highland. Her blood-sugar level had plummeted and could not be stabilized, according to charging documents.

Sundwall, who used to live with Terry, was also in the room. Sundwall’s parents had arrived at her request to give Terry a religious “blessing of release,” the charges state. Sundwall allegedly told another relative not to call an ambulance because Terry had a “do not resuscitate” medical order and Sundwall “had her power of attorney.”

But police investigating Terry’s death say that “no documentation of either was ever located.” Furthermore, detectives learned that Terry “was not diabetic and had no reason to have a glucose monitor or to take insulin,” according to the charges.

As the investigation continued, police learned that Terry had told Sundwell “numerous times over the years that (Sundwall) was Terry’s life insurance beneficiary of a policy worth over a million dollars,” the charges state.

The investigation also revealed that Sundwall and Terry “had discussed using insulin to cause death many times since 2020, with (Sundwall) consistently urging (Terry) to do it and (Terry) regularly pretending that she had done so, but claiming it ‘didn’t work.'”

Terry’s sister told police that Terry “had been diagnosed with leukemia several years earlier” while Sundwall and Terry were roommates, according to a series of search warrant affidavits filed by police during their investigation in 2024. “She stated that she moved Kacee out of the shared apartment and into her grandfather’s house … due to Kacee complaining about Meggan bringing insulin home and trying to talk Kacee into treatments to help end her suffering.”

Her sister told doctors at the hospital that Terry “had terminal cancer for four to five years,” according to a police booking affidavit. But doctors, “while getting information about (Terry’s) medical history from her primary care physician they were told that she never had cancer. The autopsy performed revealed no cancer and no health problems.” Court records do not indicate why Terry may have told her sister she had cancer.

Sundwall sent several text messages over years to Terry encouraging her to “kill herself by insulin overdose,” such as: “You have to let go! It is past time!” and “Someone (should probably be me) should stay with you and continue to give you doses so it will actually stay low and you can pass” and “I can give you insulin over and over until it works … I will come and help you,” according to charging documents.

By February 2024, Sundwall was discussing her “dismal” financial situation with Terry and said, “If you dying would get me out of this mess and darkness I am in now, I would take it!” the charges allege.

Police, however, say there was no evidence that Terry ever attempted to take her own life and her family told investigators she was not suicidal. And “despite the years of conversations about overdosing on insulin,” police say Sundwall claimed she had no idea Terry wasn’t doing well when she was found unconscious on Aug. 12, 2024.

“Since about January 2024, (Sundwall) had been complaining to (Terry) about her poor finances, and (Terry) reassured (Sundwall) that (Sundwall) was her beneficiary of the million dollar life insurance policy,” the charges say. After Terry died on Aug. 15, 2024, Sundwall allegedly asked police to find the life insurance papers in Terry’s room but no papers were found.

“(Sundwall) called the life insurance company after (Terry’s) death and learned that, in fact, (Terry) did not have a life insurance policy,” the charges state.

Police served a search warrant on Sundwall’s phone and found nearly 300 text messages between July 20, 2024, and Aug. 12, 2024, had been deleted “particularly those that addressed insulin or (her) money problems. When asked why she deleted those texts, (Sundwall) responded that she didn’t want it to look like what she was being accused of … murdering (Terry),” according to the charging documents.

Correction: Sundwall called her parents to give Terry a blessing. An earlier version incorrectly stated it was Terry’s parents.

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