Nurse Watched Friend Die for Seven Hours Without Calling 911, Prosecutors Say

Image: Utah nurse on trial after friend with terminal cancer dies from insulin.

For years, Kacee Lyn Terry told her closest friend she was dying.

She described terminal cancer, hospice timelines, pain that wouldn’t stop. She sent texts pretending to be her own doctors and nurses, reporting how little time she had left. She said she wanted to die.

According to prosecutors, none of it was true.

But they say Meggan Sundwall believed every word — and that belief, combined with financial desperation, led her to do something unforgivable.

The Charges

Meggan Sundwall, 48, a registered nurse from Santaquin, Utah, went on trial on March 11, 2026, in Utah County on charges of aggravated murder and obstruction of justice in the death of her close friend, Kacee Lyn Terry, 38.

Prosecutors allege Sundwall administered a fatal dose of insulin to Terry at her home on August 12, 2024, then sat and watched for more than seven hours as Terry descended from confusion into a coma — without calling 911.

Sundwall has pleaded not guilty. Her defense maintains that Terry died by suicide and that Sundwall did not cause her death.

What the Evidence Shows

Officers who responded to Terry’s home found her unconscious and struggling to breathe. A diabetic needle was found nearby — though Terry had no documented history of diabetes.

An autopsy confirmed Terry had no underlying health conditions. Despite years of reported medical complaints — cancer, chronic pain, terminal diagnoses — no doctor had ever given her a formal diagnosis of any serious illness, according to investigators.

Prosecutors told jurors that Terry’s glucose monitor showed her blood sugar was checked 19 times over a 10-hour period on August 12. The readings dropped steadily from normal levels to the point of unconsciousness.

According to testimony, Sundwall was present for at least seven of those hours. She did not call for help. When Terry’s family arrived, it was her uncle who finally demanded someone dial 911.

The Motive Prosecutors Are Arguing

Deputy Utah County Attorney July Thomas told jurors in opening statements that Sundwall was in serious financial trouble — she had recently lost a job and a car — and believed she stood to collect a $1.5 million life insurance policy upon Terry’s death.

That policy, prosecutors say, did not actually exist. Terry had invented it.

Thomas argued that Sundwall had spent years messaging Terry about methods of ending her life, offering to “help,” and pushing her toward death with phrases such as “there is nothing left for you here” and “you have to let go, it is past time.”

In one text presented to jurors, Sundwall wrote: “If you dying would get me out of this mess and darkness I am in, I would take it.”

Prosecutors said 283 messages were deleted from Sundwall’s phone before investigators could access it.

A Defense Built on Unanswered Questions

Defense attorney Scott Williams acknowledged Sundwall was present when Terry died but argued the evidence does not prove she administered additional insulin after Terry was already unconscious.

He told jurors that Terry had spoken of suicide for years — that her cries of pain and her requests for help dying were escalating, not fabricated. Williams said the dynamic between the two women was complex, and that Sundwall had been manipulated by a friend whose behavior had grown increasingly erratic.

A psychologist is expected to testify about that relationship dynamic during the trial.

Sundwall’s adoptive father, Levoy Randall, took the stand on March 13 and described the moment he arrived at Terry’s home and found her barely breathing. He said his daughter told him hospice had been contacted and that Terry had a do-not-resuscitate order in place.

No such order existed.

The Trial Continues

The case presents a question jurors will have to weigh carefully: at what point does standing by while someone dies cross into causing that death?

Sundwall sits at a table with her attorneys each morning in a Provo courtroom, facing the possibility of life in prison.

Terry’s family is left navigating grief wrapped in confusion — mourning a woman who spent years performing her own death, allegedly killed by the one person she called her closest friend.

The trial is ongoing.

References: Utah Nurse on Trial Accused of Killing Friend With Insulin for Insurance | Trial Begins for Nurse Accused of Killing Friend She Believed Had Cancer With Insulin Overdose