HIGHLAND, Utah — Highland police officers say they have arrested a Utah nurse after she allegedly killed a patient in an effort to collect life insurance money. Meggan Randall Sundwall, 47, was arrested Thursday and faces aggravated murder and obstruction of justice charges.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 13 News, the investigation started on August 12, 2024, when Lone Peak police officers were called to a home in the 6600 block of W. Stevens Lane. When they arrived they found 38-year-old Kacee Lyn Terry unresponsive.

Kacee’s uncle, Mark Farnsworth told officers that he had found Kacee unconscious and struggling to breathe. When Kacee was found she was alone in her bedroom with Sundwall who is a licensed registered nurse.

Meggan told officers that Kacee had been in that condition for “a couple of hours” and claimed that Kacee had a do not resuscitate order and didn’t want to go to the hospital.

While paramedics were on the scene they discovered a diabetic needle. Kacee according to investigators was not a diabetic. When she was transported to Mountain Point Hospital in Lehi they found her blood sugar level was at 14. Detectives say any blood sugar level below 40 is considered life-threatening.

While Kacee was in the ICU, her sister informed doctors that Kacee had terminal cancer for 4-5 years. However, when Kacee’s medical history from her primary care physician was reviewed they found that she never had cancer. A later autopsy would confirm she didn’t have cancer or major health problems.

Kacee Terry was declared brain dead by doctors and died on August 15, 2024, about 3 days after the initial 9-1-1 call. Investigators say a DNR was never located for Kacee and there was no paperwork designating Meggan Randall Sundwall as her power of attorney.

When investigators spoke to Kacee’s family and friends they shared that they believed Meggan had been trying to kill Kacee for years. Detectives say evidence located on the victim’s phone showed a thread of texts beginning in December of 2019.

Over the four years of text messages, detectives say Meggan detailed different ways she would killed herself if she was Kacee. Meggan also allegedly offered to “help” Kacee die and discussed how Kacee’s death would solve money problems for Meggan.

According to investigators, Meggan Sundwall believed she was the beneficiary of a rumored $1.5 million life insurance policy held by Kacee.

A forensic pathologist told police the only way for Kacee’s blood sugar level to drop to 14 is through exogenous insulin. That means the insulin would have had to have been administered from outside the body.

When a blood glucose monitor found on the scene was reviewed, the stored history showed 19 readings in 10 hours on August 12. The readings on the monitor continually drop and at 4:23 p.m. Meggan allegedly searched how low the specific monitor would read.

Court documents say that the monitor’s final three readings were marked “Lo,” meaning below 19. Police believe Kacee at that point was unconscious and unable to test her own blood sugar.

Police also found that at 9:47 a.m. the day that Kacee was discovered, Meggan sent Kacee a text reading, “Do you want to take some promethazine when I get there so that you are asleep when this is happening?”

The Medical Examiner later confirmed the cause of death for Kacee as an overdose of Promethazine, probable exogenous insulin, and other drugs. The official manner of death was left undetermined by the office.

Five hours after the morning text from Meggan to Kacee, Meggan texted her mother saying that she couldn’t get Kacee to wake up. Despite this and being a nurse, Meggan didn’t call for medical help until Kacee’s uncle discovered her seven hours later.

Investigators say that after Kacee’s death, Meggan continuously searched for Kacee’s life insurance policy through calls and emails. During that time she is also accused of deleting 900 texts from her phone.

Meggan Randall Sundwall was arrested on Thursday and is being held without bail by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy received applause at a Thursday town hall in Salt Lake City when she told the crowd she’s concerned about the country drifting toward authoritarianism “if we don’t get the executive branch under control.”

But the cheers turned to boos when she added those worries weren’t specific to Republican President Donald Trump.

“When Biden was president, I had the same concern,” she said, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden.

Maloy’s comments summed up her careful approach to criticizing Trump throughout the event, which she held with Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy. The Utah lawmakers are among a handful of Republicans who have held public meetings against the recommendation of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who encouraged them to skip out after others drew protesters.

The boisterous audience in liberal Salt Lake City repeatedly urged Maloy to denounce Trump’s sweeping federal budget cuts. Maloy wields power over federal funding as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. She and Kennedy said they opposed some of the administration’s cuts, including to the National Park Service. But Maloy also said tough spending decisions are necessary.

“We are not going to get out of the situation we’re in financially without all of us feeling some pain,” she said.

Maloy said she and Kennedy held the town hall because they believed Utah could set an example on how to hold civil discussions about tough issues. Questions were sent in to a message board and attendees could vote for those they were most interested in hearing. The question about authoritarianism came from a man who stood up and shouted it.

To jeers from the crowd, Kennedy defended Trump’s actions in his first three months in the White House, including the president’s move to end foreign aid contracts at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“We need to make sure that our own house is in order,” he said. “We’re spending money off in foreign lands on things that may or may not be meritorious. In this case, our grandchildren will be paying back with economic disaster.”

Maloy took a more tepid approach, telling the crowd she sees a need for more checks on the executive branch as Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders.

She said she called the White House to express concern about an order that directed federal agencies to lay off hundreds of thousands of probationary employees. Judges recently ordered the workers to be rehired. She said she supports broad efforts to shrink the size and scope of the federal government but thinks the mass firing of probationary workers was the wrong approach.

Many questions focused on how federal budget cuts might impact Utah’s vast public lands, including its five national parks. Both lawmakers said they opposed the Trump administration’s reductions of National Park Service staff, but that they had little power to influence his decisions. Some jobs have been restored.

Maloy, who lives just north of Zion National Park, began her career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working to conserve natural resources, improve water quality and manage nutrients in the farmlands of southwest Utah. In Congress, she has served on subcommittees focusing on water resources and rural development. Her district includes many rural towns known for outdoor recreation.

Kennedy is a family doctor and former state senator. His district spans the entire eastern border of the state and groups vastly different communities, from the winter resort town of Park City, to the urban center of Provo, down to the red rock recreation hub of Moab.

Voters from both parties said after the town hall they had hoped to hear more about Social Security. Dozens of the program’s offices across the country are slated to close due to actions taken by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Not everyone in the crowd opposed Trump’s actions. Andrew Turner, a 30-year-old Republican and engineering student, said he wished the lawmakers had more time to address the future of Social Security and criticized the audience for talking over Maloy and Kennedy as they tried to answer questions.

“Something will have to be done about Social Security because otherwise it’s going to collapse,” he said. “I know as somebody who’s younger, at the current trajectory, I’m probably not going to be able to use the program. So I support the budget cuts Trump is doing.”

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SABRES (27-33-6) at UTAH (30-27-11)

9 p.m. ET; Utah16, MSG-B

Sabres projected lineup

JJ Peterka — Tage Thompson — Alex Tuch

Brett Murray — Ryan McLeod — Jason Zucker

Jordan Greenway — Peyton Krebs — Jack Quinn

Beck Malenstyn — Tyson Kozak — Sam Lafferty

Mattias Samuelsson — Rasmus Dahlin

Bowen Byram — Jacob Bryson

Owen Power — Connor Clifton

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

James Reimer

Scratched: Jacob Bernard-Docker

Injured: Zach Benson (illness), Josh Norris (undisclosed), Jiri Kulich (concussion)

Utah projected lineup

Clayton Keller — Logan Cooley — Nick Schmaltz

Michael Carcone — Barrett Hayton — Dylan Guenther

Lawson Crouse — Jack McBain — Josh Doan

Alexander Kerfoot — Kevin Stenlund — Mattias Maccelli

Mikhail Sergachev — John Marino

Olli Maatta — Sean Durzi

Ian Cole — Michael Kesselring

Karel Vejmelka

Jaxson Stauber

Scratched: Nick Bjugstad, Nick DeSimone

Injured: Robert Bortuzzo (lower body)

Status report

Peterka will return after missing three games with a lower-body injury. … Benson, a forward, may not play, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. .. Maccelli will enter the lineup for the first time since Feb. 8 after being a healthy scratch the past 13 games.