During 2014, Meagan Grunwald was a 17-year-old girl living with her parents Jerry and Tori in a small house in Draper Utah. Meagan had lived in this same Draper home for the majority of her entire. She was attending high school at Riverton High School and getting ready to start her Senior Year in 2014. Meagan was a member of the Future Farmers of America (FFA), as well as a member of a local 4-H Club. She raised show pigs with her local 4-H group. Her local church Bishop, who operated a local meat packing plant, would purchase the pigs and the feed for her, she would then raise them to slaughter weight. When Meagan would sell the pigs, she would pay the bishop back for the feed and the initial cost of the suckling. While at school she did a science fair project where she would try to figure out the size of a cow’s ribeye by the cows’ circumference. They were unable to prove their hypothesis as Meagan and her science fair partner had planned it would. But with science even a failure is a success, they had discovered that it is nearly to impossible to predict the size of a cows ribeye by measuring the cows circumference.
While she was in the FFA she worked on what was known as the “Agricultural Issues” team. Meagan’s team worked on the pros and cons of using antibiotics in livestock. The team went to the county competition where they did very well, they then went to the state competition where they took second-place. Because of their second-place ranking, the team was selected to go to the nationals to compete in Indianapolis. Meagan and her family could not afford the trip, so Meagan needed to raise money in order to go to the FFA Nationals with her school’s team. To raise funds for the trip to Indianapolis Meagan put a flyer up at her local church and did errands to make money to raise the funds for travel, food, and other things for the trip.
Because of her activities in school, 4-H, and FFA, she was awarded a scholarship to Westminster College, a local private college, for $1,000 for four years to help her with tuition if she wanted to go there. Meagan’s goal was to eventually become a flight nurse and work on a paramedic helicopter crew.
Meagan had taken resource classes most of her life. She had a hard time reading and writing. She stated during her trial, “I have a hard time reading and writing and I have a really hard time of like when I read stuff of comprehending it and knowing what it says.” She was able to get on the honor roll twice, once for a GPA of 3.5 and a second time for a GPA of 4.0. Meagan was also the student of the month for Riverton High School prior to January 2014.
While going to high school Meagan worked on her Certified Nurse Assistant certification (CNA). This started her on the path to complete her goal to become a flight nurse, a nurse that assisted during helicopter flights for emergency patients. Meagan during high school worked at a Movie Theater, Holiday Oil, and Dale T. Smith and Son’s Meat Packing Plant which was co-owned by her bishop.
Meagan was the only child of Tori and Jerry. They were active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They would attend Sunday worship services as well as participate in any weekly activities the church held. The church would also help them where it could. The bishop of the church would help Meagan with school, as well as several members of the congregation spent time helping her with school and eventually introduced her to Angel.
Her father, Jerry is disabled and spends a lot of his time working in the garage on cars where he is teaching Meagan how to fix cars. Meagan knows a lot about cars and has the ability to fix almost anything on them. She was known to spend time with Jerry in the garage working on cars, including a white Toyota Tundra pickup truck. She had rebuilt almost everything in the vehicle.
Jerry was injured when a ladder collapsed as he was working as a volunteer with the Draper Volunteer Fire Department. He worked with Darrel Smith, the Vice President of Dale T. Smith and Sons Meat Packing Company in Draper, Utah. He is confined to a wheelchair most of the time. Jerry never learned to read or write and suffers mental disabilities as well from his childhood.
When Meagan was 7 years old in 2004, her father Jerry was charged for lewdness involving a minor. While the court dates were being determined and the preliminary hearings were being held Jerry was under court order “not to enter public restrooms.”1 Three days prior to Meagan’s eighth birthday Jerry entered a not guilty plea and requested a jury trial.
This had to of created tension in the family. One of the milestones in the church that Meagan and her family belonged to is being baptized when you turn eight years old. This is supposed to be a very special event. Jerry’s criminal charges and looming jury trial date had to put a damper on the festivities and drove resentment deeper into the father daughter relationship.
The lewdness charges for Jerry finally had its pretrial hearing in January of 2005 and a letter was filed with the court that stated that Jerry was a patient at the LDS hospital. The Jury trial was set for June of 2005. Jerry was still under court order to not enter public restrooms. On June 6th, 2005, the case was settled with a plea of abeyance. The defense and prosecution had reached an agreement that if Jerry followed the rules of the plea, then the case would be officially closed and no charges would be filed in May of 2007.
For the next two years, Jerry was on a modified form of Parole. The conditions of the plea of abeyance were that he would have no further violations, report to court if ordered to do so, keep his address current with the court, not be allowed to be alone with any child under the age of 14 except for Meagan, have no contact with the victim of the case, and engage in counseling if the court deemed it appropriate. Jerry followed the conditions of the plea, and the case was officially closed on the first of May 2007.
Her mother, Tori, held down several jobs and tried her best to keep the family running. When Tori was 13 years old, she was in a life-threatening car accident. During the accident she suffered brain damage and was in a coma for almost four months. Because of this accident Tori suffers from memory issues and must call Meagan several times a day to remember to do things. Meagen can receive phone calls from her mother at any time during the day for almost any subject.
When Meagan was 4 years old, her mother was driving in Hurricane Utah in the Southern part of Utah. Tori was driving a 1998 Ford Windstar van, and Meagan was a passenger. Tori turned onto State Street from a side street and did not see the 60-year-old man that was driving a 1991 Plymouth Voyager van. Cox, the driver of the other vehicle saw Tori pull out and was able to move into the center lane but could not avoid the accident. Four-year-old Meagan did not suffer any injuries, but Tori was taken to the hospital for treatment of a fractured right wrist. Mr. Cox was praised by local police for his defensive driving that turned the serious T-Bone collision into a glancing blow that facilitated only the right fender of his vehicle striking the Grunwald van.
Jerry and Tori would fight constantly, and when Angel moved into the house the arguing increased. Draper police had flagged the Grunwald home as a residence that requires the response of two or more police officers. Jerry is known for being combative with police and has authority issues. Jerry does not like Angel living in their house. His argument is that Angel is 27 years old, and Meagan is only 17. The tension between Jerry and Angel causes several domestic disturbances that result in the police being called to the residence. Because of the age difference between Angel and Meagan Jerry calls Angel a child molester and does not like the living arrangements. Tori on the other hand thinks the arrangement is okay. She supports it because Angel pays some rent as well as purchases groceries and helps fix things around the house and yard.
Because of their disabilities Meagan testifies in court that they basically were on Social Security and Government funds most of their lives. Tori and Jerry ultimately divorce in February of 2014, shortly after their daughter is arrested and charged in the murder of Sergeant Cory Wride and shooting of Deputy Sherwood.
- Case History, Orem City v Jerry Dean Grunwald, 0431200714 ↩︎
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