A former Las Vegas youth pastor, David Vander Meer, has been arrested and charged with murder and insurance fraud nearly 20 years after his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, died in a fall at Zion National Park in Utah. U.S. Marshals took Vander Meer into custody on Monday, following a newly reopened investigation that alleges he pushed his wife from Angels Landing to collect over $567,000 in life insurance money.

Bernadette Vander Meer died on Tuesday, August 22, 2006, when she fell about 1,200 feet while hiking with her husband to celebrate their wedding anniversary. At the time, her death was ruled an accident due to lack of evidence, though investigators noted several suspicious circumstances. The case was closed until last year, when Barry Diamond, a senior pastor at a church where Vander Meer worked, contacted authorities expressing doubts about the accidental nature of the fall.

The investigation revealed that Vander Meer increased his and his wife's life insurance policies from $150,000 to $600,000 less than a year before her death. Vander Meer filed an insurance claim shortly after the incident and received a payout of $567,439, which he reportedly spent on luxury items and travel for romantic partners.

New evidence surfaced in April 2022, when a former youth group member, identified as "SH," told investigators she had been in a sexual relationship with Vander Meer since she was 16—years before Bernadette’s death. The affidavit claims SH ended the relationship just before the fatal trip, and that Vander Meer later said "the only way they could be together is if Bernadette was not alive." After Bernadette's death, Vander Meer and SH resumed their relationship and married in 2008, divorcing six years later. The affidavit also documents other alleged insurance fraud incidents involving Vander Meer.

Bernadette’s father, Richard Gudenkauf, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "I did a lot of hiking with her. She was a mountain goat. For her to fall off a cliff? No."

Vander Meer, now 48, remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, awaiting extradition to Utah. No attorney has been listed for him, and his first court appearance is pending. The Washington County Attorney’s Office urges anyone with additional information to contact their office.

Podcasts