On Monday, U.S. Marshals apprehended former youth pastor David Vander Meer following charges tied to the murder and insurance fraud associated with the tragic 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, in Zion National Park.
Originally deemed an accident, the investigation into Bernadette’s death was reopened last year. This renewed interest arose after Barry Diamond, the senior pastor at Vander Meer’s former church, reportedly expressed doubts about the initial conclusion, as described in the probable cause affidavit.
“Back then, lack of solid evidence and a limited inquiry led to Bernadette Vander Meer’s fall being considered an accident, prompting the case to be closed, despite investigators’ suspicions about the situation,” the affidavit mentions.
Just over 17 months ahead of Bernadette’s fatal fall on August 22, 2006, David Vander Meer had secured a life insurance policy for both himself and Bernadette for $150,000 each. He then escalated the value of these policies by an additional $400,000 each in November 2005, the affidavit indicates.
A portrait of Bernadette Vander Meer, whose husband David stands accused of causing her fatal plunge from a cliff. At the time of her death, Bernadette was 29 years old. (KTSU)
Vander Meer submitted a claim for the policy in November 2006, once his wife’s death was ruled an accident. In July 2007, he received a $567,439 payment. He reportedly spent the money lavishly on cars and all-expenses-paid trips for romantic partners, according to the affidavit.
At the time of Bernadette’s death, Vander Meer said his wife fell off the edge of a cliff while the pair were hiking in Utah’s Zion National Park.
Vander Meer claimed he went to clear obstructions to a camera he had set up to take a photo of the pair when his wife fell and that he “heard her scream as she fell,” the affidavit reads. Bernadette’s father doubted this account.
“I did a lot of hiking with her,” her father, Richard Gudenkauf, told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “She was a mountain goat. For her to fall off a cliff? No.”
In April 2022, investigators received a tip from a former member of Vander Meer’s youth group who claimed he used “his position of special trust to groom kids.”
Canyon Overlook at Zion National Park in Springdale, Utah, on Jan. 15, 2021. (Josh Brasted/Getty Images)
The tipster, identified in the affidavit only as “SH,” told a sheriff’s detective she had been in a sexual relationship with Vander Meer when she was 16, the affidavit alleges.
The tipster claims she broke the relationship off the night before Bernadette’s death because she “felt it was wrong,” according to the affidavit.
After Diamond’s statement prompted investigators to reopen the case, they re-interviewed the tipster, at which point she told them that Vander Meer allegedly told her “the only way they could be together is if Bernadette was not alive,” the affidavit reads.
The tipster later re-entangled with Vander Meer, eventually marrying him in 2008, claiming she did so “so David could be on SH’s health insurance,” according to the affidavit.
The tipster and Vander Meer divorced in 2014, and Vander Meer married again at least two other times, according to the affidavit.
Angels Landing, pictured here, is regarded as one of the most dangerous hikes in the U.S., with steep drop-offs where hikers must cling to chains along a knife-edge ridge. (iStock)
In follow-up interviews with Diamond, the pastor told the Washington County Attorney’s Office that multiple members of Vander Meer’s former youth group reported engaging in sexual relationships with him while they were underage.
The affidavit details one incident in which “SH” and Vander Meer were having sex in a church when Bernadette, who “was becoming suspicious,” showed up to the church banging on the door looking for David.
David “knowingly gave misinformation” to officers during interviews, stating he had never been unfaithful to his wife, which officers learned to be untrue, according to the affidavit.
“David had a lot to lose if Bernadette found out about his relationship with SH. David stood to lose his job as a youth pastor at a church, due to the infidelity. David stood to lose his marriage. Based on SH’s age at the time their relationship became physical, David faced possible criminal charges and being a registered sex offender,” the affidavit reads.
The investigator who compiled the affidavit against Vander Meer recommended he be arrested on a no-bail warrant; however, the warrant set bail at $100,000.
Vander Meer has not yet had his first court appearance and is currently being housed at Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to NBC News.