{"id":1722,"date":"2026-06-24T22:39:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1722"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:39:46","slug":"former-vegas-youth-pastor-charged-with-murder-20-years-after-his-wifes-deadly-fall-at-zion-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1722","title":{"rendered":"Former Vegas youth pastor charged with murder 20 years after his wife\u2019s deadly fall at Zion National park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A former Las Vegas youth pastor has been charged with murder and insurance fraud nearly 20 years after his wife fell some 1,200 feet to her death from a spot in Zion National Park, court records show.<\/p>\n

Read more A tale of two Democratic parties: From the Politics Desk<\/a><\/p>\n

David Vander Meer was arrested by U.S. Marshals on Monday in connection with the August 22, 2006, death of Bernadette Vander Meer at the park in Utah.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cAt the time, due to a lack of evidence, and limited investigation, Bernadette Vander Meer\u2019s fall was ruled an accident and the case was closed \u2014 although investigators felt the circumstances were suspicious,\u201d a probable cause affidavit filed in the Fifth District Court, Washington County, states.<\/p>\n

The investigation was relaunched in 2025, according to the affidavit, after the senior pastor, Barry Diamond, of a church where Vander Meer had worked told Washington County Attorney\u2019s Office investigators that \u201che believed the death was not an accident and that David pushed Bernadette.\u201d<\/p>\n

The affidavit states that Vander Meer had previously said he increased his and his wife\u2019s life insurance policies from $150,000 to $600,000 shortly before Bernadette Vander Meer died.<\/p>\n

There is no explanation in the available court papers why that did not spark a more serious investigation into whether Vander Meer killed his wife. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

According to the affidavit, Vander Meer receieved a life insurance payout of more than $567,000 in 2007.<\/p>\n

As of Wednesday, Vander Meer was still listed as an inmate at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas and the available court records did not detail whether he had a lawyer.<\/p>\n

NBC News has reached out to the Washington County Attorney\u2019s Office for more details on when they plan to extradite Vander Meer to Utah.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Bernadette Vander Meer\u2019s father said he long suspected her death was no accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a lot of hiking with her,\u201d Richard Gudenkauf told the outlet. \u201cShe was a mountain goat. For her to fall off a cliff? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vander Meer and his wife were both 29 and celebrating a wedding anniversary when they set off before dawn to hike Angel\u2019s Landing, a towering 1,488-foot sandstone rock formation at the park, the affidavit states. Vander Meer told investigators they were wearing headlamps.<\/p>\n

Read more Man seen on video being detained at Reflecting Pool faces disorderly conduct and obscenity charges<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

When they reached the summit, Vander Meer said he went to set up the camera to take a photo of the sunrise while his wife was standing near the edge, according to the affidavit. <\/p>\n

Vander Meer told investigators he went to move the backpacks out of the shot and when he turned around his wife was gone, the document states. <\/p>\n

\u201cDavid heard her scream as she fell,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

In April 6, 2022, investigators \u201creceived a tip\u201d from a person identified in the affidavit as a \u201cprevious youth group member\u201d who accused Vander Meer of \u201cusing his position of special trust to groom kids,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n

A person identified as SH who had been a member of the youth group led by Vander Meer told a detective from the Washington County sheriff\u2019s department that she had been in an ongoing sexual relationship with Vander Meer that started when she was 16, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

During an interview with the detective, SH said she broke off the relationship the night before Vander Meer left for Zion National Park in 2006 with his wife because SH \u201cfelt it was wrong,\u201d the document states.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The detective indicated \u201cfurther follow-up and investigation was needed,\u201d according to the affidavit. In 2025, Vander Meer\u2019s former boss called the Washington County Attorney\u2019s Office and told authorities he didn\u2019t believe Bernadette Vander Meer\u2019s death was an accident, the affidavit states. <\/p>\n

Jessica Bate, a lieutenant investigator with the Washington County Attorney\u2019s Office, re-interviewed SH, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

During that interview, SH said that she recalled Vander Meer telling her that \u201cthe only way they could be together is if Bernadette was not alive\u201d and that his wife suspected he was cheating on her, the document states.<\/p>\n

SH told the investigator that she and Vander Meer resumed their sexual relationship and eventually got married in 2008, \u201cso David could be on SH\u2019s health insurance,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

Vander Meer had been fired for \u201cthrowing parties for the underage members of his church\u201d at his house where there was liquor and gambling by the same pastor who called the authorities in 2025 and said Bernadette Vander Meer\u2019s death was no accident, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

Vander Meer and SH divorced in 2014, and Vander Meer married two other times, the affidavit states. <\/p>\n

Read more Drug charges against Olympic skier Bode Miller to be dismissed, lawyer says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Las Vegas youth pastor has been charged with murder and insurance fraud nearly 20 years after his wife fell some 1,200 feet to her death from a spot in Zion National Park, court records show<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Vegas youth pastor charged with murder 20 years after his wife\u2019s deadly fall at Zion National park - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1722\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Vegas youth pastor charged with murder 20 years after his wife\u2019s deadly fall at Zion National park - 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