Youth pastor accused of pushing wife off Zion cliff found dead

David Vander Meer, the former Las Vegas youth pastor accused of murdering his wife during a hike at Zion National Park nearly 20 years ago, died on Thursday before he could face the charges, KSNV-TV reports.

Read more Potentially ‘distracted’ lifeguard runs over beachgoer in Half Moon Bay

Judge Eric Goodman announced Vander Meer’s death at the start of what had been scheduled as an extradition hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department later confirmed that a 49-year-old male inmate at the Clark County Detention Center had been transported to University Medical Center on Wednesday for treatment of what police described as “self-sustained injuries” and was pronounced dead Thursday. Barry Diamond, the former senior pastor of the church where Vander Meer once worked, told NBC News he was informed by the lead investigator on the case that Vander Meer had hanged himself.

Vander Meer had been in custody since June 22. He was charged with first-degree murder and insurance fraud in connection with the 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, who fell to her death from Angels Landing in Zion National Park. 

“There are no winners here,” Diamond told NBC News. “This is a tragedy for Bernadette’s family, this is a tragedy for Dave’s family. They’re good people and he hurt them too.”

—

The morning of Aug. 22, 2006, David Vander Meer led his wife, Bernadette, up one of the most dangerous trails in America before dawn, wearing headlamps in the dark. They were celebrating their anniversary. Before the sun rose, Bernadette plunged 1,200 feet to her death. Her husband said she fell while he stepped away to move their backpacks out of a camera shot. Prosecutors now say he pushed her.

Nearly 20 years later, the former Las Vegas youth pastor was arrested June 22 by U.S. marshals and then charged with her death. A probable cause affidavit first reported by KUTV-TV and reviewed by SFGATE details what investigators now say drove Vander Meer to kill his wife: her $550,000 life insurance policy, an alleged yearslong sexual relationship with a girl in his youth group and a marriage he needed to escape before it all unraveled.

Angels Landing is a 1,488-foot sandstone monolith in Zion National Park, and the trail to its summit is among the most treacherous in the country. The last half-mile follows a narrow, chain-lined ridge with sheer drop-offs on both sides. At least 17 people have died there, according to a review of trail fatalities by Washington County investigators.

Investigators at the scene in 2006 initially leaned toward the tragedy being an accident, but the affidavit notes they “felt the circumstances were suspicious” even then. The case was closed anyway, due to what the document calls “lack of evidence, and limited investigation.”

At the center of the case is a woman identified in court documents only as SH, who joined Vander Meer’s youth group at New Song Christian Church in Las Vegas when she was around 14 years old. The affidavit says Vander Meer began grooming her early, buying her presents, paying her special attention and making increasingly physical contact, described in court documents as “knee touches, and hugs.”

The relationship became sexual when SH was 16, according to the affidavit. The first time, investigators say, was at Vander Meer’s father’s cabin in Brian Head, Utah. At age 25, Vander Meer was nine years the girl’s senior and married to Bernadette at the time.

What followed was years of alleged abuse conducted in careful secrecy. The affidavit says Vander Meer purchased SH a cellphone that even her mother didn’t know about and used it to arrange meetings with her. He took her to pay-by-the-hour hotels in Las Vegas and to the church after hours to have sex, according to the documents. The affidavit describes one night when Bernadette, growing suspicious of her husband’s behavior, showed up at the church and began pounding on the door; Vander Meer sent SH to the door to tell Bernadette he wasn’t there.

When SH turned 18, sometime in 2004 or 2005, the affidavit states, Vander Meer told her to move out of her mother’s house. He paid her rent for more than a year so they would have a private place to meet, according to the affidavit. He was still married to Bernadette.

During this time, the affidavit says, Vander Meer told SH that the only way they could be together was if Bernadette were “not alive.”

AT&T phone records obtained by investigators show SH’s number on Vander Meer’s account from 2004 through 2007, corroborating her account.

In March 2005, investigators say that Vander Meer took out life insurance policies of $150,000 each on himself and Bernadette. Eight months later, in November 2005, he increased both policies by $400,000, bringing them to $550,000 each. His annual income at the time was $38,000.

The affidavit notes Bernadette was then becoming suspicious of Vander Meer’s actions. Witnesses told investigators she had stopped getting her nails done and couldn’t even buy a $6 pair of pantyhose because she gave all her money to David. She had written letters expressing sadness that he did not publicly show affection toward her and treated others with more attention. A journal entry from November 2003, retrieved from her computer, described loneliness and dissatisfaction in the marriage, according to the affidavit. Bernadette had told David she would divorce him if he didn’t change, her mother, Laura Gudenkauf, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Bernadette expressed excitement about the Zion trip, the affidavit notes, because it would be their first trip alone. David typically brought youth group members along on their travels.

The night before they left, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006, SH met with Vander Meer at the church and ended their four-year relationship. She told investigators she wanted to pursue a boy from church her own age. The following morning, Vander Meer and Bernadette drove to Zion.

Read more Man’s dogs attacked children in Calif. park, now the owner may be on the run

According to the affidavit, Vander Meer told investigators the couple started up the Angels Landing trail at 4:20 a.m. They wore headlamps, he said, but removed them near the summit as it started to get light. He said he set up the camera at the summit to take a photo of Bernadette in silhouette against the sunrise, noticed their backpacks were in the frame and walked 5-10 feet away to move them; when he turned back around, she was gone. He heard her scream as she fell. He said he did not see her trip or hear anything before she fell.

But investigators found a problem with that account. A review of sunrise data from Aug. 22, 2006, using NASA calculations, found that the sun did not rise above a flat horizon until 6:54 a.m. that morning. The first 911 call came in at 6:20 a.m., more than 30 minutes before sunrise. Given the extreme terrain surrounding Angels Landing, with mountains to the east blocking direct sunlight even longer, investigators concluded it could not have been light enough to photograph a silhouette at the time Bernadette fell.

“Evidence shows that David’s recollection of the visibility that morning to officers, could not have been accurate as the sun did not rise till much later,” the affidavit states.

Investigators also mapped every known fatality on the Angels Landing trail. In analyzing the 17 deaths, they found the location where Bernadette fell, at the highest point of the trail, was not a spot where accidental deaths typically occur. One officer who worked the scene in 2006 recalled Vander Meer’s demeanor as “contrived.” Another said the circumstances seemed “far too convenient — the location, the time of morning and no witnesses.” The area is on a sheer cliff, with no vegetation or ledge to catch a falling person. 

A statement Vander Meer gave to his youth group after Bernadette’s death also conflicted with what he had told police. He told the group that he heard a scream after turning to get something out of his bag. To investigators, he said he had walked away to move backpacks.

In the weeks after Bernadette’s death, Vander Meer gathered SH and other youth group members at his home and held what the affidavit describes as a “circle of meditation” to grieve.

Two to three months after Bernadette died, SH and Vander Meer resumed their sexual relationship. He spent the insurance money freely, purchasing cars for SH and another woman from the youth group and flying teenagers on trips at his expense.

In December 2008, Vander Meer and SH entered a private legal marriage so he could get health insurance through her employer. They publicly married in 2010. The affidavit says their relationship was marked by “instability” and “ongoing infidelity” after SH discovered condoms and hotel receipts and later tested positive for a sexually transmitted infection she could only have contracted from Vander Meer. They divorced in 2014, and Vander Meer married two more times after that.

The case cracked open first in April 2022, when a former youth group member contacted law enforcement and accused Vander Meer of grooming. Investigators tracked down SH, who described the relationship in a phone interview. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office filed the information as a supplement to the original 2006 report and noted further investigation was needed. Then the case went cold again for three years.

In October 2025, Vander Meer’s former boss, Diamond, contacted the Washington County Attorney’s Office and said he believed Vander Meer had pushed Bernadette and that her death was not an accident. That tip reopened the investigation in earnest. A lieutenant investigator with the Washington County Attorney’s Office re-interviewed SH in person in December 2025, gathered phone records, personal writings and digital evidence, and interviewed former officers who worked the scene.

Until his arrest Monday, Vander Meer had been working as a counselor at Somerset Academy Lone Mountain charter school in Las Vegas.

Diamond told NBC news Thursday that there may be a silver lining to the news of Vander Meer’s death. The woman identified in court papers only as SH would not have to testify in court and revisit the abuse alleged in the charging documents. “I talked to her earlier today,” Diamond told the outlet. “We’re still in touch and I know that David once came by her house and frightened her. She has children. I told her that now you’ll never have to worry about him showing up on your door.”

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673 in the U.S.

If you are in distress, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 24 hours a day at 988, or visit 988lifeline.org for more resources.