US5 min(s) read
Published 14:29 25 Jun 2026 GMT
A man has been charged with murder two decades after his wife's cliff death was initially ruled an accident.
David Vander Meer, 49, a former youth pastor from Las Vegas, has been arrested and charged with murder and insurance fraud following a renewed investigation into his wife Bernadette Vander Meer's death on August 22, 2006.
The couple, who were 28 and 29 years old at the time, had been hiking to Angel's Landing to mark their anniversary when the young woman fell from the cliff.
The case was originally ruled accidental due to a lack of evidence.
"At the time, due to a lack of evidence, and limited investigation, Bernadette Vander Meer’s fall was ruled an accident and the case was closed - although investigators felt the circumstances were suspicious," a probable cause affidavit filed in Fifth District Court in Washington County stated, per NBC News.
Bernadette's obituary described her as someone who loved family, friends, nature, music, and performing on stage.
She worked at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino and served as a worship leader at New Song Christian Church, where both her husband and brother-in-law were pastors.
The late woman's parents said they never accepted that her death was simply a tragic accident.
"I thought it was going to kill me," her mother, Laura Gudenkauf, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Her father, Richard Gudenkauf, said his daughter was an experienced hiker. "I did a lot of hiking with her. She was a mountain goat. For her to fall off a cliff? No," he said.
Laura also claimed Bernadette had been considering ending her marriage before her death.
"She told him if he didn't change, she was going to divorce him because he kept spending all this time with this other woman," she said.
According to court documents, Vander Meer told investigators the couple began hiking Angel's Landing at around 4:20AM on August 22, 2006.
He claimed he had positioned a camera to photograph Bernadette with the sunrise behind her and briefly turned away to move their backpacks before hearing her scream as she fell from the cliff.
Investigators later found out the couple had recently increased both of their life insurance policies from $150,000 each to $600,000 each, per Daily Mail.
Handwritten letters recovered from Bernadette reportedly showed unhappiness in her marriage, while witnesses claimed she was financially controlled by her husband and "gives all her money to David".
The investigation took a turn in April 2022 after police received information from a former member of Vander Meer's church youth group, identified in court documents as "SH".
Investigators revealed the woman alleged Vander Meer "had been using his position of special trust to groom kids" at the church.
The affidavit further states: "One of the kids in his ministry that he had groomed and actively been in a sexual relationship with at the time of Bernadette's death was SH."
SH claimed the relationship began when she was just 16 years old and continued until she was between 19 and 20.
She alleged Vander Meer bought her gifts, gave her extra attention, bought her a secret phone, and eventually took her virginity when he was 25 years old.
According to the affidavit, the pair allegedly had sex at the church after hours and in pay-by-the-hour hotels.
On one occasion, after Bernadette became suspicious and arrived at the church looking for her husband, Vander Meer allegedly instructed SH to tell his wife he was not there.
SH told detectives she ended the relationship on August 20, 2006, just one day before Vander Meer and Bernadette left for Zion National Park.
She also told investigators Vander Meer had once suggested the only way they could be together was if Bernadette were no longer alive.
When SH turned 18, the pastor allegedly encouraged her to move into an apartment with another girl from the church, paying the rent himself.
"David told SH this was so they had a place to be together and have sex," the affidavit states.
Investigators also noted that Vander Meer's account of the hike given to members of his youth group differed from the version he originally gave police on the day Bernadette died.
Per investigators, Vander Meer and SH resumed their relationship just two to three months after Bernadette's death, before marrying in 2008.
The affidavit states they later held a public wedding ceremony in 2010 and that the marriage allowed Vander Meer to access SH's health insurance.
That same year, Vander Meer was fired after allegedly hosting parties where underage church members drank alcohol and gambled.
The marriage ended after SH reportedly found hotel receipts and condoms, and after testing positive for a sexually transmitted disease. The couple divorced in 2014.
Following a life insurance payout of approximately $567,439 in 2007, investigators allege Vander Meer began living "lavishly," buying vehicles, funding trips for church youth members, and purchasing plane tickets.
The case gained further momentum in October 2025 when Vander Meer's former boss, senior pastor Barry Diamond, contacted authorities, saying he believed Bernadette's death had not been accidental.
Diamond told investigators that several former youth group members had described inappropriate relationships with Vander Meer.
Those interviews, according to prosecutors, exposed his alleged infidelity, unfaithfulness, and "deceptive nature".
Investigators also pointed to Vander Meer's "descriptive storytelling," which they said led some witnesses to believe he had pushed his wife from the cliff.
Vander Meer was eventually arrested by the US Marshals Service on June 22 and is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Nevada ahead of a scheduled court appearance on June 25.
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