US4 min(s) read
Published 08:14 09 Jul 2026 GMT
Twenty years after the tragic death of an aspiring singer and waitress, her husband was finally charged with his wife’s murder, but her family still did not get the justice they needed.
In 2006, Bernadette Vander Meer plunged to her death from a Utah cliff while on a hike with her husband of almost 10 years, David Vander Meer, but two decades later the circumstances surrounding her death were finally investigated.
However, although 49-year-old Vander Meer was finally beginning to face justice for what he did, Bernadette’s grief-stricken family will never get the answers they deserve, as the alleged murderer died by suicide while held in a jail cell at the Clark County Detention Center on June 25th.
To celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary, the young couple, who were both 29 at the time, went on vacation to Zion National Park to celebrate and hiked up Angels Landing, a 1,200-foot-high sandstone rock formation.
At the time, Vander Meer, a pastor, told police that his wife had toppled over the cliff edge as he was taking her picture, and cops took his word for it and ruled the tragedy an accident, then closed the case.
It was not until 16 years later, when authorities learned about Vander Meer’s adultery and worse throughout the marriage, that they decided to reopen the case.
In 2022, cops received a tip-off that at the time of Bernadette’s death, he had allegedly been grooming teenagers through his church youth group.
One of the minors had actually been mentioned by Bernadette to her mother when she told her that her husband had allegedly been cheating on her with underage girls, just weeks before she died.
The woman who came forward as the teen, known only as SH, who was allegedly preyed upon by Vander Meer, claimed that the pastor began grooming her at 14, took her virginity at 16, and bought her a secret phone to communicate with him.
During an interview with authorities, SH told cops the key line that ultimately led to the murderer’s arrest.
Allegedly, Vander Meer had told the now-40-year-old at the time that the only way they could be together forever was if Bernadette “was not alive”.
Just a few months after the singer’s fateful fall, Vander Meer and SH resumed their relationship and married two years later, apparently so he could be covered by her health insurance. They divorced just six years later in 2014 after he cheated.
Another tell-tale sign Bernadette’s death was suspicious, which cops initially completely ignored, was the fact the couple had recently upped their life insurance policies from $150,000 to $600,000.
Before the payment was handed over to Vander Meer, a representative from the insurance company interviewed Bernadette’s coworkers about her hesitations to increase the policy, and they revealed their suspicions that her husband pushed her.
A friend, Kari Krute, who worked at a casino with the late singer, recalled a shift during which Bernadette discussed with her colleagues whether she should sign the paperwork.
She said: “I told her they didn't need it. But in hindsight, I'm sure David had been planning on offing her all along.”
