Former Youth Pastor Charged with Murdering Wife 20 Years After Her Fatal Fall from Utah Hiking Trail

A former church youth pastor has been charged with murder and insurance fraud nearly two decades after his wife’s death, which was initially ruled an accident. The case was reopened after his former church leader claimed the death was not an accident and that David had pushed Bernadette, according to court documents (Proverbs 31:8-9).

David Vander Meer, 48, was arrested by US Marshals on Monday following the reopened investigation into the August 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer. The couple was hiking to the top of Angels Landing in Zion National Park to celebrate their wedding anniversary when the incident occurred.

Vander Meer claimed he was setting up to take sunrise photos when he heard his wife scream as she was falling. He then ran through the trail to find someone with better service to call 911, with her body found hours later at the base of Angels Landing, Fox13 reported.

Angel’s Landing, a notoriously dangerous rock formation with narrow ridges and terrifying drop-offs, stands at nearly 1,500 feet tall. Due to a lack of evidence, Bernadette’s fall was initially ruled an accident, though investigators felt the circumstances were suspicious, as noted in court documents.

While Vander Meer was a youth pastor, he allegedly began a sexual affair with an underage girl when she was 16, and told her they could only be together if his wife was not alive, according to the affidavit. Bernadette had reportedly grown suspicious of her husband’s infidelity in the year before her death.

The girl, who was by then of legal age, ended the four-year affair with Vander Meer the day before the couple set out on their trip to Zion National Park. The youth pastor was allegedly fired from his church job within a year or two after Bernadette’s death, with prosecutors stating he threw booze-filled parties for underage members at his house.

The documents also allege that Vander Meer increased his wife’s insurance policy from $150,000 to $600,000 shortly before her death. In 2007, he received a life insurance payout totaling approximately $567,439, according to court documents. A coworker of Bernadette’s also raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding her death, alleging Vander Meer purchased a $50,000 Cadillac SUV with insurance proceeds after selling a condo.

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