A former youth pastor died by suicide in a Nevada jail just three days after he was charged in connection with his wife’s 2006 death at Zion National Park.
David Vander Meer suffered fatal self-inflicted injuries Thursday at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, KSNV reported.
His death was announced before a scheduled extradition hearing, where officials were expected to seek his transfer from Nevada to Utah to face the charge.
Vander Meer, 49, had been charged Monday with murder in the August 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette.
Bernadette, who was 28, died after falling from a cliff during a visit to the famed Utah national park.
Investigators initially treated her death as an accident, and the case was later closed because authorities said there was not enough evidence to pursue charges.
This week, however, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Vander Meer after new information allegedly linked him to Bernadette’s death.
Vander Meer was taken into custody Monday by a fugitive task force in Summerlin and booked into the Clark County Detention Center, according to an arrest report obtained by the station.
David Vander Meer, pictured, killed himself in jail on Thursday, three days after he was charged with murdering his wife Bernadette during a trip to Zion National Park in 2006
Bernadette Vander Meer is pictured before her death, which was initially believed to have been an accident
After hearing of his sudden death, Barry Diamond, the former senior pastor of the church where Vander Meer had previously worked at, told NBC News that he was informed that he had hung himself.
‘There are no winners here. 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,’ Diamond said.
Bernadette’s death was ruled an accident decades ago, but ‘investigators felt that circumstances were suspicious,’ according to a probable cause affidavit seen by the outlet.
Her heartbroken parents, Laura and Richard Gudenkauf, have said they long suspected that Vander Meer played a role in their daughter’s death.
‘I did a lot of hiking with her, Richard told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ‘She was a mountain goat. For her to fall off a cliff? No.’
The couple said they later found out that Vander Meer was allegedly having an affair with a younger woman, and that he increased his and Bernadette’s life insurance policy just before her death, per the outlet.
At the same time, Bernadette was preparing to leave her husband, Laura revealed.
‘She was getting ready to leave him. She told him if he didn’t change, she was going to divorce him because he kept spending all this time with the other woman.’
Bernadette, 28, fell to her death from a cliff during a trip to Zion National Park, an iconic Utah beauty spot. (Pictured: File photo)
Her heartbroken parents, Laura and Richard Gudenkauf (left and middle), have said they long suspected that Vander Meer played a role in their daughter’s death
According to reports at the time of Bernadette’s death, she and her then husband set out for a hike on the Angels Landing trail around 6.30am on August 22, 2006, before she fell 1,200ft to her death.
The then 29-year-old pastor said she had fallen while he was trying to take a picture of her near the trail’s edge, court documents previously stated.
Investigators opened the case back up in 2022 after receiving word from a former youth group member that Vander Meer used his position at New Song church to ‘groom kids,’ documents read, according to the New York Times.
Officials said he had been involved in an ‘inappropriate sexual relationship’ with an underage member of the youth ministry, and that he allegedly told the girl that they could be together if his wife was ‘not alive,’ the report stated.
The girl, who has only been identified as ‘SH’ in court documents, and Vander Meer would have sex at the church and hotels for years after they met around 2002, the NYT said.
The girl cut things off with him just two days before Bernadette’s death, prosecutors said.
Judge Eric Goodman, who was supposed to preside over Vander Meer’s case, informed reporters of his death at the start of his extradition hearing on Thursday.
‘That is all the information that I have,’ Goodman told the court. ‘That’s all I know, he’s not here, he’s deceased, so let’s take it off camera.’
Developing story, check back for updates…
