A Las Vegas former youth pastor has been found in his cell with serious “self-sustained injuries” days after being arrested for allegedly murdering his wife in 2006, and was pronounced dead soon afterwards.
As per ABC News, David Vander Meer, 49, had been arrested on June 22 and charged with murder and life insurance fraud in the death of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer (then 29), and collecting her $600,000 life insurance policy.
Court records indicate that Vander Meer applied for two life insurance policies for himself and his wife in 2005. In August 2006, the couple went to Zion National Park in Utah to celebrate their anniversary.
They began a hike to the summit of Angel’s Landing then, as Vander Meer tells it, he was moving their backpacks out of the way to take a photo and turned his back to her. He then heard a scream as she plummeted to her death.
There was a contemporary investigation, with Vander Meer telling cops he didn’t see her trip or hear anything unusual before the scream. Despite the investigators’ suspicions, her death was ruled a tragic accident, the case was closed, and he collected on her life insurance. He then lived (as per court records) “lavishly”.
A new lead
Then, in April 2022, cops received a tip from a youth group member that Vander Meer was using “his position of special trust to groom kids.” Investigators interviewed one of the women, with one of them alleging that at the time of Bernadette’s death, she’d been in a sexual relationship with Vander Meer. He then allegedly told the then-16-year-old that the only way they could be together was if Bernadette “were not alive.”
The 16-year-old girl then broke off the relationship the day before Vander Meer and his wife took their trip to Zion National Park. Two months after her death they were reportedly back together. In addition, a tip was received from Vander Meer’s former boss, who reportedly said “he believed the death was not an accident and that David had pushed Bernadette.”
ABC reports that in 2008, two years after his wife’s death, Vander Meer was fired from his church job at Legacy Church after being caught throwing parties at his house for children and plying them with alcohol.
Cops also re-examined Vander Meer’s original accounts of the accident. He said the sun had begun to rise before her death, but they considered this “unlikely” given the time he said the accident took place.
Vander Meer (now reportedly a yoga teacher and school counsellor) was arrested a week ago and was due in a Las Vegas court yesterday for a preliminary hearing, but the judge announced, “He’s not here; he’s deceased.” Las Vegas police then confirmed that a “49-year-old male inmate” at the Clark County Detention Center had been found with “self-sustained injuries” and was pronounced deceased at a local hospital.
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Published: Jun 26, 2026 11:42 am