Youth Pastor Charged With Murder in Wife's Fatal 2006 Fall Kills Himself in Custody

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/zion-national-park-angels-landing-murder.html

Man Charged With Murder in Wife’s Fatal 2006 Fall Kills Himself in Custody
David Vander Meer had claimed his wife’s death in Zion National Park had been an accident. The case was reopened in 2022, and on Monday, he was arrested in Las Vegas after being charged with murder.
By John S.W. MacDonald
June 24, 2026

A former youth pastor killed himself in custody in Las Vegas on Thursday, days after he was charged with murdering his wife 20 years ago during a hike in Zion National Park in Utah and reporting her death as an accidental fall, the authorities said.

Mr. Vander Meer, who was 29 at the time, said she had fallen while he was trying to take a picture of her near the trail’s edge, according to later court documents. Her death was ruled an accident and the case was closed.

However on Tuesday, the Washington County Attorney’s Office in Utah announced that it had charged Mr. Vander Meer with first-degree murder in her death, saying he had pushed Ms. Vander Meer off the trail.

The pastor had been engaged for years in what an investigator for the attorney’s office described in an affidavit as an “inappropriate sexual relationship” with a member of his youth ministry that began when she was underage. Mr. Vander Meer had told her that they could be together only if his wife were “not alive,” according to the affidavit, which identified the girl only as “SH.”

The attorney’s office also charged Mr. Vander Meer, 49, with insurance fraud, alleging that he had taken out life insurance policies in 2005 for himself and his wife that eventually totaled $550,000 each.

Investigators reopened the case in 2022 after receiving a tip from a former youth group member who said Mr. Vander Meer had been using his position at his church, New Song, to “groom kids,” according to court documents.

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/06/25/david-vander-meer-las-vegas-death/90698846007/

Ex-youth pastor dead after being charged in 2006 murder of wife
James Powel / USA TODAY
June 25, 2026

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A woman identified in the affidavit only by her initials told investigators that Vander Meer had groomed her starting in 2002, when she was 14. She reported that the relationship became sexual when she was 16. He never spoke of the two of them having a future together but told her that the only way the two would be together was "if Bernadette was not alive," according to the affidavit.

The woman told investigators that Bernadette had begun to suspect Vander Meer of infidelity, but their relationship, which included secret phones and meetings at pay-by-the-hour motels, continued. She ended the relationship on Aug. 20, 2006, the day before the Vander Meer left for their anniversary trip to Zion National Park.

The affidavit states that park officers told investigators that the spot the fall occurred at was "unusual," that Vander Meer's behavior after the incident was "contrived" and that solar patterns were inconsistent with Vander Meer's original statements.

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