Ex-youth pastor charged with murder in wife’s 2006 Zion fall

David Howard Vander Meer, 48, a former Las Vegas youth pastor, was arrested Monday and charged June 16 in Utah’s 5th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, and insurance fraud, a second-degree felony, after his wife’s 2006 fall from Angels Landing in Zion National Park.

Bernadette Vander Meer died Aug. 22, 2006, after falling about 1,200 feet from Angels Landing while the couple were visiting for their anniversary. She was 29, the same age as her husband at the time. Court records show the hike began at 4:20 a.m. and that the couple used headlamps near the top. David Vander Meer told investigators he was moving backpacks when Bernadette disappeared and fell.

Officials initially ruled the death accidental because of a limited investigation and a lack of evidence, even as investigators found the circumstances suspicious. The case stayed dormant for years until a 2022 tip from a former youth group member led detectives back to it. Another major tip came in October 2025, when Barry Diamond, a senior pastor at a church where Vander Meer had worked, told investigators he believed the fall was not an accident and that David Vander Meer pushed Bernadette.

Court documents show the couple’s life insurance rose from $150,000 on each spouse to about $550,000 each before Bernadette died. Prosecutors say he later collected more than $567,000 in insurance money in 2007. Investigators also learned he had a sexual relationship with a girl in his youth group, identified in the records as SH, and that he allegedly told her the only way they could be together was if Bernadette was not alive.

Richard and Laura Gudenkauf, Bernadette’s parents in Henderson, said they had long believed their daughter’s death was no accident and welcomed the arrest. Angels Landing is a 1,488-foot sandstone spine with steep drop-offs and chain-assisted sections. The National Park Service now requires year-round permits for the trail beyond Scout Lookout, and the Washington County Attorney’s Office asks anyone with information to come forward.