Unfaithful pastor pushes wife from a 5,000-foot Utah cliff. Then he dies after collecting a $600,000 insurance payout
Some secrets take decades to surface
For nearly 20 years, Bernadette Vander Meer’s death was considered a tragic accident. Her husband said she fell from a Utah cliff while they were trying to take a photo. At the time, investigators found no clear reason to doubt him.
However, details from that morning eventually started raising questions. According to PEOPLE, David Vander Meer had an injury on his arm after his wife’s fall. He also reportedly told another hiker that a “man’s wife fell off the cliff,” without saying the woman was his own wife.
That was not all investigators later uncovered. David was accused of having an affair with a teenager he met through his church youth group. He had also collected $600,000 from his wife’s life insurance policy after her death.
Some details were hard to ignore
David and Bernadette, 29, went to Zion National Park on Aug. 22, 2006. David told investigators they arrived around 3:30 a.m. and later made their way to Angels Landing.
The couple reached the summit shortly after 6 a.m. They had hoped to photograph the sunrise, but David claimed the timing did not work. Instead, they decided to take a photo of Bernadette in silhouette.
David told investigators that he turned around to move their backpacks out of the picture. He then heard Bernadette scream. When he turned back, she was gone.
David called 911 and began heading down the trail. That was when he encountered other hikers, and some of their observations would become important years later.
One hiker recalled David telling him that a “man’s wife fell off the cliff.” He apparently did not explain that he was talking about his own wife. Another woman noticed an injury on David’s left forearm that looked like a “rug burn.”
David also left his camera and other equipment behind. The first hiker he encountered reportedly had to collect the belongings after David continued down the trail.
Still, David’s account remained consistent when authorities questioned him. After investigating Bernadette’s death for about a month, officials said they could not find evidence of foul play. Her death was ruled an accident.
Nearly two decades later, investigators learned information that changed the case. David had allegedly been involved with a girl he first met through his church youth group when she was 14.
According to authorities, their relationship became sexual in 2004, when she was 16. The relationship allegedly continued while David was married to Bernadette.
Investigators also learned about the timing surrounding Bernadette’s death. The young woman reportedly told David she wanted to end their relationship just two days before his wife died.
Bernadette, meanwhile, had apparently been looking forward to the trip. According to the probable cause affidavit, she was excited that she and David would be traveling alone rather than with members of his youth group.
Money also became part of the investigation. David collected $600,000 from Bernadette’s life insurance policy following her death. Prosecutors later charged him with insurance fraud in addition to murder, adding a financial dimension to the case against him .
In June 2026, a Utah grand jury indicted David in connection with Bernadette’s death. Police arrested him in Nevada, nearly 20 years after she fell from Angels Landing.
However, David never went to trial. He died from self-inflicted injuries days after his arrest while awaiting extradition to Utah.
Authorities later found a suicide note in which David maintained his innocence. Despite the murder charge against him, he insisted that he “didn’t kill her.”
His death meant the allegations were never tested at trial. Bernadette’s death, once officially considered an accident, had been reclassified as a murder two decades after she died.
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