A former church youth pastor was charged with the homicide of his spouse almost twenty years after she plummeted from a notoriously harmful mountaineering path in Utah, based on authorities and stories.
David Vander Meer, 48, was cuffed by US Marshals on homicide and insurance coverage fraud prices on Monday after prosecutors reopened an investigation into the August 2006 demise of his spouse, Bernadette Vander Meer, NBC Information reported.
The case was reopened after Vander Meer’s former church boss tipped off investigators that “the demise was not an accident” and that “David had pushed Bernadette,” based on Washington County courtroom paperwork.
The couple was mountaineering to the highest of Angels Touchdown in Zion Nationwide Park to have fun a marriage anniversary on August 22, 2006.
Vander Meer claimed that he was setting as much as take dawn photographs when he rotated and heard his then 29-year-old spouse “scream as she was falling.”
The alleged killer husband then ran via the path to seek out somebody with higher service to name 911, with Bernadette’s physique being discovered hours later on the base of Angel’s Touchdown, Fox13 reported.
Angel’s Touchdown, a notoriously harmful rock formation with slim ridges and terrifying drop-offs, stands at almost 1,500 toes tall.
On account of a scarcity of proof, Bernadette’s fall was dominated an accident, and the case was closed, though investigators felt the circumstances round her demise have been suspicious, courtroom paperwork mentioned.
Whereas Vander Meer was a youth pastor, he allegedly started having a sexual affair with an underage lady when she was 16, and had advised her that they may solely be collectively if his spouse have been “not alive,” paperwork added.
Bernadette had reportedly grown suspicious of her husband’s infidelity within the yr earlier than her demise, whereas the pastor was paying hire for the place to have intercourse with the underage lady, the affidavit mentioned.
The lady, who was by then of authorized age, ended the 4-year affair with Vander Meer the day earlier than the married couple set out on their journey to Zion Nationwide Park.
The youth pastor was allegedly axed from his church job inside a yr or two after Bernadette’s deadly plunge, with prosecutors stating he allegedly threw booze-filled events for underage members at his home.
Two years after Bernadette died, Vander Meer tied the knot with the previous church congregant with whom he had had an affair. The couple divorced in 2014 over allegations of infidelity, the filings detailed.
David, nonetheless, has not been charged with any crimes for having a sexual relationship with a minor.
The paperwork additionally allege that Vander Meer elevated his spouse’s insurance coverage coverage from $150,000 to $600,000 shortly earlier than her premature demise.
In 2007, he acquired a life insurance coverage payout totaling roughly $567,439, based on courtroom paperwork.
Berndette’s coworker of six years on the New York New York Lodge and On line casino in Las Vegas additionally raised alarm bells about her demise — telling police she was “involved” about some circumstances round what occurred, Fox13 reported.
The coworker mentioned that Vander Meer was a no-show at work capabilities and alleged that after the couple offered a condominium years earlier, he bought a $50,000 Cadillac SUV with insurance coverage paying off the mortgage, the outlet mentioned.
Investigators discovered no proof of violence within the couple’s resort room or indicators of a wrestle after Bernadette’s fall.
It’s unclear what particular particulars helped investigators arrest Vander Meer.
Vander Meer was listed as an inmate within the Clark County Detention Middle in Las Vegas. It’s unclear whether or not he can be extradited to Utah to face prices.
Bernadette’s father, Richard Gudenkauf, advised the Las Vegas Evaluate-Journal that he suspected her demise was not an accident.
“I did a number of mountaineering along with her,” Gudenkauf advised the outlet. “She was a mountain goat. For her to fall off a cliff? No.”
