A former Las Vegas youth pastor accused of pushing his wife off a Utah cliff 20 years ago is dead after taking his own life in jail — but not before leaving behind a letter insisting he was innocent while admitting he’d been less than open about how she died.
David Vander Meer was found unresponsive in his cell at the Clark County Detention Center on June 24, just two days after being booked. He was awaiting extradition to Utah, where he faced murder and insurance fraud charges in connection with the 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer.
A letter and will were discovered near his body, according to KUTV. In the note, Vander Meer acknowledged the seriousness of his situation, writing that he initially thought the ordeal would only cause “a month or two” of inconvenience.
He went on to address how little he’d shared about Bernadette’s death over the years.
“I’ve always been very selective with what I share to people about how Bernadette died, solely because I know how bad it looks,” he wrote. “I was never afraid of legal action though, because I didn’t 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 her, and I never thought it would lead to an arrest.”
Still, he seemed to recognize the weight of the evidence stacked against him.
“The additional allegations I have heard about are largely false, but not entirely,” the letter read. “They paint a picture that can’t be escaped. They spell conviction.”
Vander Meer also expressed regret over the financial support someone had been providing for his legal defense.
“I don’t deserve the financial sacrifices,” he wrote, before addressing his family. “None of my family does… I love you all.”
Vander Meer was rushed to University Medical Center with what authorities described as “self-sustained injuries” and was pronounced dead on June 25. Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Vander Meer had “strangulated himself” in what he described as “a unique and novel way,” promising a “robust review” into the death.
The case dates back to August 22, 2006, when Bernadette Vander Meer fell more than 1,000 feet from the Angels Landing trail at Utah’s Zion National Park. The couple, both 29 at the time, had traveled there to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Her death was initially ruled accidental due to a lack of evidence, though court documents claim investigators always felt the circumstances were suspicious.
In the months before her fall, Vander Meer reportedly took out life insurance policies on his wife for $150,000, later increasing them to $550,000 each. He received a payout of $567,439 in July 2007 and reportedly lived “lavishly” afterward.
The case went cold for around 15 years before a tip arrived in April 2022 from a former youth group member, who alleged Vander Meer had used his position of trust to groom young people, according to court papers.
Court documents claim Vander Meer had a sexual relationship with an underage girl beginning when she was 16, and allegedly told her they could only be together if his wife were “not alive.” Bernadette had reportedly grown suspicious of her husband’s infidelity in the year before her death, with Vander Meer allegedly paying rent on a place to meet the teenager.
Vander Meer later married the woman with whom he’d had the 𝒶𝒻𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇, but they divorced in 2014 over allegations of infidelity, according to the documents.
Charges were filed roughly eight months after his former boss reportedly told law enforcement he believed Vander Meer had pushed his wife.
In the end, the letter Vander Meer left behind offers a glimpse into a man who maintained his innocence — yet seemed convinced the world would never believe him.
Was it the final act of a man with a secret, or the desperate plea of someone who knew he’d never get the chance to prove his innocence?
