{"id":4125,"date":"2026-07-10T08:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4125"},"modified":"2026-07-10T08:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:36:45","slug":"ex-youth-pastor-david-vander-meer-who-allegedly-pushed-wife-off-cliff-before-killing-himself-left-suicide-note-will-in-jail-cell-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4125","title":{"rendered":"Ex-youth pastor David Vander Meer who allegedly pushed wife off cliff before killing himself left suicide note, will in jail cell: report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

An ex-pastor accused of pushing his wife off a cliff before taking his own life after being charged with her murder 20 years later left a suicide note and will in his jail cell, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Read more Evil Charlie Kirk conspiracy theories finally wither in court \u2014 but that still won\u2019t crush the Candace Owens-like grift<\/a><\/p>\n

David Vander Meer \u2013 who was charged over the 2006 death of his wife Bernadette Vander Meer \u2013 was found face down and unresponsive inside his cell at the Clark County Detention Center in Nevada, at around 9:30 p.m. on June 24, KSNV reported, citing police documents.<\/p>\n

Officers performed chest compressions on the murder suspect just half an hour after he was seen sitting upright and awake inside his cell, where he was alone because of \u201cthe nature of his case,\u201d the report said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vander Meer, 49, was rushed to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas with what police described as \u201cself-sustained injuries.\u201d He was pronounced dead just after 2:35 a.m. the following day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report didn\u2019t specify when Vander Meer was admitted to the hospital \u2013 located less than two miles from the detention center.<\/p>\n

But \u201ca handwritten suicide letter and a handwritten will\u201d were left behind in his cell, cops said in their report.<\/p>\n

Police said he hadn\u2019t expressed any suicidal intentions while being held, awaiting extradition to Utah, where Bernadette\u2019s fatal plunge happened.<\/p>\n

No further details about the note and the will have been released.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Medical examiners have not yet revealed Vander Meer\u2019s cause of death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vander Meer\u2019s death came just three days after he was booked into the detention center on murder and insurance fraud charges relating to his wife\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Bernadette Vander Meer\u2019s death was initially considered accidental after she plunged more than 1,000 feet off the Angels Landing trail at Utah\u2019s Zion National Park.<\/p>\n

But the nearly two-decade-old case was reopened after his former church boss tipped off investigators that \u201cthe death was not an accident\u201d\u00a0 and that \u201cDavid had pushed Bernadette,\u201d according to<\/p>\n

The couple hiked to the top of Angels Landing to celebrate a wedding anniversary on August 22, 2006.<\/p>\n

Vander Meer claimed that he was setting up to take sunrise photos when he turned around and heard his then 29-year-old wife \u201cscream as she was falling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Expert debunks claims bullet in Charlie Kirk murder probe didn\u2019t match Tyler Robinson\u2019s rifle<\/a><\/p>\n

He then ran through the trail to find someone with better service to call 911, with Bernadette\u2019s body being found hours later at the base of Angel\u2019s Landing.<\/p>\n

Court documents also uncovered details about Vander Meer\u2019s infidelity leading up to his wife\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

While Vander Meer was a youth pastor, he allegedly began having a sexual affair with an underage girl when she was 16, and had told her that they could only be together if his wife were \u201cnot alive,\u201d court papers claimed.<\/p>\n

Bernadette had reportedly grown suspicious of her husband\u2019s infidelity in the year before her death, while the pastor was paying rent for the place to have sex with the underage girl, the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

The girl, who was by then of legal age, ended the four-year affair with Vander Meer the day before the ill-fated trip to Zion National Park.<\/p>\n

The youth pastor was allegedly axed from his church job around two years after Bernadette\u2019s death for allegedly throwing parties for underage members where there was booze present.<\/p>\n

Vander Meer later married the woman with whom he had an affair before they divorced in 2014 over allegations of infidelity, according to the documents.<\/p>\n

Vander Meer was never charged with any crimes for having a sexual relationship with a minor.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

He married and divorced three times following Bernadette\u2019s death, according to Clark County records. <\/p>\n

The documents also claimed Vander Meer increased his wife\u2019s insurance policy from $150,000 to $600,000 shortly before her death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vander Meer was charged with murder and insurance fraud \u2013 but Bernadette\u2019s parents said his death marks some form of justice.<\/p>\n

Read more Redacted letter from Tyler Robinson to trans lover accidentally shown in court<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA relief to not have to go to court,\u201d her mom Laura Gudenkauf told KLAS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ex-pastor accused of pushing his wife off a cliff before taking his own life after being charged with her murder 20 years later left a suicide note and will in his jail cell, reports say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-youth pastor David Vander Meer who allegedly pushed wife off cliff before killing himself left suicide note, will in jail cell: report - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=4125\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-youth pastor David Vander Meer who allegedly pushed wife off cliff before killing himself left suicide note, will in jail cell: report - 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