Former youth pastor dies day he was set to appear in court for the 2006 death of his wife

A former youth pastor who was set to appear in court Thursday for the decades-old murder of his wife is now dead, a Las Vegas judge announced in court.

"He's not here; he's deceased," the judge said before adjourning the hearing.

David Vander Meer, 49, was charged with murder and insurance fraud in the death of his then-29-year-old wife Bernadette Vander Meer earlier this week. He was accused of killing his wife in 2006 and collecting her $600,000 life insurance policy, according to court records.

The day David Vander Meer was set to appear in court, Las Vegas police announced Thursday that a "49-year-old male inmate" at the Clark County Detention Center with "self-sustained injuries" was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Police said the inmate had been at the detention center since June 22, the same day David Vander Meer was arrested, and was a fugitive from another state.

The Clark County Coroner's Office will release the official cause of death and identification of the inmate, police said Thursday. The office currently lists David Vander Meer's cause and manner of death as pending.

According to court records, David Vander Meer collected over $567,000 in life insurance, which he allegedly used to live "lavishly." He allegedly, according to court records, bought vehicles for a girl he had groomed and another member of the youth group, and took the group on several all-expense-paid trips.

David Vander Meer applied for $150,000 life insurance policies for himself and his wife in 2005. He then raised their policies to $550,000 each in November 2005, less than a year before his wife's death, according to court records.

In August 2006, David Vander Meer and his wife went to Zion National Park in Utah to celebrate their anniversary. The two went on a hike to the summit of Angels Landing starting at 4:20 a.m., according to court documents.

David Vander Meer told investigators that he went to move their backpacks out of the way so he could take a shot of his wife, and while his back was turned, he heard her scream as she fell, according to court documents.

He told investigators at the time that he did not see her trip or hear anything before she fell to her death, according to prosecutors.

At the time, David Vander Meer told investigators he had never been unfaithful to his wife and that she had never been unfaithful to him, according to court documents.

Bernadette Vander Meer’s death was ruled an accident, and the case was closed at the time "although investigators felt the circumstances were suspicious," according to court records.

In April 2022, local law enforcement received a tip from a previous youth group member that David Vander Meer had been using "his position of special trust to groom kids," according to court documents.

One of the children he had allegedly groomed and was in a sexual relationship with at the time of Bernadette Vander Meer’s death was interviewed by investigators looking into the tip, according to court documents.

The unnamed individual told investigators she was in an ongoing sexual relationship with David Vander Meer from when she was 16 years old until the age of 19 to 20, according to court documents.

She told investigators that she ended the relationship with David Vander Meer the night before he had left with his wife for the 2006 anniversary trip where Bernadette Vander Meer died, according to court records.

The unnamed individual told investigators that David Vander Meer told the youth group he was taking a picture of his wife at the top of Angel’s Landing and when he turned to get something out of his bag, he heard a scream and she was gone, according to court records.

Prosecutors said this conflicted with the statement he gave investigators at the time of the incident.

The case was closed in 2022 and was not followed up on, according to court records.

In October 2025, Barry Diamond, the senior pastor of the church David Vander Meer worked at in the past, told the Washington County Attorney’s Office in Utah that he believed the death was not an accident and that David Vander Meer had pushed his wife, according to court records.

Diamond told investigators that several members of the youth group, who are all currently adults, also recalled inappropriate relationships with David Vander Meer, one of which was sexual, according to court records.

Investigators then interviewed several youth group members who reported David Vander Meer had been unfaithful to his wife for years before she died, and several other individuals interviewed by law enforcement said they had suspected he killed his wife, according to court records.

Among those interviewed was the female with whom David Vander Meer allegedly had a sexual relationship with at the time of his wife’s death, court records said. She told investigators that she met David Vander Meer when she was 14 years old and recalled him "giving her special attention, buying her gifts and giving her gradual physical affection," according to court documents.

She told investigators their relationship became sexual in 2002, when she was 16 years old, while he was married, according to court documents. At the time, David Vander Meer was 25 years old, she told investigators, court records said.

She told investigators that after the initial instance, and every subsequent time she met with David Vander Meer, it led to them having sex, court records said.

At some point, his wife became suspicious, and the girl described a time when Bernadette Vander Meer arrived at the church during one of the instances the unnamed girl was with David Vander Meer. He allegedly made the girl meet with his wife, who was "pounding" on the door, and tell her he was not there, according to court documents.

David Vander Meer also purchased the girl a secret phone to contact her and arrange meetings to continue their relationship, she told investigators. Phone company records corroborated the girl’s account, according to court records.

Prior to his wife’s death, David Vander Meer told the unnamed girl "the only way they could be together is if Bernadette was not alive," according to court records.

She told investigators that when she turned 18 years old, David Vander Meer told her to move out of her family’s house and live with another girl from church. She said he paid her rent for over a year, according to court records.

The girl said she ended the relationship the night before David and Bernadette Vander Meer left for their 2006 anniversary trip. She told investigators they resumed their sexual relationship two to three months after Bernadette Vander Meer’s death.

David Vander Meer was fired from his job in 2008 for providing underage youth alcohol, according to court records. He then married the unnamed individual to be on her health insurance, according to court records.

They publicly married in 2010 and divorced in 2014, according to court records. Their marriage was marked by "instability, emotions distance and ongoing infidelity," according to court records.

Investigators also found inconsistencies in David Vander Meer’s account of his wife’s death, determining it was unlikely the sun had begun to rise before she fell to her death, as he had told investigators, according to court records.