SICK NEW TWIST IN CLIFF MUR-DER CASE: FRIENDS REVEAL CHILLING FINAL HOURS OF YOUTH PASTOR ACCUSED OF PUSHING WIFE TO HER DE-ATH BEFORE HIS OWN SU-ICIDE

An aspiring singer’s grief-stricken family long suspected that her cheating pastor husband got away with murder when she mysteriously plunged to her death from a Utah cliff two decades ago.

In years that followed the untimely 2006 tragedy that claimed Bernadette Vander Meer’s life, her husband David Vander Meer remarkably went on to avoid scrutiny – despite what her loved ones warned were clear signs, including prior marital woes and a hefty insurance payout.

But 49-year-old Vander Meer’s murky past finally appeared to be catching up with him when he was taken into custody and charged with his wife’s slaying last month.

The relief for Bernadette’s family, though, was short lived.

Just days after his arrest, Vander Meer took his own life while holed up in a jail cell at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.

Now, a Daily Mail analysis of the tragic case reveals how a string of law enforcement oversights potentially allowed Vander Meer – a youth counsellor accused of grooming young girls – to avoid answering to his crimes altogether.

‘There were, if you think about it, all sorts of clues that he did it. I just wish the cops would have put them together… in the first place,’ Bernadette’s longtime friend, Dollie Wong, told the Daily Mail.

‘He was a smart guy, and sneaky. People gave him the benefit of the doubt and he had everyone fooled,’ Bernadette’s mother, Laura Gudenkauf, added.

David Vander Meer killed himself in a Las Vegas jail cell last month just days after he was arrested over the 2006 cliff fall death of his then-29-year-old wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, in Utah

David Vander Meer, 49, took his own life while holed up in a jail cell at Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas on June 25

The couple, both 29 at the time, had gone to Zion National Park in August 2006 – a month before their 10th wedding anniversary – to hike Angels Landing, a towering 1,200ft-high sandstone rock formation trail known for its picturesque views.

It is one of the most dangerous trails to hike anywhere in the United States. At least 18 people have died falling from the trail since 2000.

Vander Meer told police at the time that his wife – a stunning brunette who worked as a cocktail waitress at Las Vegas’s New York-New York casino – had toppled over the edge as he was preparing to take photos of her silhouetted against the sunrise.

He claimed he was moving their backpacks out of view from the camera when her heard her scream and plummet to her death.

Ultimately, Bernadette’s fall was ruled an accident and the case was closed.

Despite an investigation, authorities apparently never seemed to doubt Vander Meer when he told them he had not been unfaithful in their marriage.

Bernadette’s mother, however, says her daughter had confided to her that she was considering a divorce after learning Vander Meer was cheating with an underage member of his youth group.

‘I was such a mess that I guess I never told them. By then it was too late, anyhow,’ Gudenkauf said, noting that investigators never even asked the question during the initial probe.

Bernadette, who was an aspiring singer and beloved cocktail waitress, fell to her death in Zion National Park in 2006 while hiking with her husband

Bernadette’s parents, Laura and Richard Gudenkauf, said they long suspected their son-in-law had something to do with their daughter’s untimely death

‘She wanted to leave him. She was making that decision before she died.’

The fact the couple had recently upped their life insurance policies from $150,000 to $600,000 also failed to trigger alarm bells.

Kari Krute, a friend from the casino where Bernadette worked, remembers a shift when Bernadette brought in the paperwork for the new insurance policy and asked her and other co-workers for advice on whether to sign it.

‘I told her they didn’t need it,’ Krute said. ‘But in hindsight, I’m sure David had been planning on offing her all along.’

Wong, a fellow cocktail waitress who spent the last two decades suspecting Vander Meer of her friend’s homicide, added: ‘That insurance policy always icked me out. Right from the start, I immediately was like ‘Oh my god, he pushed her’.’

A representative from the insurance company flew to Las Vegas after Bernadette’s death to investigate Vander Meer’s claim. He interviewed coworkers about her hesitations to increase the policy and they shared their suspicions that her husband pushed her off the cliff.

‘We couldn’t prove it, of course. But we were all convinced,’ friend and fellow cocktail waitress, Kristina Riccio, said.

Still, the insurance was paid out and Vander Meer received a hefty $567,439 sum.

Her friends say Vander Meer spent years buying motorcycles and taking trips on what they described as Bernadette’s ‘blood money.’

Prior to her death, friends and family also recalled money being a part of the couple’s marital troubles.

Bernadette Vander Meer, a stunning brunette who served cocktails at Las Vegas’ New York New York casino, died while hiking with her husband. Her family have long suspected her then-spouse of shoving her

David Vander Meer killed himself in jail just days after he was charged with murdering his wife Bernadette during a trip to Zion National Park in 2006

Bernadette’s father, Richard Gudenkauf, described Vander Meer as ‘lazy, not wanting to get a full-time job’.

He added that his son-in-law controlled Bernadette’s money so tightly that he wouldn’t let her stop for a Starbucks ‘or spend even a dime on herself’.

And Bernadette’s family and friends doubted her fall was accidental, too, because she was an experienced hiker who had made that exact climb several times before.

‘She’d been hiking since age 3 and was sure on her feet,’ her father told Daily Mail.

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‘Bernadette never fell.’

It wasn’t until years later that investigators became aware of Vander Meer’s philandering.

Local cops had received a tip in 2022 that, around the time of Bernadette’s death, he had been using his position as a church youth group pastor to groom teenagers.

One of them was the girl Bernadette had mentioned to her mother, only identified in his arrest affidavit by her initials, SH.

Then, prosecutors received another tipoff last year from Vander Meer’s old boss, pastor Barry Diamond, who accused his underling of having an inappropriate relationship with SH and other teens.

During an interview with authorities, SH, now 40, said Vander Meer had started grooming her when she was 14, took her virginity when she was 16, and bought her a secret phone so they could arrange to meet her at pay-by-the hour motels for sex.

According to the warrant, SH also gave investigators what appears to be the smoking gun that led to his arrest: Vander Meer had apparently told her at the time that the only way they could be together forever was if Bernadette ‘was not alive’.

SH said she tried ending things with Vander Meer the day before he left with his wife for Zion. A few months after Bernadette’s death, SH admitted they resumed their relationship before getting married two years later so he could be covered by her health insurance. They divorced six years later in 2014 due to his infidelity.

The Daily Mail knows the identity of SH. She declined to discuss what she knew about Bernadette’s fall or why she had stayed quiet all these years.

Right up until his suicide, Vander Meer – who had spent the last decade working as guidance counsellor at Somerset Academy, a charter school in west Las Vegas – insisted he was innocent.

Bernadette’s family and friends doubted her fall was accidental because she was an experienced hiker who had made it to the top of Angel’s Landing several times before. At least 18 people have died on the trail since 2000

The suspected killer’s father, Howard Vander Meer told the Daily Mail he had spoken to his son just hours before he was found dead in the cell

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His father, Howard Vander Meer, told the Daily Mail he had spoken to his son just hours before he was found dead in the cell – right before he was due to be extradited to Utah where the case was being prosecuted.

During the video call, the younger Vander Meer tearfully acknowledged having made ‘many mistakes’ by cheating on the multiple wives and girlfriends he had in the years since Bernadette’s death.

Still, he told his dad he hadn’t killed Bernadette and that he was being railroaded.

‘He said it was just flimsy, circumstantial evidence against him, and I believe him,’ the elder Vander Meer, 78, said.

‘He had some transgressions, but that doesn’t make him a murderer,’ the retired civil engineer added. ‘When people are falsely accused of things, it distorts their reality. I’m sure he was just overwhelmed by all the vicious things people were saying about him in the paper.’

Now, in a sick twist, the elder Vander Meer said he plans to have his son’s ashes spread at the base of Angel’s Landing where his wife’s remains were spread.

Bernie’s family and friends, who were sickened by the plans, insisted Vander Meer’s suicide was a clear sign of his guilt after finally being busted.

‘He was so guilty that I wouldn’t even shake his hand at her funeral,’ Krute said.

‘Good riddance,’ Wong added. ‘We all wanted him dead.’

Washington County Attorney’s Office Investigator Jessica Bate, whom Bernie’s loved ones credit with finally cracking the case after her predecessors seem to have botched it, said Vander Meer’s suicide wasn’t the ‘outcome that we wanted or had worked towards’.

She added that prosecutors expect to close the criminal case against Vander Meer next month in the wake of his death.

SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/crime-desk/article-15942107/pastor-david-vander-meer-wife-cliff-utah.html

SICK NEW TWIST IN CLIFF MUR-DER CASE: FRIENDS REVE...