Former Vegas youth pastor charged in wife’s murder dies before court appearance

The former youth pastor who was just charged with killing his wife 20 years after she fell to her death in Zion National Park is dead, a judge said Thursday. Judge Eric Goodman informed reporters of David Vander Meer’s death at the start of an extradition hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas KSNV reported. Later, the Las Vegas Police released a statement that a 49-year-old male inmate at the Clark County Detention Center died after he had been transported on Thursday to a local hospital for treatment for “self-sustained injuries.” It did not name the inmate, but Vander Meer was 49. Vander Meer had been in the lockup since Monday, after U.S. marshals arrested him in connection with the Aug. 22, 2006, death of his first wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, at the park in Utah. Her death was ruled an accident at the time, even though “investigators felt the circumstances were suspicious,” a probable cause affidavit filed in Fifth District Court in Washington County said.