Ex-youth pastor David Vander Meer who allegedly pushed wife off cliff before killing himself left suicide note, will in jail cell: report
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.David Vander Meer – who was charged over the 2006 death of his wife Bernadette Vander Meer – 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.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 “the nature of his case,” the report said. Vander Meer, 49, was rushed to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas with what police described as “self-sustained injuries.” He was pronounced dead just after 2:35 a.m.
the following day. The report didn’t specify when Vander Meer was admitted to the hospital – located less than two miles from the detention center.But “a handwritten suicide letter and a handwritten will” were left behind in his cell, cops said in their report.Police said he hadn’t expressed any suicidal intentions while being held, awaiting extradition to Utah, where Bernadette’s fatal plunge happened.No further details about the note and the will have been released. Medical examiners have not yet revealed Vander Meer’s cause of death. Vander Meer’s death came just three days after he was booked into the detention center on murder and insurance fraud charges relating to his wife’s death.Bernadette Vander Meer’s death was initially considered accidental after she plunged more than 1,000 feet off the Angels Landing trail at Utah’s Zion National Park.But the nearly two-decade-old case was reopened after his former church boss tipped off investigators that “the death was not an accident” and that “David had pushed Bernadette,” according to Washington County court documents.The couple hik...