Zion National Park murder suspect arrested outside Summerlin yoga studio

A Las Vegas charter school counselor and yoga teacher who is accused of killing his wife at an iconic Zion National Park hiking spot two decades ago — then pocketing a large life insurance payout — was arrested outside the Summerlin studio where he worked.

David Vander Meer was arrested at about 5:30 p.m. Monday outside TruFusion in Downtown Summerlin, according to a U.S. Marshals Service arrest report released Wednesday.

Bernadette Vander Meer, 28, died on Aug. 22, 2006, after falling from Angels Landing, a popular but treacherous trail in the southwestern Utah national park. An arrest warrant affidavit released Tuesday alleges she fell because she was pushed intentionally by her husband, who now faces murder and insurance fraud charges.

The report said Vander Meer was wanted on a felony warrant out of St. George, Utah, and that the marshals’ Nevada Violent Offender Task Force set up covert surveillance around the studio before taking him into custody without incident. Prosecutors in Washington County, Utah, announced the arrest Tuesday.

Vander Meer, who turned 49 Wednesday, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, where he remained Wednesday, online records showed.

Vander Meer had been listed as a counselor for Somerset Academy Lone Mountain on the public charter school’s website. A spokesperson for the school said in an email that he had been placed on administrative leave.

“The school is aware of the reports, and the employee has been placed on administrative leave,” the spokesperson said. “We are not providing interviews or additional comments regarding this ongoing legal matter.”

An Instagram profile also described Vander Meer as a yoga teacher. A TruFusion representative said Vander Meer had separated from the company.

As well, a Nevada Department of Education database showed that Vander Meer has held a school counselor license since 2016 and that he has been with Somerset Academy since the 2016-17 school year. His current license went into effect April 14 and expires June 24, 2032.

Collected $567,000 after death

According to the affidavit, Vander Meer, a former youth group pastor, killed Bernadette Vander Meer to conceal an extramarital affair with a girl from his youth group ministry, whom he groomed and later married. He then collected $567,000 in life insurance after his wife’s death.

The death was initially ruled an accident, but investigators felt the circumstances were suspicious, according to the affidavit, which was prepared by Jessica Bate, a lieutenant investigator with the Washington County attorney’s office. The attorney’s office said Wednesday that Bate was unavailable for an interview.

Authorities reopened the case in 2022 after receiving a tip from a former youth group member that Vander Meer used his position to groom children, the affidavit said.

Lawyers explain extradition process

Vander Meer is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on Thursday, according to online records. Court records did not list an attorney for him.

Defense attorney Robert Langford said it is a crime to be in Nevada and to be wanted by another state. A defendant can accept or fight extradition.

“His best bet is to waive extradition,” Langford said of Vander Meer. “The reason for that is it speeds up the process. They could come get him right away.”

“Most people are going to waive extradition because if they fight extradition, then they’re going to have to wait in the Clark County Detention Center longer,” attorney Michael Pariente said.

Another defense lawyer, Michael Troiano, said the charging state has 30 days from the date of detention to pick up a defendant and extradite them, assuming there are no pending charges locally.

“It is fairly unusual,” to challenge extradition, Troiano said.

Troiano added he is rarely hired for extradition cases. “There’s not a whole lot that can be done,” he said.

Affidavit: ‘David’s deceptive nature’

According to the affidavit, the Washington County Attorney’s Office got a tip in October from Barry Diamond, the senior pastor of the church Vander Meer had worked at in the past.

“The tip stated that he believed the death was not an accident and that David pushed Bernadette,” the affidavit said.

Bate interviewed Diamond and several prior youth group members from when Vander Meer had been a youth pastor.

“I learned about David’s deceptive nature, and descriptive story telling which led several witnesses to believe David had pushed Bernadette to her death,” Bate wrote in the affidavit.

Investigators also spoke with Bernadette Vander Meer’s mother, Laura Gudenkauf, who told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday her family grew suspicious of David Vander Meer after her daughter’s death.

“She was getting ready to leave him,” Laura Gudenkauf said Tuesday. “She told him if he didn’t change, she was going to divorce him because he kept spending all this time with this other woman.”

Vander Meer declined a request for a jailhouse interview Wednesday.