Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Youth Pastor is a Total CREEP // The David Vander Meer Murder Story

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

David Vander Meer was a former Las Vegas youth pastor who was arrested in June 2026 and charged with murder and insurance fraud following the reopening of a 20-year-old cold case. Investigators alleged that Vander Meer intentionally shoved his 29-year-old wife, Bernadette, off the 1,200-foot Angels Landing trail at Zion National Park in August 2006.

Earlier this year, there had been reports that a former youth pastor died, and a lot of people were celebrating his death. Why were they celebrating? Now, the story starts with this guy, David. And David's 29 when all this begins, and he's living in Las Vegas. And like I said, he works as a youth pastor at a church that he started in the Vegas area. Now, here's the thing about him. He's kind of like the worst youth pastor ever.

Like he's having an affair with a girl from his youth group. Court documents call her S.H. And S.H. is 19. And if that isn't bad enough, David and S.H. have been having this affair for about four years. You do the math. Not only that, but the dude is actually married. And he's married to this woman, Bernadette. Now, at some point during all this, David decides that he no longer wants to be with his wife, Bernadette, because he wants to be with S.H. Problem is, he can't get a divorce. Getting a divorce would ruin his image as a good Christian youth pastor. So one day, around 2006, he decides that he's going to murder his wife. But before doing that, he wants to make sure that he'll have enough money afterwards. So he goes to his wife, and he convinces her that they should increase their life insurance policy. And together, they raise their policies from around $150,000 payout to around a $600,000.

$1,000 payout. Then he plans this hiking trip to take her on for their 10th wedding anniversary. He plans taking her out to Zion National Park in Utah and then murdering her during this trip once they're alone. But then, right before the trip, he gets some terrible news. Just one day before the trip, S.H. meets up with David at the church, and she breaks up with him. She apparently had met a boy her own age and she wants to start dating him rather than a much older man who's already married. Makes sense. So now David has lost his girlfriend and he's stuck in a marriage that he doesn't want to be in. Regardless, he goes on this 10th wedding anniversary trip to Zion National Park with his wife. The next morning, they set out on a hike together and after a while they're standing near the edge of a cliff.

Now, even though S.H. broke up with him, David still wants to be with her. And he starts thinking that if he does go through with murdering Bernadette, that might actually win S.H. back. And so suddenly, boom, he shoves Bernadette, and she falls off the cliff, and she, unfortunately, doesn't survive. Afterwards, he calls 911 for help, and pretty quickly police and park rangers arrive. And they ask him what happened, and he tells them this bullshit story that he was about to take pictures of his wife when she suddenly just slipped and fell. And police have no evidence to prove that Bernadette didn't slip and fall. So her death is officially ruled an accident. And David has now gotten away with murder.

And I guess his plan worked, because a few months after, he and S.H. get back together and they start dating again. He also collects $567,439 in life insurance money, and he starts spending the hell out of it. He buys multiple cars, he even buys one for S-H, he takes himself and other members of his youth group on expensive trips, and he pays for everything. He buys a whole collection of high-end expensive guitars, because I guess he likes guitars. Also, much later, he ends up buying himself and S-H a house. with some of the money. Anyway, about a year after that, David leaves his church and he becomes a youth pastor

at a different church, and S.H. goes with him as they are still together. And at this new place, he goes right back to his shitty behavior. He starts throwing parties for the teenagers in his youth group, and at those parties he gives them alcohol and he encourages them to gamble. And on top of all that, he's acting sleazy

with multiple girls in the youth group, saying inappropriate things to them and, you know, other garbage behavior. And eventually, in 2008, the senior pastor of the church finds out about the parties and about the inappropriate behavior, and boom, he fires David. Good. But despite that, David's not done being terrible. That same year, in 2008, he and S.H. get married.

And despite that, he continues pursuing other women. And he has multiple affairs during their marriage, because of course he does. He's a terrible person. And years go by. And eventually, S.H. grows tired of his nonsense and his infidelity. She knows he's never going to change. So in 2013, she goes and she files for divorce. And they get divorced and they both move on with their lives.

And about 14 years go by. So it's now 2022. And by this point, David has been married two more times. and he's working as a guidance counselor at a charter school in Vegas, because apparently these places don't do proper background checks, I don't know. And there, I guess he's a guidance counselor for a bunch of kids from kindergarten age all the way up to eighth grade. Now, it's here where things start to fall apart for him.

Because suddenly, after all these years, a former member of his youth group, we don't know who, decides to speak out. And this person hits up the local shift. sheriff's office and tells them that David had been grooming several teenagers while he was their youth pastor back in the day. And one of the teens he groomed was S.H., whom David had been romantically involved with around the time his first wife died. And when the sheriff's department hears this, they start investigating, and they contact S.H. And they start questioning her about her past relationship with David. And S.H. admits that, yeah, he groomed her when she was a teen.

and they ended up having a relationship, which is really bad. However, police can't arrest David for this because of the age of consent laws in Nevada. Not only that, the grooming doesn't necessarily tie him to Bernadette's murder, so they can't charge him with that either. And eventually, the case goes cold. So it looks like David is actually going to get away with all the terrible things he's done. Until Until

2025 The senior pastor at his old church gets involved in all this The same guy that fired him all those years before So this senior pastor, he's long suspected that David's former wife Bernadette Didn't just randomly fall off a cliff He's always believed that David pushed her

So when he hears that David's being investigated He contacts the Washington County Attorney's Office and he tells them that he thinks David murdered his first wife. So now detectives reopen the case, and they're really looking into this. And they start questioning church members of David's old church, including former members of his youth group. And that is when multiple former members of the group come forward and they start telling their own stories about how David had been inappropriate with them back in the day.

And so then detectives question S.H again, more thoroughly this time. And this is when she gives them the missing pieces that they need. She tells them about the timeline of her breaking up with David and then him going on the hiking trip where his wife died. And also that he used the life insurance money to buy her a car and later a house. And so along with this new information, detectives go back through the evidence and they realize David's original story about what happened on that mountain doesn't add up. He must have murdered his first wife.

And so, bam, they arrest him. And I don't have a mugshot, but here's a picture of him. And he ends up being charged with Bernadette's murder, but ultimately he never makes it to trial. Because two days later, while in his jail cell, David unalives himself.