In August 2006, Bernadette Vander Meer fell 1,200 feet from the summit of Angels Landing in Zion National Park on what was supposed to be her tenth anniversary trip. Authorities called it an accident and closed the case. Twenty years later — after a tip from a former youth group member, a phone call from a pastor who never believed it, and an affidavit laying out an affair, a breakup two days before the trip, and a half-million-dollar insurance payout — her husband was arrested for her murder. Three days later, he was dead. Jessie traces how the case broke open in the news this week.

Sources:

https://people.com/cheating-pastor-who-killed-wife-in-zion-national-park-invited-mistress-on-trip-12012749

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/david-vander-meer-former-vegas-youth-pastor-charged-wifes-murder-dies-rcna351762

https://www.ksl.com/article/51536910/husband-charged-in-2006-death-of-wife-in-angels-landing-fall

https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/20-years-later-what-led-investigators-to-charge-an-ex-las-vegas-youth-pastor-with-murder-in-his-wifes-death

https://abcnews.com/US/former-youth-pastor-dies-day-set-court-2006/story?id=134216882

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Credits: Love Murder is hosted by Jessie Pray and Andie Cassette, researched by Sarah Lynn Robinson and researched and written by Jessie Pray, produced by Nathaniel Whittemore and edited by Kyle Barbour-Hoffman

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