Cheating Pastor Accused of Pushing Wife Off Cliff Had Mistress 'Next to Him' at Memorial Service (Exclusive)

David Vander Meer was arrested and charged with murdering his wife 20 years after she fell off Angels Landing in Zion National Park

NEED TO KNOW

• David Vander Meer, 49, was charged with murdering wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, by pushing her off Angels Landing in Zion National Park on June 22 — 20 years after her death
• A friend of Bernadette tells PEOPLE that she was shocked to see the woman David was having an affair with sitting “next to him” at his wife’s memorial service
• David died on June 25, one day after he was found with self-inflicted wounds in his jail cell at the Clark County Detention Center

Over 600 people attended a memorial service for Bernadette Vander Meer six days after she fell 1,200 feet to her death off Angels Landing in Zion National Park.

Among those in attendance was Kathy Page, a former youth leader at Bernadette's church who had known her since she was 13 or 14.

Unbeknownst to Bernadette's husband, David Vander Meer, Page had met with Bernadette a month before her death and told her she suspected David was having an affair.

Page was especially shocked to see the woman Bernadette believed David was having an affair with sitting next to him at her memorial service less than a week after her death.

Page tells PEOPLE she still isn't certain whether Bernadette told her the mistress's name or whether she heard it from someone else — but she does know that she saw that same woman at the memorial service.

"I can't remember the connection, the bridge from her saying that [David was having an affair] to me learning the person's name and how did I know that was her sitting next to him — not next to him like shoulder to shoulder, but on the same bench or right behind him or something. But I knew who it was," Page says.

This made Page start to feel suspicious.

"I'm married to a cop and I always suspect that the spouse first. That's what they always do. And then when I saw that girl there, then I was like, I don't want to say something that I am going to regret the rest of [my] life," Page says. "Maybe he needs somebody to say something nice. Maybe he's hurting."

Page notes, however, that David did not seem very distraught at the memorial.

"I didn't see the anguish. I was in anguish at this funeral. We were sobbing. I didn't see that with him," Page says. "And then your mind tries to justify and fill in the blanks. I try to give benefit of the doubt if I can, but I still didn't like it."

Page says that she briefly spoke to David before leaving, and would see him just once more when he came to her church a few years later.

The next time she saw him was in the news when the U.S. Marshal in Las Vegas took David into custody on June 22, 2026.

"It was justice for Bernie," Page says.

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Having also experienced the loss of someone close, Page also admits that it was difficult to hear about David's passing just a few days later.

He had been booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder and insurance fraud in the death of Bernadette when he was discovered with self-inflicted wounds on the evening of June 24.

David died the following day.

"He's not around to hurt anybody else anymore. End of story. It can be all put to rest. I mean, it's as close to a closure as you can get," Page says.

She then adds: "I think Bernadette would've forgiven him because that's the kind of person she was."

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