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A man who worked as a youth pastor is now dead after he passed away in jail while awaiting legal consequences for allegedly taking his wife’s hard-earned money, spending it on an affair with a teenager, and then pushing the woman off a cliff when confronted about the whole situation.
Honestly, this story just keeps getting darker the more you learn about it…
So, it all begins two decades ago with a woman named Bernadette Vander Meer who worked tirelessly throughout the final years of her marriage by building a career in Las Vegas. She first performed as Betty Boop at the MGM Grand before later working as a cocktail waitress at the famous New York-New York Hotel & Casino. She eventually landed a better schedule and higher-paying daytime shifts, but despite working harder and earning more money, she never seemed to enjoy the benefits of her success.
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Why? Because, according to her mother Laura Gudenkauf, who spoke to People about the tragic situation and its final events earlier this week, Bernadette handed everything over to her husband, David.
As Gudenkauf told the mag:
“Bernadette turned over all her tips to him, and the paycheck and everything.”
For years. And instead of helping build a secure future together, investigators now allege David was secretly funneling that money into a double life that included an affair with a teenage girl he’d met while he was serving as a youth pastor. Seriously.
Per People, prosecutors claim he controlled the family’s finances despite earning far less than Bernadette, and that he spent lavishly on himself while restricting his wife from spending money on even basic things.
Gudenkauf painted a picture of a man who enjoyed luxury while his wife went without. As she explained to the mag:
“He was living the high life. He always had the best of everything.”
According to a probable cause affidavit cited by the outlet, over a period of years, David allegedly bought expensive guitars, paid for a secret cellphone for his teenage mistress, rented her an apartment after convincing her to move out of her family home, and even took her to pay-by-the-hour hotels in Las Vegas during the early years of their relationship.
WTF…
Meanwhile, prosecutors say Bernadette’s friends and coworkers noticed she stopped getting her nails done and even avoided buying new clothes for work because David criticized her whenever she spent money.
If that wasn’t shocking enough, investigators also allege that David increased both his and Bernadette’s life insurance policies to $550,000 just months before her death, which occurred back in 2006. According to the case documents, he was simultaneously paying those premiums, making hefty monthly payments on a new GMC Yukon, and covering his mistress’s living expenses.
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Then came the moment that authorities now believe was anything but an accident. According to prosecutors, David pushed Bernadette to her death from the top of Angels Landing in Zion National Park on August 22, 2006. Her death was initially ruled accidental, though — which allowed David to later collect more than $567,000 from her life insurance policy, People reports.
Investigators now allege that the spending spree continued after Bernadette’s death, too. By then, the mistress had become his second wife, after the two married in 2008.
Through it all, David reportedly bought cars for his mistress-turned-wife and one of her friends, funded vacations, purchased a house for the young woman in 2009, and even paid off her student loans before their marriage eventually fell apart.
According to the affidavit, the second wife later became a crucial witness whose cooperation helped investigators finally secure an arrest warrant years later.
See, cops arrested David on June 22 of this year, and charged him with Bernadette’s murder. But just three days later, before he could even make his first court appearance, he died after being found with self-inflicted wounds in his jail cell.
Bernadette’s mother believes he simply could not face what was coming.
As Gudenkauf told People:
“I think he didn’t want to face people. I think he didn’t want to face people and go to court, and he wasn’t the type of guy to live in jail.”
She added one final observation that sadly sums up the stunning collapse of this years-long saga:
“I think he knew his goose was cooked.”
Wow. What an absolutely devastating story for Bernadette’s loved ones.
And justice was never served…
[Image via John Finney/WENN]
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