LAS VEGAS — The school counselor found dead inside a Las Vegas jail cell last month after being charged with murdering his wife at Zion National Park left a handwritten suicide note and will.
The Metropolitan Police Department released a report this week on the June 24 jail death of David Vander Meer, which occurred days after his arrest for the death of his first wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, nearly two decades earlier.
Police did not share the contents of the suicide note or will.
Bernadette had died after a 2006 fall from the top of the Angels Landing trail, one of the most popular hikes in the national park. Following his wife's death, Vander Meer claimed he was turned around when he heard Bernadette "scream as she was falling."
An investigation into David Vander Meer was reopened earlier this year after the Washington County Attorney's Office received a tip about the 48-year-old. The former church youth pastor was taken into custody in June and found dead from self-inflicted injuries in his cell just days later, and was announced by a judge set to preside over Vander Meer's first court appearance.
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While much of the police report on Vander Meer's death is redacted, it reveals that he was seen "sitting upright and awake" in his cell at 9 p.m., only to be found "lying face down on the ground and unresponsive" approximately 30 minutes later.
An officer performed immediate chest compressions on Vander Meer before medical teams arrived, and he was taken to University Medical Center, where he later died.
How Vander Meer died was either not made available or redacted. However, the report said Vander Meer had no known medical conditions and "never mentioned being suicidal" during his health screenings at the jail.
