Latest / Legally Brunette / Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - Don’t Practice What YOU Preach

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Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - Don’t Practice What YOU Preach · Legally Brunette

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to an episode of Till Death Do
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Us Part. I'll be your host today, Emily Simpson with Shane.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We're super excited to do this episode today because this
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: is a very special episode. We are actually recording from
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the studio at Bajamar here in the Bahamas. So Shane
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and I are here with the kids on a summer vacation.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: We're at the Bahamar Resort. It's beautiful and we're excited
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: because they have this amazing podcast studio and so we
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: are recording this episode live from Bahamar and it's so
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: it's beautiful, it.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Is it's very nice, much better than ours, much.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Better than our come here and yeah, so we were
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: thinking maybe we would just do our weekly episodes from here.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We could just live here. All right. Today, let's talk
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: about a case that is re emerged into the into
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the headline. So for nearly twenty years, the death of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Bernadette Vandermuir was ruled an accident, a tragic fall from
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: angels landing at Zion National Park. Her husband, David, a
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: youth pastor, was left to grieve her death, but there
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: were rumors a tip and a pastor who could no
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: longer stay silent. It happened twenty years ago. This happened
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: back in two thousand and six, and then now it
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: has recently come into light, just recently because there were
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: some new tips and new information that came out. Originally,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: this fall off of a cliff was ruled an accidental fall,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: an accident. All right, So we're going to go back
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: in time, back to two thousand and four to two
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: thousand and six. This is so we're talking about David
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: vandermere He was serving as a youth pastor at a
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas church and he began grooming a fourteen year
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: old girl in his congregation. She's referred to in court
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: documents only as sh According to the affidavit, their relationship
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: became sexual when she was sixteen, and Vandermuir gave her
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: a secret phone to communicate with him privately, brought her
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to hotels to have sex, and also engaged in sexual
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: activity with her inside the church after hours.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Question.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, he's in his twenties, he's married, he has a wife.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: She is she of age.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean she's in her like.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Really, he's a creep, So I didn't know.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: He's a crook. He's a creep. All right. At some
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: point during this time, vander Muir told s H that
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the only way they could be together was if his
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: wife Bernadette were not alive.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Classic right, Classic.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Then, in November of two thousand and five, David Vandermere
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: raised his and Bernadette's life insurance policies from one hundred
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars each to approximately six hundred thousand
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: dollars each. This is less than a year before her
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: death from the fall. Don't you think that maybe there
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: should be some type of notice given to someone if
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: someone takes out life insurance policy, raises a policy.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, I think so. If if you take a life
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: insurance policy out on me, yes, then it should come
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: my way and say, hey, Emily has yeah. Absolutely. I
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: don't know why that's not a thing.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know either, because it's like he goes and
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: raises her life insurance policy and she doesn't know about it. Right.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: It doesn't even have to be like consent. It's just
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: like notice, right, like an email, yeah, or maybe it
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: may be reported to the police department. I don't know.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: No, I mean even to that person like hello, hello,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: here's an email.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Just wanted to let you know you love. Your husband
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: loves you so much, he raises insurance policy on you.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: I promise Emily going forward, if I raise the insurance policy,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I will let you know.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: You don't have an insurance policy on me. I have
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: one on you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: If I get one, no, I will raise it, or
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I will let you know.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: You don't need one on me. I need one on you,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and I have one on you. Right, Yes, unless you're
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: not paying the premium. He's probably not. I need to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: check into that a month.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Before I kill myself. I'm to do that. That'll be
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: my last goodbye.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Ha ha.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Would the payment.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Lapsed all right on August twentieth. This is back in
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: two thousand and six. S h. Remember we don't know
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: her name the we're only going bay.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Let's say victim. How about victim.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Well, she was a victim at the time, but she's
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: not the wife that falls off the cliff. We're talking about,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: sh We're talking about the minor.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: She's now of legal age and she ended her four
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: year relationship with David Vandermeuir. She broke things off with
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: him two days before the Vandermures left for Zion National Park. Okay,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: so that's very interesting. We got to keep track of
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: this timeline. Right. He's telling her we can be together,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: but only if my wife is dead.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hint, hint, rank she's.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: A minor, and she doesn't. She breaks up with him.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: What if I came to you and said that? What
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: but if like were like, you know, dating, and I said, hey, babe,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the only way I can be with you is if
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: my wife is dead or any guy you met, it
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter. What would you think?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I would think that was weird, weird, off strange. I
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: don't know. I don't, I don't very. I don't date
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: people that say things like that, not yet, all right.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: They've never said it to you, but maybe people have
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: said that about you, said what about me? I could
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: date you, but I got this and I gotta get
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: off my back.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah you can't.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Somebody was married before, so you don't know what conversation's
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: had with people.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Shane was married before too. Would you like to bring your.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Exif on the podcastation.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I'm happy to reach out.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead, all right. Emily's first husband was a
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: very nice gentleman. He was he was he was I
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: met him once. He was very nice and he was
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: a gentleman.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: He was. He was in the Marines. He was. He
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: was like Forrest Gump. He was a nice guy.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but then I come along.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I was kidding that after August twenty second in two
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: thousand and six. All right, we're gonna get to Bernadethe's
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Bernadette's death. So on their tenth wedding anniversary.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: What's the last name? Bernadeath?
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: No, her name, her name is Bernadette. Bernadette Yet, okay, Bernadette, Bernadette,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I said, I accidentally. I accidentally said Bernadette, not just me,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: thank you. Their last name is Vandermere. So the two
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: of them are hiking for their tenth wedding wedding anniversary.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: They go to Angels Landing at Zion National Park for
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: a sunrise hike.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: They map this out. Yes, I do, Like I thought,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: we'll walk over here, and we walk over here and
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: over here. Yeah, were I'll push her?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, But you know what it reminds me, Well, I mean,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: we don't know. There were only two people there, but
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: she's there and then she's not. Anyway, it reminds me
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: of remember we did a case a couple of months back.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: It was his name was a.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Girl Heart was in Hawaii.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was Hawaii.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: They put any pusher, but she fought back right back. Yeah,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and then like some girls saw them.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, but do you remember it was her birthday
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and remember he gave her the card like the birthday
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: and then we're going to go on a hike together.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: This thorough Yeah.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: This reminds me of that where he's like, oh, it's
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: our anniversary, let's go on a high together. Let's go
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: for a sunset hike where no one's out in the round,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: so we're going to go you know.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, so this case, were used the fourteen year old
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: to commit the crime. What he didn't use the fourteen
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: year old to commit the crime? No, yeah, okay, well
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: because we've done that before.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, she's yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And then the fact that he had these conversations only
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: if she's dead, I didn't know if he was trying
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: to kind of recruitrase her. Yes. No, he just tells her.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, But we don't learn that until twenty years later.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: She comes forward later. Yeah, all right, she's thirty four.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: So they go on to Sunrise Hike for their anniversary.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: At some point near the summit, Bernadette fell approximately twelve
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: hundred feet to her deatheez. Don't forget. He also upped
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the insurance policy on her from one hundred and fifty
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: thousand to six hundred thousand, just a couple months before
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: they went on this hike. David told investigators that he
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: had stepped away briefly to move their backpack so he
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: could photograph Bernadette, and that while his back was turned,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: he heard a scream and she was gone, with no
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: eyewitnesses and no signs of struggle. The death was ruled
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: accidental in November of two thousand and six, though investigators
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: quietly noted that the circumstances were suspicious. All right, Also,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: what do you mean how so? Yeah? So, probably because
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: his story sounded stupid and they were probably like, oh,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: that sounds suspicious. But here's the thing. The insurance pays
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: out to him. I don't understand why the insurance company
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: does investigation demand a more thorough investigation, because we know
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: now sitting here, we know that he was having an affair,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that he upped the insurance policy. Why was that not
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: a red flag? Why did they pay that out so easily?
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Why didn't they say, oh, this seems suspicious. He just
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: upped this policy from one hundred and fifty thousand to
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: six hundred thousand a couple months ago. Now his wife
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: falls off of a cliff. Oh, how about is he
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: having an affair? Why doesn't someone investigate that. I don't
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: understand why there was no thorough investigation, why there were
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: not more.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: But it seems like there's a lot of insurance policies
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: that are quick to pay out when we read these cases,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: and it's like there's all these red these flags enough
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: to at least look into it.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, but here's the part that doesn't make sense to me.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: If we had a flood in our kitchen and we
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: needed to like get our kitchen replaced, we would probably
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: have to fight tooth and nail. We'd probably have to
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: send twenty emails.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: We probably have to oh I've had molded the house.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, sorry, you waited a week. You should
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: have told us earlier. And they were like hardcore, came out,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: took pictures, asked a million questions, take a month, and
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: they go, oh, yeah, sorry, we're not going to pay
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: for anything, right.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: That's my point. I'm saying, you can't get your kitchen
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: flooring replaced because they want to throw in your.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Spouse and then use the proceeds to get the kitchen
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: flooring done.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's easier, right, Just push her off a cliffs
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: at Sunrise, right.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: And then do your home improvements that way.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: After Bernadette's death, David and sh that's the miner. The
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: girl he groomed, resumed their sexual relationship. David Vandermere collected
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: five hundred and sixty seven four hundred and thirty nine
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: dollars and life insurance benefits following his wife's death tax free. Yeah. Yeah,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: well they took some out because her policy was six
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: hundred thousand and he got five hundred and forty nine.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So what was that like something?
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Or maybe he maybe he had leans against him and
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: so it comes out an insurance policy for.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, bands up with almost six.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Gone to her burial or something like that.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: After the payout, he allegedly, according to court records, bought
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: vehicles for s h and another member of the youth
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: group and took the group on several all expense paid trips.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: After his wife's death, Vandermuir sought to return to his
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: youth pastor role at Legacy Vineyard Church.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: He's like okay, reading out of money, got to go
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: back to.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: To go back to work. Former staff members Jess and
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Evan Valentine say that they directly reported concerns about his
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: behavior with children to church pastor Denise Diamond before he
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: was rehired. Senior pastor Barry Diamond later claimed he was
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: unaware of these allegations at the time. Vandermuir was fired
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: from his job in two thousand and eight for providing
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: underage youth alcohol. According to court records, this guy's a
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: great example for the years.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, he's right where he should be. He has met
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: his calling.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: He's having sex with underage girls. He's pushing churches.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: That's not like finding all this. I mean, I know
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: it can slip through the crowd.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: It's a Las Vegas church's on the strip, okay. VanderMeer
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: would later also work as a school counselor. Do people
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: not vet, I don't understand he's now he's a school counselor.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: He's working at a Las.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Vegas school, opening up a daycare center. I mean, geez,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: a role.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: That prompted its own statement from the institution after his arrest.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: He eventually married sh a minor.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: The girl then and then he was a part of
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: her day camp. He was signed after we get married.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I'm going to sign you up for this, Digham.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: They got married in twenty ten.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Way, how old would she have been then when they
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: got married?
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't do the math.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: I when did the murder happen?
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: What year? Two thousand and six? Oh?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, so oh yeah? But so then based on those numbers,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: she likely was eighteen.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: No, she was, she was like twenty, right, because I
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: think she was six?
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Nonethe last sixteen. That's a really irrelevant because the fact
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: that he groomed her since she was fourteen.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Having sex with her when she was They divorced in
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: twenty fourteen over allegations of infidelity. According to the document.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: A minute, and I think you murdered your wife.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Then April six of twenty twenty two. So he gets
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: away with murder for almost twenty years, right, so this
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: is even more.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's all we know about, right.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: This is two thousand and six when his wife goes
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: over the cliff. He's out partying, he's going on trip alcohol,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: he is, you know.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Seving sex with minors.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Then he gets married, Then he gets divorced, then
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: hiring the youth right. So April six of twenty twenty two,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a tip reopens the case. Investigators received a tip from
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: David's former boss, who was also a pastor, alleging that
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: VanderMeer had used his position of special trust to groom kids.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: This reignited the cold case investigation into Bernadette's death. I
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: believe also sh Right the miner, that he married and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: then got divorced because he was cheating on her. She
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: comes forward as well, and also like tips off police
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: of these things, that she believes that he had murdered
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: his wife, that he had said to her, we can
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: be together, but only if my wife is dead. And
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: then obviously all of that coupled with the fact that
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: he opened up an insurance policy just a couple months
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: before she goes over the cliff.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, and we had sex when I was a miner,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: so they might want to look into that.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two to twenty twenty five is when this
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: cold case is investigated. Investigators revisit the case with tools
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and fresh eyes, and some of the key findings that
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they find out include satellite imagery analyzed the precise location
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: where Bernadette Fell. Investigators reviewed decades of accidental falls at
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Angel's landing and determined that the spot where she fell
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: was not consistent with where accidental falls typically occur on
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: that trail.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Is that like when people fall, they would go down
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: this pathway and then if she was pushed then went
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: in a different direction like too far out or so.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I think they're just analyzing twenty or so later an
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: accidental fall that that's not typically where people fall accidentally
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: from along that trail, Do you know what I mean?
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think if there's enough people falling, it seems
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: like they should have some times sometimes.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: But then I'm like, why why did they have so
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: much data of people falling at Angel I don't want
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: to go to Angel Falls please for our anniversary. If
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I if you asked me to go hiking at Angel Falls,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I'm going to turn you down.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Well, I not, we don't have insurance policy yet.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Oh that's right. Afterward, Well, here's where ConA Gerhardt went wrong.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: He should have taken his wife to Angel Falls.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Back to the guy.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the ha whi guy that tried to.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Push it a weasel. That guy couldn't even couldn't even
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: follow through on the crime of pushing his wife off
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: a cliff because and then she fought she was stronger
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: than them. And then those other two females, those young girls,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: come up and they saved her too. That was awesome
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: because they heard her fighting and screaming like he's trying
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: to kill me. I think she said things along those lines,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I'm just like hell. And they went to help, I'm saying,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: and they cared for her.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I was saying. That's where he messed up. He took
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: her to Hawaii. He should have taken her to.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Angel Falls, Utah, where crime is they look the other way.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Apparently so many people have fallen there that they have
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: data where they can analyze to see if.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: She fell, he could find out how to push her properly,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: so it looks like a fall.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Lighting. Analysis determined that Vandermere's account of what he could
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: see at that hour was physically impossible given the time
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: of the sunrise hike and his story to investigators that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: his back was turned when Bernadette fell contradicted what he
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: told members of the church youth group where he claimed
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to have been taking a photo of Bernadette when she fell.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Well, then let's see the photos.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: See the photo. Where's the photo of her?
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: There's a forensic file like that memember?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, I do remember yet.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: But it was like old fashioned films, right, and they
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: took photos on disposable camera.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: That case is another one where it's a couple and
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: they were like.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: It was an adopted girl or like a girl they
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: were caring for. Yeah, it wasn't their child, no, but
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: they she was a young adult.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Right, and they took an insurance policy out on them
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and again right, why can you go take out an insurance.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: But then they go but the camera the photos were
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: used because it contradicted their story of where she was
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: and how she was positioned, and it was like completely
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: out of the ordinary. It was very terrible to see
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: those photos too.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: You'll see her last moment. Yeah again. Could I just
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: reiterate how much I love Forensic Files? You can't, I do.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I do love Forensic Files. I've seen every episode at
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: least twice. I feel like we should do a Forensic
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Files recap and then to do like a where are
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: they now? Because all the forensic files were made in
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the nineties and like forensic Files too, I believe was
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: early two thousands.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was short lived.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right. So in October of twenty twenty five,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: senior pastor Barry Diamond, who vandermir previously worked for, told
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the Washington County Attorney's Office in Utah that he now
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: believed the death was not an accident and that David
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: had pushed Bernadette. Diamond also told investigators that multiple former
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: youth group members, all now adults, had recalled having inappropriate
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: relationships with Vandermuir, at least one of which was sexual
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: in nature. Investigators then spoke with several of these individuals,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: who told law enforcement that Vandermuir had been unfaithful to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: his wife for years prior to her death. The number
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: of people interviewed also admitted that they had long suspected
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: he was responsible for killing her.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: You know, like the little girls. And then he's a
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: youth pastor and a youth whatever. This is not good.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Well don't you think that people like that that are
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: actual pedophiles? They try to get justice?
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Like I like cars, I'm going to be a mechanic, right, Well,
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: that makes it like entertainment. I'm going to go in media.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: I like young kids, so I'm going to be a
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: youth pastor. Well that's scary, very scary.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: All right, So this case is reopened because you have
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: sh coming forward and giving a tip about him. You
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: have this pastor that he used to work with, who's saying, hey,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I think he pushed his wife, and he had all
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: these inappropriate relationships with all these kids in this youth group.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: And now they're interviewing the kids in the youth group
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and they're saying, yeah, he was inappropriate and all these things.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: So they're reopening this case. They arrest him on June
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: twenty second, this ve Yeah, this is June twenty second
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of this year. So it was the day after your birthday,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: because we know your birthday is on June twenty first.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: After he left me, yes, I went, Yes, I went
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: to Idaho and I did a horse drive and I
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: missed Shane's birthday this year. All right, so the day
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: after your birthday.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I'm not too late to make up though, all right,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: statute limitations has not been messed.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: The day after your birthday this summer, David Vandermere, who
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: was aged forty nine now, was arrested by Las Vegas
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: police and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: charges of murder. And insurance fraud. I love how we
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: all just took twenty years to put all this together,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the insurance, the miners.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I will imagine all the people he abused and no
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: one came out. Yeah, I imagine over twenty years there's
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: been a number of victims.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I assume. I don't understand when his wife died, were
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: they not questioning anyone? I mean, he's a youth pastor
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and they're not questioning anyone.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's why he's talking about like, hey, he's a
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: good guy.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I guess, I don't understand why they weren't putting more
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: together this guy.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: They had to get the data first, They had to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: have twenty years of people falling. Oh right, put the
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: data together and say that late in fall.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, you're right. They had to wait to years for
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: people to follow Angel's fall. Okay. June twenty fourth of
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, two days after his arrest, VanderMeer was
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: found unresponsive in his cell. He had self inflicted injuries
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: via self strangulation.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: He was trans do I say allegedly when they commit suicides.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Because he committed suicide.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: We know he did, I don't know could have been staged.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Oh you sound like me. You sound like a conspiracy theorist.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Now you're taking on my own bigfoot. He was transported
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to University Medical Center, where he died the following day.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: In his cell, he left behind a handwritten will and
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a handwritten suicide note. Some of the excerpts from his
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: suicide notes say, I was never afraid of legal action
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: because I didn't kill Bernadette. I've always been very selective
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: with what I share to people about how Bernadette died,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: solely because I know how bad it looks. Additional allegations
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I have heard about are largely false.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: But not entirely Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Reports of the affidavit contain small amounts of truth, but
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: paint a picture I will probably not be able to overcome.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: They paint a picture that cannot be escaped. This is
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: just calculated risk at this point. So in this suicide note,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: those were some of the excerpts suicide note.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: That's it. I didn't do it. Everyone's blaming me, and
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: I can't live with myself. Well, it's basically like I
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: got caught.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Well, it's like he's saying he didn't do it.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I can't overcome the evidence. Against me.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So he's saying it looks bad and I know I
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: can't get away with it, so I'm just gonna kill
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: myself and.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Then I'll be in jail and I'll never be able
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: to be a youth pastor.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: He did not deny the affair with Sah or all
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of the allegations against him, only the murder charge. Specifically.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: He was scheduled to appear before a judge on June
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: twenty fifth of twenty twenty six to determine whether he
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: would fight extradition to Utah because that's where the crime occurred.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: We know what happened in Utah, and he's living in
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas. When he failed to appear, the judge, of course,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: he failed to appear, he committed suicide.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: The judge looked out at an empty seat and stated,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: so blate, he's not here. He's deceased, before adjourning the hearing.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: They went through with the hearing. He's dead.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Well, the hearing is probably on the calendar already. What
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: do you want them to do?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: I guess they're just like how to formalize it.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: He's he's dead, so all right, Well, that is the
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: case of Bernadette Vandermuir and David vander Muir, And I
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: guess my takeaway would be, Ladies, if you're out there
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: in a situation where you're dating or you've been married
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: for a while and maybe there's a little turmoil in
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: your relationship, if your husband or boyfriend suggest hiking Hawaii
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: or Angel Falls, Utah, say no, do you have any
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: further thoughts?
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going hiking tomorrow. No, we're not going to excursion.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Me and yeah, but we have we do have a
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: catamaran excursion, so okay, I don't know about that. Should
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I not look the other way? You're to push me off?
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: They you're the aggressors, all.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Right, all right, Well, thank you so much for listening
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: to Till Death do Us Part. We appreciate you, and
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: as always, you can follow legally Brunette wherever you listen
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: to podcasts. Also, if you have any feedback on this
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: episode or other episodes, or you would like to make
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: a recommendation of cases that we could talk about, please
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. I
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: get all kinds of dms from you guys about feedback, recommendations, thoughts,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and I love to hear from you, so thank you
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: so much for listening. We appreciate you