Pastor David Vander Meer, who was recently arrested and charged in connection with the d3ath of his wife, Bernadette Vander Meer, reportedly attended her memorial service alongside the woman he was allegedly involved with.
Bernadette d!ed after falling approximately 1,200 feet from Angels Landing in Zion National Park. More than 600 people attended her memorial service, which was held six days after her d3ath.
One of those in attendance was Kathy Page, a former youth leader at Bernadette’s church who said she had known her since she was a teenager.
According to Page, she met with Bernadette about a month before her d3ath and told her she suspected David was having an affair.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Page said she was shocked to see the woman Bernadette allegedly believed was involved with her husband seated near him during 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.
She said seeing the woman at the memorial raised further questions in her mind about the circumstances surrounding Bernadette’s death.
“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.”
However, Page added that David did not appear as grief-stricken as she expected during the service.
“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.”

