By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
(CNN) — Richard Gudenkauf walked his daughter down the aisle in September 1996 with a frown on his face.
The bride, Bernadette, was a vision in her white dress and matching pearls, big doe eyes peering out from behind her veil. Her mother, Laura Gudenkauf, watched her daughter glowing, happy to finally be marrying the man she had met years earlier during a theater production at church.
From the start, Richard had a bad feeling about the groom, David Vander Meer. He wasn’t happy about David marrying his daughter, a vibrant young performer, rooted in her faith, engaged in her community.
Bernadette had always been a star in Richard’s eyes. But it was at a crowded nightclub one night that he realized just how bright her light could shine. There was a karaoke stage in the corner, where a small audience listened to amateur singers crooning above the din of the larger crowd.
Bernadette got up to perform, and she was only four or five notes in when a hush fell over the entire club. They were captivated.
That’s when Richard knew, she’s really good.
Bernadette did what she could to get her voice out there, performing in character as Betty Boop and recording demo CDs with covers from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera and Patti LaBelle. She had the pipes to keep up.
Now, Bernadette was excited to continue pursuing her dreams alongside David in the Las Vegas area.
Despite Richard’s reservations, the wedding was beautiful.
A crowded home
About 10 years later, Laura Gudenkauf was separated from Richard and living with Bernadette and David, along with Bernadette’s sister, Vanessa, who had special needs.
There were always teenagers hanging out at the house, members of the youth group David led, Laura noticed. Bernadette noticed it, too. And there was one girl – her initials were SH – who seemed to be growing particularly close to David. She would often call the house.
The dazzling smile Laura had seen on her daughter’s wedding day had turned. Bernadette was feeling lonely and dissatisfied, married to a man who wouldn’t publicly express his love to her, who treated her like nothing special, she wrote in letters investigators would find years later. He paid more attention to the teenagers in his youth group, she told Laura.
Once, Laura saw Bernadette come home from a night shift waitressing at a casino, where she played the piano and sang for guests on her breaks, and her tips went straight to David. Bernadette was angry with her husband, her mom saw, and slammed the bedroom door behind her.
When Bernadette told David she wanted a divorce, the youth pastor told her to consider the optics.
“What would people think?” he asked his wife, Laura would tell investigators.
The couple stayed together. As their 10th anniversary approached, they planned a trip to Zion National Park in Washington County, Utah. Bernadette, an experienced hiker with a taste for adventure, was glad to finally get some time alone, in nature, with her husband, her mother knew.
Before the trip, Bernadette discussed her and David’s life insurance plans with Laura. They had recently raised their policies’ death benefits from about $150,000 to $600,000 each – money David ensured Bernadette would help support Laura and Vanessa if anything ever happened to the couple.
Explaining their decision, Bernadette sat down at a computer to pull up a document for her mother. She typed in a password. It didn’t work, so she tried again. It didn’t work.
She turned and looked at Laura: “David changed the password.”
The hike to Angel’s Landing
With headlamps lighting their way through the predawn darkness, David and Bernadette set out around 4:20 a.m. on August 22, 2006, to hike in Zion National Park, David would soon