Pretty Wicked

They say Friday the 13th is unlucky for a reason. Well, on one Friday the 13th back in 1980, in a quiet Texas suburb where everybody goes to the same church and everybody knows everybody's business, that superstition came true in the worst way. Because that morning, a young mom and Sunday school teacher was found dead in her own home, and nobody could make sense of it. She had the husband, the two girls, the whole life.

So who would do this? Well, friends, the answer had been sitting in the next pew the whole time. This week, a friendship, a secret, and one summer morning that turned a quiet Texas town upside down.

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Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Texas Monthly - Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomery's Affair

A&E - The Betty Gore Murder: Could 41 Axe Blows Be Self-Defense?

TODAY - The true story of Candy Montgomery that inspired 'Love and Death'

TODAY - Where are Candy and Pat Montgomery from 'Love and Death' now?

Oxygen - What Happened To Candy Montgomery, Betty Gore?

Newsweek - What Happened to Candy Montgomery and Where Is She Now?

Biography - Where Is Acquitted Murderer Candy Montgomery Now?

📚 BOOKS

Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs - John Bloom and Jim Atkinson (Open Road Media, 1984)
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In August 2006, a young woman fell to her death from one of the most famous cliffs in the American national park system while hiking with her husband, the only witness. It was ruled an accident. Twenty years later, two phone calls changed everything and in June 2026, the case ended in a way nobody saw coming.

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New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast

If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.

Pretty Wicked is written, researched, and hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

NBC News - Former Vegas youth pastor charged with murder 20 years after his wife's deadly fall at Zion National Park

NBC News - David Vander Meer, former Vegas youth pastor charged in wife's murder, dies before court appearance

NBC News - Ex-youth pastor accused in wife's 2006 death lived lavishly after insurance payout, authorities allege

CNN - 20 years after his wife fell to her death in Utah, a youth pastor's story unravels

PEOPLE (via AOL) - Cheating pastor sent teenage mistress to confront wife during church tryst months before murder

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Las Vegas man David Vander Meer arrested in 2006 death of wife at Zion National Park

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Bernadette Vander Meer's family reacts to arrest of her ex-husband

Las Vegas Review-Journal - David Vander Meer dies before hearing in 2006 case involving wife's death

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Las Vegas school where Vander Meer counseled issues statement; 'not enough,' parent says

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Bombshell murder charge renews questions about other deaths at Angels Landing

Las Vegas Review-Journal - 'No winners in any of this,' former pastor says of Vander Meer death

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Clark County sheriff addresses Vander Meer case, calls in-custody death 'unique'

Las Vegas Review-Journal - 'A real angelic being': Friend reflects on Bernadette Vander Meer's life and death

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Las Vegas church rehired David Vander Meer as youth pastor despite hearing concerns, former staff say

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Hiker falls to death at Angels Landing in Zion National Park (April 2026)

Las Vegas Review-Journal - Bernadette Vander Meer obituary, published Aug. 26, 2006 (via Legacy.com)

KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas - 20 years later: What led investigators to charge an ex-Las Vegas youth pastor with murder in his wife's death

KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas - Family of Las Vegas woman speaks out after husband charged with her murder nearly 20 years later

ABC News - Former youth pastor dies day he was set to appear in court for the 2006 death of his wife

News 3 Las Vegas (KSNV) - 'Suspected him all along': Parents react to arrest of Las Vegas man for wife's death

News 3 Las Vegas (KSNV) - 'She's been vindicated': Family reflects after 2006 Zion murder suspect's death

News 3 Las Vegas (KSNV) - Former youth pastor in Las Vegas arrested in wife's 20-year-old murder case

8 News Now (KLAS) - 'Vindicated': Henderson family of woman killed in 2006 rejoice over former husband's arrest

8 News Now (KLAS) - Family of Zion NP murder victim reacts to suspect's jailhouse suicide

8 News Now (KLAS) - Inside the relationship of Vander Meer and teen girl: Affidavit outlines timeline

8 News Now (KLAS) - Charges filed against Las Vegas man for allegedly murdering wife during Angels Landing hike in 2006

KSL - Husband charged in 2006 death of wife in Angel's Landing fall

KUTV - Former youth pastor charged in wife's death accused of relationship with underage girl

ABC4 Utah - Charges filed against Las Vegas man for allegedly murdering wife during Angels Landing hike in 2006

Fox 13 Utah - Man charged with wife's murder at Zion allegedly had affair with underage girl

Fox News - Former Las Vegas youth pastor accused of murder in death of wife at Zion National Park

St. George News - Details emerge in cold case alleging husband pushed wife to her death at Zion National Park

Backpacker - Man accused of pushing wife off of Angels Landing found dead before court date

The Washington Times - Former Las Vegas pastor dies in custody after being charged in wife's murder at Zion National Park

Deseret News - Texas man identified as hiker who fell at Angels Landing at Zion National Park

📚 BOOKS

None for this episode, this case broke in June 2026, so all research comes from court documents and news coverage.

🎬 DOCS

None yet - this story is only weeks old. Expect coverage to follow!
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In the winter of 1959, ten experienced hikers set out on a route rated at the highest difficulty level their country had. One turned back early, and the other nine never came home. When searchers found the camp, the tent had been cut open from the inside, and the bodies were scattered across the snow, some barely dressed, some with injuries that made no sense at all. The official investigation ran three months and closed with a conclusion so vague that people are still arguing about it sixty years later. This week we are going up that mountain.

SHOW NOTES

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Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast

If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.

Pretty Wicked is written, researched, and hosted by Megan Alda.

This episode was written and researched by Chloe Kibbe.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Communications Earth & Environment (Nature) - Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959

National Geographic - Has science solved history's greatest adventure mystery?

BBC News - Dyatlov Pass: Russia opens new investigation into 1959 mystery

The New Yorker - Has an Old Soviet Mystery at Last Been Solved?

Smithsonian Magazine - Has Science Solved the Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident?

Dyatlov Pass (archive site) - Case files, autopsy reports, diaries, and photographs

The Guardian - Dyatlov Pass mystery: Russian prosecutors say avalanche killed hikers

📚 BOOKS

Donnie Eichar - Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Keith McCloskey - Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident

🎬 DOCS

Prime Video - Dead Mountain: The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013)

Discovery - Russian Yeti: The Killer Lives (2014)
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Three women. One small house in Springfield, Missouri. On the night of her high school graduation, Stacy McCall followed her friend Suzie Streeter home to spend the night at the house Suzie shared with her mother, Sherrill Levitt. By morning, all three of them were gone. Their cars were in the driveway, their purses were still inside, and the only thing out of place was a broken porch light. 34 years later, the Springfield Three are still missing.

SHOW NOTES

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New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast

If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.

Pretty Wicked is written, researched, and hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Wikipedia - Springfield Three

City of Springfield, MO - Three Missing Women

FBI ViCAP - The Springfield Three - Springfield, Missouri

KY3 - The Springfield Three: What we know about the cold case

KY3 - The Springfield 3: June 7 marks 34 years since the disappearance

KY3 - Three Missing Women: A look back at the case 27 years later

NBC Dateline - 30 years later family still seeking answers

Newsweek - Three Women Vanished. More Than 30 Years Later, No One Knows What Happened

Springfield Daily Citizen - Missing women: Theories and investigations into The Springfield Three cold case

Unresolved - The Springfield Three, Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

The Charley Project - Suzanne Elizabeth Streeter

True Crime Society - The missing Springfield Three

Ozarks First - Crime Traveler: The case of Springfield Three continues to haunt the city 30 years later

True Crime News - Crime Watch Daily investigates the mysterious disappearance of 'the Springfield Three'

🎬 DOCS

Crime Watch Daily - The Springfield Three investigation (2017)

NBC Dateline - Missing in America: The Springfield Three
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Today I'm revisiting one of the most infamous cases in American true crime; a woman the press called the Damsel of Death. Between 1989 and 1990, seven men were found dead along the highways of central Florida, and the person behind it was the last kind of suspect anyone expected.

SHOW NOTES

🖤 FOLLOW PRETTY WICKED

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast

If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.

This episode was researched and written by Chloe Kibbe.

Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Britannica - Aileen Wuornos

Capital Punishment in Context - The Case of Aileen Wuornos - The Facts

A&E - Case File: Aileen Wuornos

Justia - Wuornos v. State, Supreme Court of Florida (1994)

📚 BOOKS

Dead Ends: The Pursuit, Conviction, and Execution of Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos by Michael Reynolds

Lethal Intent by Sue Russell

Monster: My True Story by Aileen Wuornos with Christopher Berry-Dee

🎬 DOCS

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992), dir. Nick Broomfield

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003), dir. Nick Broomfield
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