Secrets of Utah power couple with a $2.5bn empire and a cozy log cabin image: They left their Mormon lives and marriages… then a tragedy threatened to ‘drown’ them

Surrounded by hundreds of their longest-tenured employees, more than 2,000 miles from home, Melanie Alder shrieked with joy while David Wright pumped his fist. The couple had just rung the NASDAQ bell in New York City, taking Pattern – their $2.5 billion Utah-based e-commerce company – public on the stock market index.

It was the largest IPO Utah had seen for a company with a female co-founder and a clear indicator that Pattern, a side-hustle-turned-tech-empire, was among Utah’s Silicon Slopes’ most valuable companies.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with members of their team, Wright said it had been nearly three decades since a Utah company graced the Fortune 500.

‘I think we need to change that,’ he said to a thunder of applause.

Pattern has yet to debut on the annual list, but it has far exceeded expectations. Since going public, the company – which aims to help consumer brands streamline their online sales by buying a brand’s products in bulk, and listing, packing and shipping those items across major marketplaces, like Amazon, TikTok Shop and Walmart, at a markup – has seen revenue growth of more than 40 percent every quarter.

And yet, Wright and Alder’s apparently abundant blessings go beyond their professional lives. Together, the pair, who are both in their 50s, have a happy blended family that consists of six children from Wright’s previous marriage and four from Alder’s.

Their families became even further intertwined in marital bliss after Wright’s daughter and Alder’s son began dating and married in 2023. Wright and Alder threw an ‘open house’ for the newlyweds at Utah’s Timber Moose Lodge, a private log cabin in Heber City, Utah, inviting ‘all family and friends to share this special day with them and reconnect with us!’ So far, so enviably picture perfect.

But one year on from that ticker tape NASDAQ moment, the Daily Mail can reveal, the truth is much more complicated. Because Wright and Alder’s is not a straightforward story of love and a joint venture that’s brought riches beyond their wildest dreams, but of two broken households and one unimaginable loss.

Just months after their company raised a whopping $52 million in a Series A funding round and days after the couple celebrated the Christmas holidays, tragedy struck when, on New Year’s Day 2021, the family was devastated by the death of Alder’s youngest son Jackson.

‘Dave and I have felt paralyzed by deep sorrow, panic, shock and denial, and feelings of loss and sadness that seemed to literally drown us,’ Alder wrote in a public Facebook post three days later.

‘I wonder how I can possibly experience true happiness again without him and then I feel his profound love wash over me and feel grateful for every day we shared together. I’m trying to hold on to this love and our beautiful memories in an attempt to drown out the relentless waves of overwhelming pain.’

While driving up to their family cabin, Jackson, who had celebrated his 17th birthday just weeks earlier, was struck in a fatal three-car accident.

According to the Utah Highway Patrol, shortly after 1.30pm on January 1, Jackson’s car drifted off the road for an unknown reason. Jackson, who was the only person in the vehicle, then overcorrected to the left, crossing into oncoming traffic and side-swiping another car. The impact of the collision spun his car and resulted in a third vehicle, a minivan, hitting the driver’s side of Jackson’s car.

In his online obituary, seen by the Daily Mail, the 17-year-old was described as having ‘a particular special connection with his mother,’ whom he admired for ‘her passion for life, her generosity, and her knack for planning grand adventures.’

‘Those of us who have been a part of his journey all along the way got to witness the blossoming of a young man,’ the obituary read. ‘We watched as a fire was lit inside of him.’

‘Few people in life are able to live life so immersed in the moment.’

It also said that Jackson was ‘quickly accepting’ of the combined ten stepsiblings that came with his parents’ second marriages and that he ‘quickly developed deep and meaningful connections’ with all members of his blended family.

Scott Keate, Jackson’s father and Alder’s ex-husband, expressed his own grief in a video shared to his public Facebook.

‘Our family is starting 2021 off with heavy hearts,’ he captioned the selfie-style video. ‘I wish times were different and that I could look directly into more of your eyes and receive your hugs.’

In February, Keate recalled the moment he learned of his son’s death while appearing on a podcast called A Waterfall of Wisdom.

While on a work call, Keate saw Alder’s name flash across the screen. He let it go to voicemail, but when she tried him again immediately, he sensed something was wrong.

‘I excused myself from the call and heard those words that no parents ever wants to hear,’ Keate said. ‘She was in agony on the other side of the line and told me that our little boy had died in a car crash.’

He was at home with his current wife and stepchildren when Alder delivered the devastating news.

‘We all collapsed on the floor in our front room in our home and we just sobbed. It became a really sacred space of mourning and grief. A moment that will be etched in our minds forever,’ Keate recalled.

He also detailed his relationship with and subsequent split with Alder on the podcast. The two met while studying at Brigham Young University (BYU), and within six months, were married.

‘She finished school not long after that,’ Keate said. ‘She was nine months pregnant when she walked and graduated, and I still had a couple years left. By the time I graduated school, we had two children.’

‘We had a really great early life together, ended up having four beautiful kids,’ he continued. ‘That chapter of my life – I look back on it with really fond memories.’

While Keate worked in business information systems, Alder went into real estate.

Enter Wright.

Wright was looking to sell off some of his properties when Keate, a childhood friend of his, made an introduction to his wife.

Wright and Keate had grown up just two houses apart in Utah, both attended BYU and worked for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the same time.

Wright, who was married to his then-wife Audrey at the time, recognized Alder’s hustle and tapped her to run the operations of his new venture iServe, which later rebranded as Pattern. The two of them launched the company from Alder’s living room, where they began selling fridge magnets online.

As iServe began taking off in 2015, their respective relationships unraveled. The co-founders began separately considering divorce. After 18 years of marriage, Keate found that he and his wife were headed down ‘different paths.’

Upon returning from a business trip in early 2016, Alder decided she wanted a separation.

Speaking on Waterfall of Wisdom, Keate recalled the day that he moved out of their Highland, Utah, home as ‘one of the most painful days’ of his life, saying he spent the day ‘curling up in a fetal position and crying.’ He cited their differing ‘faith journeys’ as contributing to their split.

Alder, who grew up Mormon in Nevada, left the Church in 2009. Wright also left the Church after his divorce was finalized in 2019.

It wasn’t until Wright left the Church that ‘the door opened for a relationship’ between the two, Alder told Forbes in August.

‘I consider that something really important to align on,’ she said.

Wright and Alder, who have maintained that they did not embark on a romantic relationship until after they were both divorced, married in 2018.

Alder and Keate declined to speak with the Daily Mail.

In a 2024 public Facebook post, Wright called Alder his ‘world’ and said that while he wished he could thank her for the impact she has had on their families, ‘that would be impossible.’

‘Words simply cannot express how much this absolutely beautiful woman we affectionately refer to as “Moma Mel” has meant to our family of 10!’ he wrote.

One year later, as both stood on the cusp of their fiftieth birthdays, Alder addressed Wright in a public post of her own: ‘It’s hard to believe we’re both reaching this milestone together this year’ as she wished him a happy birthday.

‘Celebrating this weekend with our kids, who truly spoiled us, made it even more special. The best part of turning 50 is sharing the journey with you, hand in hand, as we step into this exciting new chapter of our lives.’