Grand jury indicts man in death of his unborn child

Add the killing of his unborn child to the homicide charges Cassandritz Blanc is facing.

Blanc was arrested last month, accused of killing his pregnant wife and his fatherin-law. Police say he also texted from his wife’s cellphone to impersonate her and “confess” to killing her father.

On June 27, a Broward County grand jury indicted Blanc on charges of premeditated murder in their deaths, as well as two counts of abusing their corpses.

The jurors also included a fifth charge against him, for killing the unborn child by injuring his wife.

After they had each been shot in the head, Martine Bernard’s body was mutilated and the body of her father, Roosevelt Bernard, 68, was set on fire, according to a joint investigation by the Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale police departments.

Blanc, 22, and Martine Bernard, 20, were newlyweds, married in Broward County on Oct. 4, which is also Blanc’s birthday. She was six months pregnant when she died, police said.

A funeral service took place Saturday at Pembroke Road Baptist Church in Miramar for Roosevelt Bernard, of Hollywood, and Martine Bernard, who lived in Fort Lauderdale with her husband.

Father and daughter were laid to rest later that day at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Davie.

Blanc is being held without bond in the main Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale. He has pleaded not guilty to all five charges.

His new lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said Tuesday, “We will not litigate this case in the media and/or in the court of public opinion. We will zealously present our defense at trial in a court of law.”

On July 10, Blanc is scheduled to be arraigned.

Cassandritz Blanc killed his wife on June 4 for “disrespecting” him and used her cellphone to impersonate her and “confess” to killing her father, court documents say. He is accused of fatally shooting his fatherin-law in the elder man’s home on June 9.

Detectives say that Blanc confessed to both homicides.

Police have not described a possible motive for Roosevelt Bernard’s killing, which happened in the 2900 block of Washington Street.

Two days after that shooting, his body was found burning in a field a block from the residence, police said. Blanc tried to dismember his wife’s body and left her remains in their apartment for eight days, according to the investigation.

Martine Bernard’s remains were found in a trash bin in an alley behind the couple’s Fort Lauderdale apartment building at 522 NE First Ave.

Police say they watched Blanc drag along the alley the bin that held her body.