Man, pregnant woman slain

Body found in Fort Lauderdale dumpster

Hollywood police say the suspect in the slaying of a pregnant woman is her husband; the woman’s fatherin-law was found dead earlier Tuesday.

The body of Roosevelt Bernard was found in an empty lot, 80 steps from his immaculately kept Hollywood home. The remains of his pregnant daughter Martine Bernard were discovered in a garbage bin in an alley, about the same short distance from her Fort Lauderdale apartment.

Father and daughter had both been shot — and detectives say they suspect her husband, Cassandritz Blanc, 22, in both killings.

Blanc was in the main Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, accused of the premeditated murder of his 20-year-old wife, who was six months pregnant. He is also accused in that case of abusing a dead body.

A Hollywood police spokeswoman called Blanc the “prime suspect” in Roosevelt Bernard’s killing, though on Tuesday he had not yet been charged in that case.

Roosevelt Bernard, 68, did not appear at a family gathering on Saturday night and relatives alerted police. His remains were found Monday at 8:30 a.m. in the lot on South 29th Avenue near Washington Street, police and neighbors said. Fearing for Martine Bernard’s safety, police asked the public to help find her.

Her body was found Tuesday at 4:30 a.m.

SUSAN STOCKER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Police crime scene investigators photograph a dumpster in the 500 block of Northeast First Avenue in Fort Lauderdale where a woman’s remains were found.

Martine Bernard