The brutal murder of six-month pregnant Martine Bernard and the subsequent murder of her father, Roosevelt Bernard, at the hands of Martine's husband, Cassandritz Blanc, remains a case that continues to terrify and fascinate true crime fanatics. This is because of the psychopathic nature of the crime, which barely had a motive for the murders.
This case will also be a part of Investigation Discovery's hit show, Signs of a Psychopath season 6. This case will be a part of its upcoming episode on June 30, 2024, at 10:00 pm ET. The synopsis for the episode reads:
"Six months pregnant Martine Bernard's family reports her missing; days later, her father vanishes as well; when officers interview Martine's husband, Cassandritz Blanc, they find a calculating psychopath willing to do anything to cover his tracks."
Ahead of the episode's air time, let us dive into the mysterious murder of Martine Bernard and her father, Roosevelt Bernard, and the possible motive behind the same.
What happened to Martine Bernard and Roosevelt Bernard?
Martine married Cassandritz Blanc, and by June 2018, they had been married for only eight months. Moreover, she was six months pregnant with Cassandritz's baby. Yet, her husband allegedly murdered her for "disrespecting" him in what seems to be a vague motive.
This murder allegedly took place on June 4, 2018, but Cassandritz kept Martine's dead body hidden and locked up in her apartment for nearly a week before trying to dispose of it.
Meanwhile, following this brutal murder, which also killed his baby in her womb, Cassandritz Blanc went after his father-in-law. This murder was completely unexplained, and even Cassandritz did not state the motive when he owned up to the murder later.
Cassandritz reportedly visited his in-laws on June 9, 2018, where he shot down Roosevelt Bernard while his mother-in-law was in the shower. He killed him from behind in Martine's old bedroom, allegedly because he could not look the man in the eye. He made up a story about a Hispanic man visiting Roosevelt and the elderly man leaving with him.
That evening, Cassandritz Blanc also attended a family event with his in-laws before making an excuse to return to the house to get rid of Roosevelt Bernar's body. He reportedly put Roosevelt's body in a trash can and wheeled it to an open field. He would return there later to set it on fire in a bid to remove all evidence. But this did not work out for the perpetrator.
After Roosevelt Bernard's family filed a missing persons report, the police started monitoring Cassandritz's activities. Not long after, they caught him wheeling out Martine Bernard's dead body in a trash container. He proceeded to leave it by the dumpster in an alleyway of the apartment complex.
This was over a week after he killed his pregnant wife. Hours later, Cassandritz Blanc was arrested and charged with the murder of Martine Bernard and Roosevelt Bernard. He took a plea deal and confessed to his crime, though he only provided a vague motive for the murder of his wife and none for the murder of his father-in-law.
Cassandritz Roosevelt was sentenced to three life terms for two counts of murder in the first degree and one count of murder in the first degree of an unborn child. He also received an additional penalty for abuse of a dead body.
In summary, he faces a lifetime sentence without the possibility of parole.
Find out more about this case in the upcoming episode of Signs of Psychopath on ID.