Wearing a maximum custody inmate jumpsuit, a Broward man accused of killing his pregnant wife and her father was back in court Friday as his attorneys work to help him avoid the death penalty.
Cassandritz Blanc, 27, is charged with three counts of murder in the shooting deaths of his pregnant wife, who was six months along, and his father-in-law, in June of 2018.
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Hollywood Police Det. Ryan Rillo testified Friday about when Blanc’s wife, 20-year-old Martine Bernard, first went missing.
“She was missing, she was pregnant. The family had not had voice contact with her for some time, only text contact, which they felt was odd," said Rillo.
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Then Roosevelt Bernard, Martine’s father and Blanc’s father-in-law, was found dead. His body had been burned and dumped in a field along Washington Street near the family home.
Officers started following Blanc as a person of interest in both murders.
Rillo described a strange encounter with Blanc the night Blanc allegedly disposed of his wife’s body in Fort Lauderdale. Rillo and another detective were watching Blanc from their unmarked patrol car, when he approached them with a flashlight.
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"He stops, he comes back to my car, takes a flashlight out and he starts looking in my car," said Rillo. "He keeps going back and forth so we are for lack of a better term playing ring-around-the-rosey in my car."
A short time later that same night, Rillo said Blanc put his wife’s body in a trash can and left it in the alley of their apartment complex.
“He is pushing it up, it’s obviously heavy. He’s trying to keep it from tilting over,” said Rillo. “He’s struggling to push it and keep it upright.”
"I did approach the garbage can and I could smell the distinct smell of a decomposing body," Rillo told the judge.
Prosecutors say Blanc confessed to the murders shortly after his arrest, adding he knew his wife was pregnant.
His defense filed motions to get that confession removed from evidence, motions the judge is considering and is expected to rule on next week.
If this case goes to trial it is set to begin August 28th. If Blanc is found guilty he could face the death penalty.
