Fort Myers man sentenced to 39 years for 2020 murder of pregnant girlfriend

On Tuesday morning, Serge Lefevre was sentenced to 39 years in prison after pleading no contest to the 2020 murder of Cassandra Clermont and her unborn twins in Fort Myers.

31-year-old Clermont’s four young children finally received closure after their mother was murdered following a cycle of abuse. 39-year-old Lefevre’s charges include second-degree murder, child abuse, murder of an unborn fetus, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, false imprisonment and child abuse.

Reports show Clermont and her four children suffered abuse at Cypres Courts Apartments for weeks before the pregnant mother was murdered. Police say Lefevre hit Clermont and her children with sticks and they were not allowed to leave the apartment. On Nov. 30, 2020, Lefevre killed Clermont in the bathroom of the apartment.

Lefevre called 911, claiming Clermont had a seizure, but affidavits filed in court reveal that Clermont had head wounds and had been beaten. They also revealed that the four children showed signs of beating. Two months later, Lefevre was arrested and charged with killing Clermont, her unborn twins, and abuse of the 4 children who were in the home.

Serge Lefevre has a documented history of domestic violence dating back to 2007. He will serve multiple sentences concurrently.

During sentencing on Tuesday, Clermont’s family heard from a woman they didn’t know.

“I am here to express the most traumatic incident… That ever happened in my life.”

They know her story, though. She paints a similar, gruesome picture to Cassandra’s two and half years behind closed doors with Lefevre.

“Every time I gathered my things to leave, you would beat me and stop me from opening the door. I have internal scars that have yet to heal from when you beat me with a 2 by 4,” the woman said.

“It’s been hard. There are days I can’t sleep,” said Abigail Clermont, Cassandra’s sister. “I really miss my sister. And I wish she was here today to watch her daughters grow and be the wonderful women that they about to be because I’m going to raise them the way that she wouldn’t want them to.”

Lefevre stole Jumline Clermont’s oldest child. “I still remember the day I gave birth to her, all the pain it took to bring her into this world, and how that pain turned into pure love as soon as I saw her face,” said Jumline Clermont, Cassandra’s mother.

He stole her husband too. “Two months after my daughter passed, her dad had a heart attack and passed. He couldn’t take it,” Jumline said.

For two and a half years, Jumline would call for welfare checks, text her daughter, and stake out the apartment where they lived, hoping to see Cassandra and hoping to get her and her four young daughters away from Lefevre.

“I wish I could have done more. She knows I was always there but couldn’t open the door to me. So I would tell her you know mommy always love you,” said Jumline.

Lefevre pled no contest to second-degree murder and a long list of other charges. A judge then sentenced him to 39 years, which will never be enough for the Clermont family.

“It’s like a slap in the face to me because we went through so much. And I know she went through me way more than what we went through. And for him to just get 39 doesn’t make any sense to me. I want him to rot in jail or worse,” said Abigail Clermont.