JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – A 43-year-old murder case has been confessed to by a convicted serial killer from California after two years of relentless pressure from the police. Billy Mansfield Jr, 68, admitted to the kidnapping and killing of 18-year-old Carol Ann Barrett in Daytona Beach, Florida, during her spring break trip with friends.
Barrett’s disappearance occurred in 1980 at the Treasure Island Motel in Daytona Beach. Her body was found in Jacksonville the following day, approximately 90 miles away from where she was last seen. With the help of Barrett’s friends, who were present at the scene, police were able to create a sketch of the suspect.
The case remained unsolved until 2017, when authorities decided to review the evidence. After three years of investigation, Mansfield Jr. was identified as a potential suspect and eventually confessed to the murder. However, despite his admission, the State Attorney’s Office of the 4th Judicial Circuit decided not to prosecute him in the 43-year-old case.
Mansfield is currently serving a life sentence in California and four concurrent life sentences in Florida for a series of murders committed between 1975 and 1980. He also buried four victims in the grounds of his family home in Spring Hill, Florida before traveling to California, where he committed additional heinous crimes.
In 1981, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Department discovered the bodies buried at Mansfield’s family home in Florida. The victims were identified as 21-year-old Sandra Jean Graham, who disappeared in 1980, 16-year-old Theresa Fillingim, who was identified in 2022 through genetic genealogy testing, and a third victim, referred to as Jane Doe. Mansfield pleaded guilty to the murder of his California victim to avoid the death sentence in Florida and has been collaborating with officers in other states about other cold cases.
The case serves as a haunting reminder of the brutal and senseless crimes committed by Mansfield, shedding light on the importance of ongoing efforts to bring justice to the victims and their families.