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Florida began searching a Hernando County property this week for possible additional victims linked to convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield, decades after four bodies were discovered during an investigation tied to his family.
The search began Monday, and involves investigators from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and the State Attorney’s Office, who are excavating an area at Dry Creek Ranch after cadaver dogs alerted there during a recent search.
FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported that authorities have been searching wooded areas near ranch property as part of the investigation.
The search stems from a years-long effort by authorities to revisit information connected to Mansfield, whose family lived on Centerwood Avenue in Hernando County.
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Investigators search a Hernando County property on Tuesday while authorities continue examining information tied to convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield, shown at right. (FOX 13 Tampa)
According to Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis, Billy Mansfield and his brother, Gary Mansfield, traveled to California in the late 1970s, and became involved in a homicide investigation.
Information developed during that case led Hernando County investigators to obtain a search warrant for property connected to the Mansfield family, where four bodies were discovered in the early 1980s.
Two of the four victims were identified relatively quickly, while investigators later identified a third. Authorities have recently developed genetic genealogy leads that could help identify the remaining victim and locate surviving relatives.
Authorities have long suspected there may be additional victims.
Theresa Fillingim is shown in an undated photograph. Fillingim was among the victims linked to convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield. (FOX 13 Tampa)
Nienhuis said Billy Mansfield previously indicated there could be more bodies in Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas counties, but investigators were unable to reach an agreement that would have provided additional information in exchange for reduced charges.
The sheriff’s office reopened portions of the investigation roughly three years ago, reviewing thousands of case files and conducting interviews with Mansfield with assistance from federal and state authorities.
Investigators previously excavated another location identified during the review but found no human remains. A continued examination of records eventually led authorities to search additional areas north and west of prior search sites.
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Elaine Ziegler, left, and Sandra Jean Graham are shown in undated photos. Both were victims linked to convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield. (FOX 13 Tampa)
Cadaver dogs searched an area near Fort Dade Avenue and Citrus Way on Monday but found no indication of buried human remains. At Dry Creek Ranch, however, the dogs produced enough alerts to prompt investigators to begin digging.
“We’re cautiously optimistic we might actually find something,” Nienhuis said.
The sheriff noted that any future prosecution is unlikely because of the age of the case, but said investigators remain committed to identifying potential victims and providing answers to families who may have spent decades wondering what happened to their loved ones.
The search remains ongoing.
Mansfield’s name resurfaced nationally last year, after he confessed to the killing of an Ohio teenager whose spring break disappearance had remained unsolved for decades.
In January 2024, Mansfield confessed to killing 18-year-old Carol Ann Barrett more than four decades earlier.
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Barrett’s body was found in a ditch along Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 24, 1980. A day earlier, the Ohio native had been enjoying spring break in Daytona Beach when she was kidnapped from her motel.
For decades, investigators had little more than Barrett’s body and a composite sketch of a suspect based on interviews with her friends. The case remained unsolved until investigators revived it around 2017.
Mansfield eventually confessed to Barrett’s abduction and murder after roughly two years of interviews with investigators. He was 24 years old at the time of her death.
Mansfield is currently serving a life sentence in California and four concurrent life sentences in Florida in connection with the murders of five women and girls between 1975 and 1980.
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He buried several of his victims beneath his Spring Hill home on Florida’s Gulf Coast, about 2½ hours from Daytona Beach, where Barrett was abducted.
Mansfield pleaded guilty to a California murder to avoid the death penalty in Florida and has been incarcerated since 1982.