This week, authorities in Florida have launched a search of a property in Hernando County, hoping to uncover more victims linked to Billy Mansfield, a notorious serial killer. This search comes decades after an initial investigation led to the discovery of four bodies connected to his family.
Kicking off on Monday, the operation involves collaboration among investigators from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the State Attorney’s Office. They are focusing their excavation efforts at Dry Creek Ranch. This move follows alerts from cadaver dogs during a recent search, raising suspicions of more undiscovered remains.
As reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay, investigators have been scouring wooded areas near the ranch property, intensifying their search for potential evidence as part of the ongoing investigation.
This search initiative is part of longstanding efforts by authorities to revisit cases related to Mansfield, particularly focusing on the property on Centerwood Avenue, where his family once resided.
Teams of investigators examine the Hernando County site on Tuesday, as they continue to delve into clues associated with the convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield, depicted 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 there.
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.
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.
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.
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.