A notorious serial killer responsible for murders across the United States has admitted to killing 18-year-old Carol Ann Barrett more than 40 years ago, police said.
On March 24, 1980, Barrett's body was discovered in a ditch along Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida. The day before, Barrett, an Ohio native, was enjoying spring break in Daytona Beach when she was abducted from the motel she was staying at.
For decades, all law enforcement had was her body and a sketch of the suspect based on interviews with Barrett's friends. This case remained unsolved until around 2017.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced Thursday that Billy Mansfield Jr., 65, who murdered at least five women and girls from coast to coast, has admitted to being the suspect in the sketch.
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Carol Ann Barrett was 18 years old when she was murdered during a spring break trip to Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1980. (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office)
According to police, Mansfield finally committed the murder and kidnapping in September 2022 after two years of investigation.
“Billy Mansfield advised police in a sketch completed after the kidnapping that he was, in fact, the suspect,” the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said in a statement Thursday. “He went on to confess to kidnapping her from the Daytona Beach Shores Hotel and killing her shortly thereafter.”
He was 24 years old at the time of Barrett's murder.
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Since his hospitalization, police have been working with the State Attorney's Office, which will not seek charges, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.
The 4th Judicial District State's Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to FOX News Digital's request for comment.
Convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr., who was sentenced to life in prison for murder in California and four concurrent life sentences in separate cases in Florida, died in 1980. Admitted to killing Carol Ann Barrett. (California Department of Corrections)
Mansfield is currently serving a life sentence in California and four concurrent life sentences in Florida for the murders of five women and girls between 1975 and 1980.
He buried his victims beneath his home in Spring Hill, on Florida's west coast, about a two-and-a-half hour drive across the state from Daytona Beach, where he killed Barrett.
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Mansfield pleaded guilty to the California murders to avoid the death penalty in Florida. He has been in prison since 1982.
Barrett's cold case is finally solved, but Mansfield's body count and reign of terror remain in focus.
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“Billy Mansfield will continue to work with detectives in other jurisdictions on additional cold cases,” the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
