Serial killer confesses to murder of spring breaker in Daytona Beach Shores in 1980

Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal
·2 min read

A kidnapping from a Daytona Beach Shores motel during spring break in 1980 that ended with a body found on the side of Interstate 95 in Jacksonville has been solved, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said on Thursday.

Carol Ann Barrett, 18, a spring breaker from Ohio, was kidnapped from Daytona Beach Shores and murdered in Jacksonville in March 1980. Her killer has been found after her death 43 years ago.
Carol Ann Barrett, 18, a spring breaker from Ohio, was kidnapped from Daytona Beach Shores and murdered in Jacksonville in March 1980. Her killer has been found after her death 43 years ago.

Billy Mansfield, now 65, confessed to kidnapping Carol Ann Barrett, 18, of Zanesville, Ohio, from the Treasure Island Motel in Daytona Beach Shores on March 23, 1980, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigators said.

Mansfield, who is currently serving a life sentence for one murder and four concurrent life sentences in separate Florida murder cases, will remain in the California prison where he is locked up and not be prosecuted by the 4th Judicial Circuit's State Attorney's Office, the Jacksonville police said.

Mansfield is also cooperating with detectives in other jurisdictions regarding additional cold cases, Jacksonville investigators said.

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Kidnapping and murder

Barrett was visiting the Daytona Beach area for spring break with a group of friends in March 1980 and was staying at the Treasure Island Motel.

Around 2 a.m. Barrett was abducted. After interviewing Barrett's friends, detectives from the Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office were able to develop a sketch of a suspect, investigators said.

Barrett's body was found the day after, March 24, 1980, in a ditch along I-95 near Pecan Park Road in Jacksonville.

According to a story in Medium.com, the cause of death was not immediately apparent. But the medical examiner would determine she had been shot in the back of the head with a small-caliber gun.

The death was ruled as a homicide but the case worked by Jacksonville sheriff's detectives and Daytona Beach Shores police went cold, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.

Cold case re-opened, suspect identified, confesses

Members of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit reopened the case in August 2017 reviewing all available evidence.

In 2020 detectives were led to a person of interest and identified Mansfield, Jr., as the suspect in Barrett's murder. Mansfield was 24 at the time he kidnapped and murdered Barrett, authorities said.

After multiple interviews during a period of two years, in September 2022, Mansfield admitted he was the person in the police sketch, He confessed to kidnapping Barrett from the Daytona Beach Shores motel and killing her shortly after, investigators said.

The State Attorney's Office in the 4th Judicial Circuit decided not to seek a prosecution. Mansfield will remain in prison in California serving five life sentences.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Murder of Ohio Spring Breaker kidnapped in Florida solved after 43 years