Carol Ann Barrett was 18 years old when her body was found in Florida in 1980.

Decades after the crime, a convicted serial killer admitted Thursday that he murdered a young woman in Florida in 1980. Fox 35Billy Mansfield Jr., 65, admitted to killing 18-year-old Carol Ann Barrett in 1980. He was only 24 years old when she died. “Cold case homicide investigation closed,” the Jax Sheriff’s Office (JSO) wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.

The post stated that on March 23, 1980, Ms. Barrett traveled from Ohio to Daytona Beach, Florida, with a group of high school friends. That same day, she was abducted by an unknown person from the now-demolished Treasure Island Motel on the shores of Daytona Beach. “After interviewing Carroll’s friends who were in the room at the time of the abduction, police completed a sketch of the suspect,” police wrote.

Cold case homicide investigation concluded

On Sunday, March 23, 1980, 18-year-old Carol Ann Barrett was traveling from Zanesville, Ohio, to Daytona Beach with a group of high school friends during spring break. . Around 2:00 AM, Carol was abducted by unknown assailants from… pic.twitter.com/vOtaJW6bXV

— Jax Sheriff’s Office (@JSOPIO) January 25, 2024

The next day, a passerby discovered Ms. Barrett’s body more than 100 miles north on Interstate 95 near Pecan Parkway in Jacksonville, Florida. Following an autopsy, her death was ruled a homicide. In 2017, officials said Ms. Barrett was shot “execution-style” and there was no sign she put up a struggle. JSO wrote on

The case was reopened in 2017 after a review of all available evidence. Police identified a suspect in 2020, Mansfield, who eventually became a suspect in the teen’s murder, officials said. After multiple interviews, in September 2022, Mansfield said he was the person in the police sketch and admitted he kidnapped her from the hotel and killed her shortly after.

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Despite Mansfield’s confession, authorities decided not to charge Mansfield because he is currently serving a life sentence for murder in a California prison and four concurrent life sentences for murder in Florida, police said. Police said he is continuing to work with investigators on other cold cases.

according to protectorMansfield spent much of his life in legal turmoil related to sex crime charges. He was convicted of murdering five women in California and Florida. In 1982, he was sentenced to life in prison. During the initial investigation, police discovered that he had buried four bodies in the backyard of his Florida home, then traveled to California, where he killed a fifth victim and was arrested.