What happened to Carol Ann Barrett? Case explored as convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr confesses to killing Ohio teen

Notorious serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr., already serving five life sentences for murdering young women and girls in California and Florida, recently confessed to the murder of an Ohio teen, Carol Ann Barrett, 18. Barrett was killed while she was on her spring break outside Jacksonville in 1980.

Inside Edition, citing the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, reported that Billy Mansfield confessed to abducting Carol Ann Barrett from her Florida hotel room in the middle of the night and killing her. The confession comes four decades after police found Barrett's body in a ditch along the side of a highway on March 24, 1980.

Mansfield, a child molester and s*x offender is currently serving a life sentence for the r*pe and murder of René Saling. The victim was a California mother of three, whose body, similar to the Ohio teen, was discovered in a ditch at a campground in 1980. Mansfield was staying in the campground in 1980.

At the time, the discovery of Saling’s body led police to Mansfield's home in Spring Hill, Florida, where they found four women's bodies buried on the property. He received a life sentence for each murder, to be served concurrently.

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What we know about Carol Ann Barrett's murder in wake of Billy Mansfield Jr's confession

According to WJAX citing authorities, in March 1980, Carol Ann Barrett, who was visiting Daytona Beach with seven friends, was staying at a local Treasure Island Motel, when a man barged into the group’s room and ordered her to disrobe at gunpoint.

According to Project Cold Case, a Jacksonville-based homicide victims’ advocacy group, the man then robbed the group and threatened to kill them if they resisted before grabbing one of Barrett’s friends to ensure no one called the police on him. However, after the friend began to panic, Barrett reportedly volunteered to go to appease the man. She was found executed half-naked in a ditch near I-95 and mile marker 365 the next day.

For over three decades, the murder was unsolved, despite the friends providing a sketch of the motel room intruder based on their recollection. In 2017, JSO Cold Case Supervisor Sgt. Dan Janson began taking another look at the case and told WJAX there was evidence of an "unresolved palm print" in the case that could spark a lead but could not be explored in 1980 as the technology was unavailable.

It is unclear if the palm print led them to Billy Mansfield. Per multiple reports, authorities said the serial killer emerged as a suspect in 2022 but did not elaborate on the evidence that led them to Mansfield. Authorities reportedly interviewed Mansfield multiple times over two years until he finally admitted he was the man in a sketch drawn from the witnesses at the scene.

Authorities will reportedly not charge Billy Mansfield in Barrett's murder as he is already serving five concurrent life sentences for the murder of the five women.