1980 Murder Investigation now Closed

An over 40 year old Florida cold case with ties to Zanesville is officially closed.

Officials with the Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff’s Office said 65-year-old Billy Mansfield Junior admitted to abducting and killing Carol Ann Barrett of Zanesville in March of 1980.

Barrett was visiting Daytona Beach on spring break with a group of high school friends. Authorities said around 2am on March 23, Barrett was abducted by an unknown assailant from the Treasure Island Motel in Daytona Beach Shores. A day later her body was found by a passerby in a ditch along I-95 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The case went cold and was revisited by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit. In 2020 Mansfield who was 24 at the time of Carol’s murder became a person of interest. Jacksonville authorities said in September 2022 Mansfield confessed to the abduction and the murder.

The State Attorney’s Office said they will not prosecute Mansfield for the crime and he will remain in prison in California on one life sentence for murder as well as four concurrent life sentences in Florida for murder in separate cases.

Mansfield continues to cooperate with detectives in other jurisdictions regarding additional Cold Cases.