Florida authorities have resumed a search on a Hernando County property for possible additional victims linked to convicted serial killer Billy Mansfield, decades after four bodies were found during an earlier investigation.
The effort began Monday and includes investigators from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, the FBI and the State Attorney's Office, who are excavating an area at Dry Creek Ranch after cadaver dogs signaled the presence of remains.
The search follows a long‑term review of information tied to Mansfield, whose family lived on Centerwood Avenue in Hernando County.
In the late 1970s Billy Mansfield and his brother Gary traveled to California and became involved in a homicide investigation there, which later provided Hernando County investigators with grounds for a search warrant on Mansfield family property.
That warrant led to the discovery of four bodies in the early 1980s; two were identified quickly, a third later, while the fourth remains unidentified.
Recent genetic genealogy work has produced leads that could help identify the remaining victim and locate any surviving relatives.
Investigators have long suspected additional victims may exist, noting Mansfield’s own statements about possible burial sites in Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas counties.
About three years ago the sheriff’s office reopened the case, reviewing thousands of files and conducting interviews with Mansfield alongside federal and state partners.
Earlier excavations at another location identified during the review yielded no human remains, prompting a broader examination of records that directed teams to areas north and west of previous search sites.
Cadaver dogs surveyed a site near Fort Dade Avenue and Citrus Way on Monday with no indication of remains, but at Dry Creek Ranch the alerts were sufficient to begin digging.
Officials noted that any future prosecution is unlikely because of the age of the case, but investigators remain committed to identifying potential victims and providing answers to families who have waited decades for closure.
The search remains ongoing.
Mansfield’s name returned to national attention last year after he confessed to the 1980 killing of an Ohio teenager whose spring break disappearance had gone unsolved for decades.
In January 2024 Mansfield admitted to murdering 18‑year‑old Carol Ann Barrett, whose body was found in a ditch along Interstate 95 in Jacksonville on March 24, 1980.
Barrett had been enjoying spring break in Daytona Beach the day before her abduction from a motel; investigators had only her body and a composite sketch for years until the case was revived around 2017.
After roughly two years of interviews Mansfield confessed to Barrett’s abduction and murder; he was 2
