Ownership Information . And, the Mansfield family sits squarely in the middle of it. [12], On December 7, 1980, the half-naked body of 29-year-old Ren Saling was found at a drainage ditch at the side of the Buena Vista Road in Watsonville, California by passing motorists. Location! SPRING HILL, Fla. - An investigation into a possible meth lab in Hernando County brings back nervous feelings for longtime residents of Roundup Lane. Letsgetstarted. Witnesses say as he was being escorted from the home by deputies, he began yelling loudly, demanding immunity on the impending drug charges. The most common crimes in Mansfield are violence and sexual offences, with 3,585 offences during 2022, giving a crime rate of 43. Mansfield, Jr., initially claimed he was innocent before eventually changing his plea to guilty as part of a plea agreement. The homes current resident, Gary Mansfield faces multiple drug charges. Using DNA evidence from this investigation, Snapshot produced trait predictions for the associated victim. The. And if there's four and five, you ain't stopping at one, you ain't stopping at four and five.". It gives me peace because I know I didnt lose her, Johns said. Odessa, FL. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Residents want St. Petersburg leaders to restore, Odd spiral appears amid northern lights in Alaska, Pinellas County releases new proposed school times, Reeses releases limited edition creamy and crunchy, Lawmakers and religious leaders vow to fight 6-week, Parents, experts, DCF debate staffing crisis with, Rep. Kathy Castor creates welcome center for migrants, I-275 lanes near Skyway Bridge reopened after vehicle, After losing daughter to drowning tragedy, Manatee, Used car shopping? After a mistrial and attempted prison escape, Mansfield was convicted in Salings death and pleaded guilty to the other four murders in Hernando County. Mansfield Jr. had already racked up a laundry list of crimes including battery, kidnapping and sexual assault when he met 30-year-old Rene Sailing at a tavern in California on Dec. 6, 1980. And if theres four and five, you aint stopping at one, you aint stopping at four and five., Investigators this week are searching the property on which infamous serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr. buried his victims in the 1970s and early 1980s. [15] On December 16, the two brothers were arraigned at a Watsonville court on murder charges concerning Saling's death. [13] The coroner ruled the cause of death as strangulation. Now, thanks to a new partnership with the University of North Texas and the Virginia-based DNA technology company Parabon Nano Labs, Hernando investigators said they can conclusively say Fillingims body was the third one pulled from the grounds around Mansfields home on April 3, 1981. Search for "MANSFIELD GARY, MANSFIELD ELIZ" in Florida's Voter Registry. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, said an aqua pendant with a unique heart design on the front was also found with the body. Hernando County officers arrived at the Spring Hill property on Tuesday to arrest Mansfield's brother, Gary, on drug charges whenin a . The bodies were in various stages of decomposition. Are there more bodies of victims buried deep in the land surrounding the home? Neighborhood Map. Billy Mansfield is serving life in prison after murdering four Florida women and a California woman he met during a trip with his brother. If youre shopping for top products on the market, here are the best 14 products the BestReviews Testing Lab loved in March. That changed Wednesday afternoon, when the Hernando County Sheriffs Office issued a formal announcement that one of the two victims has been positively identified as Theresa Caroline Fillingim. Now detectives believe there may be more bodies buried in the land surrounding the home and have reopened the 40-year-old case. He also pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery involving a fifth victim. Click here to contact our Cold Case Unit via E-mail. (Google). William Billy Mansfield: What you need to know (NCD). Mansfield pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was got 1 year rather than a life term, for two charges of rape. Long-term neighbors were rattled by the grim discoveries found on Tuesday. SPRING HILL, Fla. (WFLA) Deputies said they are investigating an apparent double murder-suicide in a 55+ community in Spring Hill. Gary Mansfield beat his charge of accessory after the fact in Salings murder by cooperating with authorities in their case against his brother. They were determined to be the following: The skulls of the two Jane Does were later sent for reconstruction at the Colorado State University, with the task headed by retired anthropology professor Dr. Michael Charney. After a mistrial and an attempted prison escape, he was convicted of raping and strangling Sailing. Ships to you. Mansfields first prosecution ended in mistrial in August 1981, with jurors split 9-3 in favor of conviction. SPRING HILL, FLA - The Hernando County Sheriff's Office has identified one of the two remaining unidentified victims in the Mansfield investigation from 1981. Theres bodies all over the property, he yelled. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The first bones discovered behind the familys mobile home on March 17, 1981, turned out to be the remains of one of the women still unidentified. Authorities have yet to share more details regarding the search. So thats how I found out and then its hurry up and wait, she said. She said she also wanted to shine a light on and give credit to the Hernando County Sheriffs Office cold case detectives she worked with for the diligent work [they] did in bringing her home to me.. Sheriff Al Nienhuis, in a video from the scene, said deputies had been called to the home in the 11000 block of Heathrow Avenue earlier in the day about a . On November 23, he was arrested in Santa Cruz, but posted bail and was set free again. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Getty Images). He was released in 2005, when he was 65 years old, after serving 10 years of his 30-year sentence. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. There he shared a cell with 27-year-old Albert Lee III, who confided to Mansfield that he had murdered an 11-year-old girl named Linda VanderVeen. The human remains now have Hernando detectives asking questions and frantically searching for answers. After years of no news, Johns said she was contacted last July by the Hernando County Sheriffs Office about her sister. And, if so, who are they? [2], On New Year's Eve in 1975, a 15-year-old girl from Parkman, Ohio, named Elaine Louise Zeigler went missing from a KOA campground near Brooksville. We asked BestReviews cooking expert Andrea Boudewijn for her best recommendations for Mothers Day gifts. If youre shopping for top products on the market, here are the best 14 products the BestReviews Testing Lab loved in March. Key findings. [28] Encouraged by this discovery, investigators continued digging and plowing the water pipes and electrical wiring installed over the bodies. [11] Sherrell reported the incident to the police, but when they went to arrest him, he was not there. They brought in heavy equipment and a team of forensic anthropologists to sift through the soil. Mansfield, now 64, is housed at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, prison records show. (THECOUNT) Well loved Florida pediatrician, Dr. Heather Schramm, has been identified as the victim in a Saturday murder-suicide in Florida. I cant say anything about them at all. Copy . [11] James Winkles would later be convicted of the Graham homicide, and remains a suspect in the Clements murder. Barrigan was arrested later that day. [44][45] In addition, he was charged with attempted sexual battery in the Sherrell case. On Monday, members of the House Judiciary Committee met in New York for a hearing on violent crime in the city. Billy Mansfield buried at least four victims on the property. William is related to Susan Lyn Mansfield and Theresa A Mansfield as well as 3 additional people. Johns said shes sharing her story now to encourage other families who may be looking for closure to not give up hope. Via @JackHEvans https://t.co/OSY5rg6l5q. You know, you have to wait for the DNA sample to be clear, to be positive.. My dad died without knowing, my mom died without knowing my sister died without knowing, Johns said. Sheriff Al Nienhuis . His father, William Sr., was a convicted sex offender himself, who had done time in Michigan and Nevada before moving the family to Florida. Police had no idea he was a murderer. I guess we'll all find out together," Gallagher said. By 1979, Mansfield had been arrested and jailed for a sex crime. [43], While in the Santa Cruz County jail, a Hernando County judge indicted Mansfield for the murder of one of the four victims found buried underneath his property. 14251 Mansfield Rd, Spring Hill, FL is a single family home that contains 2,104 sq ft and was built in 2001. The charges were dropped against Gary Mansfield after he agreed to cooperate with authorities. Johns said she plans to cremate the remains and split the ashes with her brother. Black Teenager Shot in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, William Sr., was a convicted child molester who had served sentences in both Michigan and Nevada,[1] who often encouraged fights between his sons. He was able to ease his sentence after testifying against his cellmate. During the escape attempt, Mansfield was offered freedom, but declined.[52]. They were back there looking for more evidence two years ago after Mansfield's brother was arrested on . In 1975, he married Phyllis Spielmaker and had two children with her, but they divorced in 1979, his ex-wife deciding to stay in Grand Rapids with the kids. Hernando Co. Crime Stoppers is offering a CASH reward for information . Property Details. "Maybe they're finding it now. stove. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. Serial Dispatches, a true crime website that details serial killings, reported that Ziegler was Billy Mansfields first known victim. Dr. Schramm, of Nature Coast Primary Care, was at home when she called 911 to report a home intruder.That home intruder ended up being her estranged husband who then shot her dead before turning the gun on himself Saturday. [27] On March 24, a small sack of human bones was found underneath the fireplace. 40 mi. Authorities said Billy Mansfield Jr. would then kill the women, dismembering them. Huffstleter sentenced Mansfield to four life terms for his Florida murdering spree that began in the 1970s. Human remains were found in the. On the other hand, there were also reported sightings of Elaine talking to a man in his twenties near the shower area, and later entering his car, a light blue 1966 Ford Fairlane with Florida license plates. The Ohio teen and her family were camping at a KAO campground in Brooksville, Florida, on Dec. 31, 1975, when she went to take a shower and vanished. Two months after he returned home to Florida, on April 26, he was spotted with Graham at a bar in Tampa. See our full disclamer. Neighbors tell 8 On Your Side that multiple investigators began showing up at dawn, bringing bulldozers with them to facilitate the sobering task of digging for bodies. Two of the four victims in Florida have been identified. At the time of the grim excavations, William Mansfield had been sentenced to prison for his sex crimes against children. Its been 41 years since Hernando County sheriffs deputies descended on a 6-acre junkyard in Spring Hills Weeki Wachee Acres neighborhood, ready to start digging around the home neighbors now call the House of Horrors.. He is serving a life sentence in California. She was reportedly strangled with an electrical wire. Name: Date: Victims: Location : Maoupa Cedrid MAAKE: 1996 - 1997: 27 + South Africa: Bulelani MABHAYI 2007 - 2012: 20: South Africa: Jeffrey Robert MacDONALD February 17, 1970 The skeletal remains of four women were found on the property in 1981, the Tampa Bay Times reported. He liked them there. He is imprisoned for life at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton. On 02-22-2021 just before 10:30 p.m., Hernando County Sheriff's deputies responded to a residence on Greenbrier Court in Spring Hill after having received information that a "dead body" was located there. Mr. Mansfield is serving a 30-year sentence in a Florida prison. KIRO 7 News Seattle facebook feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle twitter feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle youtube feed(Opens a new window), the younger Mansfield told the news station, The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Smoke fills air, crowd gathers while cars do donuts outside KIRO 7 studios, Boy, 10, dies from injuries after fight at trampoline park, Man sues Netflix for using his photo in true-crime documentary, Redmond police re-arrest man on child molestation charges involving new victims, Big Mac, big changes: McDonalds tweaking its burgers. [3] According to Spielmaker, Billy, a closeted bisexual, often brought men from gay bars home and had sex with them in front of her, and one time discussed a murder with her. SPRING HILL, Fla. ( WFLA) After 42 years, a Florida woman said her family has finally gotten some closure after being notified that the remains of her teenage sister, who went missing in. Pictured are artists' renderings of two women found buried on Billy Mansfield's property in 1981. Mansfield is serving concurrent life sentences handed down in Florida and California, where he killed Rene Abbey Saling, 29, of Watsonville, on Dec. 6, 1980. In a bizarre twist, Gary's brother, Billy Mansfield, is a convicted serial killer and Gary himself was charged as an accessory to one of his brother's murders the rape and strangulation of a. They also arrested his brother on a slew of drug charges. SPRING HILL, FL - On Tuesday, October 27, 2020, just after 5 a.m., detectives with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office Vice and Narcotics Unit executed a Search Warrant at 3422 Roundup Lane in Spring Hill, the residence of Gary Mansfield where detectives seized numerous illegal narcotics from the residence. With a warrant hanging over his head, he and Gary Mansfield fled to California, where authorities were able to place the brothers living at a KOA campground near Santa Cruz that September. His sons, Gary, 23, and William Mansfield Jr., 25, are awaiting trial in Santa Cruz, Calif., on charges stemming from the. Also, Judge L.R. What happened behind closed doors in the family home of this convicted killer, now serving four life sentences in a California prison? The located body was tentatively identified as that of the missing Zeigler, based on the skeleton's characteristics, skull and missing tooth. Billy Mansfield had already served time in Michigan for sex crimes when he returned to the family home in March 1980, according to contemporary news accounts. Johns said her sisters remains were recently brought to the medical examiners office in Hernando County. Compare Spring Hill crime data to other cities, states, and neighborhoods in the U.S. on NeighborhoodScout. 2023 Cox Media Group. After decades of effort, Fillingim was conclusively identified through new DNA testing technology called "Snapshot DNA Phenotyping," as CBS News reports. Mansfield is serving concurrent life sentences handed down in Florida and California, where he killed Rene Abbey Saling, 29, of Watsonville, on Dec. 6, 1980. [46] The new trial was scheduled for February 8, 1982, with Billy's brother Gary and a woman known as "Cindy" agreeing to testify against him. Mansfield, who killed young women and buried their bodies in his parents' yard in Weeki Wachee, started serving a life sentence in 1982 for the murder of Renee Saling in Santa Cruz, CA. Johns said she first reported Fillingim missing in 1980. By 1979, Billy Mansfield found himself charged with two counts of rape in Kent County, Michigan, according to the St. Petersburg Times. [16] The Mansfields pleaded not guilty to the murder charges,[17] and were ordered to stand trial for Saling's murder by Justice John Marlo on February 4, 1981. Human remains were found in the yard of a Spring Hill house the home belonging to the family of a convicted Florida serial killer. Meanwhile, in a news release late Wednesday afternoon, Hernando County detectives said they located, "items on a nearby property that were deemed suspicious but are separate from the drug investigation.". According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Billy raped, strangled and left the body of a 29-year-old California mother of three in a ditch back in December 1980. Two were quickly identified but, year after year, the other two women have remained nameless. He lived with his son, Billy, in their Spring Hill home. The first skeleton buried on the grounds was unearthed the next day on March 17 but it only was identified by experts as a white woman in her 20s and still remains a Jane Doe. A week later, another skeleton was discovered this time identified as 15-year-old Elaine Zeigler, a tourist from Ohio who disappeared from a nearby campground on New Years Eve in 1975. This property has a dark and twisted history, including murders, rape and heavy drug use from occupants inside, including a twice-convicted child molester, according to neighbors. His first appearance before a judge is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. today. That was when Hernando County detectives showed up at Gary Mansfields home. SPRING HILL, Fla. (WFLA) After 42 years, a Florida woman said her family has finally gotten some closure after being notified that the remains of her teenage sister, who went missing in 1980 in the Tampa area, were found at a Spring Hill home that once belonged to a serial killer. Gallagher and other witnesses were left wondering if the items found were related to the bodies many people still believe are there. [36][30] No positive matches were made, Theresa Fillingim was not identified until July, 2022, and the remaining Jane Doe remains unidentified. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Search parties organized by the local police department and volunteers were spread out to search the area in order to find Zeigler, who, at that time, was thought to be a runaway. 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