True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Stories Part VI

Serial Killer/Sex Offender: Billy Mansfield

William Mansfield, Jr. (born 1956) is an American serial killer, child molester, and sex offender, responsible for the murders of five women and girls between 1975 and 1980. He buried the bodies of four victims at the family home in Spring Hill, Florida, and later traveled with his brother to California, where he raped and strangled a Watsonville woman. He was convicted of the latter homicide and later pleaded guilty to the previous murders to avoid the death penalty in Florida, receiving four life sentences.

Early life

William Mansfield, Jr. was born in 1956 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the eldest in a family of five children. His father, William Sr., was a convicted child molester who had served sentences in both Michigan and Nevada and who often encouraged fights between his sons. Despite this, the younger Mansfield claimed that he had a good upbringing and got along with his family, but that changed when he was 14 when he dropped out of school and altered his birth certificate so he could serve in the Army. While serving, he became an alcoholic; not long after this, he also began experimenting with various drugs. As a result of his addiction, he was sent for treatment at a Veterans Administration Hospital in Tampa in 1978 and 1980. In 1975, he married Phyllis Spielmaker and had two children with her, but they divorced in 1979, and his ex-wife decided to stay in Grand Rapids with the kids. 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. She described him as easygoing, but very violent when drunk.

Murders

Elaine Zeigler

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. She was on vacation with her mother Betty and step-father Blaine Chalker, and was last seen going to the camp showers. By the next day, Elaine still had not returned, and her parents reported her missing. Search parties organized by the local police department and volunteers were spread out to search the area to find Zeigler, who, at that time, was thought to be a runaway. Several people claimed that they had seen a girl matching her description riding a motorbike, and when asked where she was going, the girl claimed to be returning to her home state of Ohio. 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.

After staying an additional week to aid in the search for their daughter, realizing that nothing could be done, the Chalkers returned to their home in Parkman without Elaine.

Sex crimes

On January 31, 1977, Billy pleaded guilty to a sexual misconduct charge against a babysitter in Grand Rapids, receiving six months' imprisonment and 36 months' probation. Not long after leaving jail he assaulted two teenagers in a rural area of the city and was sent back to prison for violating the conditions of his parole. 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. Using this information, Billy testified against Lee in exchange for a lesser sentence and was released from jail after a year.

On June 19, 1980, he forced 18-year-old Pamela Sherrell into his van and drove to a rented trailer, where he proceeded to hit her, cutting her lip and bruising her neck. Sherrell reported the incident to the police, but when they went to arrest him, he was not there. On November 23, he was arrested in Santa Cruz, but posted bail and was set free again.

René Saling

On December 7, 1980, the half-naked body of 29-year-old René Saling was found at a drainage ditch at the side of the Buena Vista Road in Watsonville, California by passing motorists. A mother of three, René had been last seen by her husband Raymond the previous day. Her clothes had been torn apart, with her blouse and pants lowered to her ankles. The coroner ruled the cause of death as strangulation. Four days later, Billy and his 23-year-old brother, Gary, were arrested by a rookie police officer at Winnemucca, Nevada for questioning in Saling's murder. The two men lied about their identities and ages, but the officer noticed that their physical description matched the Mansfield brothers, and took them into custody at the Humboldt County jail. On December 16, the two brothers were arraigned at a Watsonville court on murder charges concerning Saling's death. They were dubbed "The Bag Brothers" by the media because they wore paper bags over their heads to protect the testimonies of any potential witnesses. The Mansfields pleaded not guilty to the murder charges and were ordered to stand trial for Saling's murder by Justice John Marlo on February 4, 1981.