More than four decades after a young woman’s remains were discovered on a Florida property belonging to a serial killer, cutting-edge DNA technology has finally identified the victim as a missing teenager.
Sixteen-year-old Theresa Caroline Fillingim was identified as the third of four bodies discovered in April 1981 at the sprawling home neighbors referred to as a “house of horrors.”
The property belonged to convicted killer Billy Mansfield Jr., who is currently serving a life sentence in California.
Sheriff’s officials made the announcement last Wednesday.
It took weeks for excavators and deputies to unearth the four sets of human remains buried in the junkyard owned by Mansfield in Spring Hill, sheriff’s officials said in a news release. Only two of the female victims were quickly identified.
Fillingim had been reported missing by her sister, Margaret Johns, in Tampa on May 16, 1980. She was a week shy of her 17th birthday.
Fillingim’s remains were sent to numerous labs over the years, but investigators didn’t develop a DNA profile until 2020, sheriff’s officials said. The sample was sent to the University of North Texas seeking a match in a national database, without results.
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