When Angels Weep: The Weeki Wachee Homicides

By W.R. Langston

WHEN ANGELS WEEP



Two of the four shallow graves excavated on the Mansfield property held the remains of unidentified teenage girls. One is believed to be between the age of 12 and 16 and the second between 16 and 19. no one has come forward with any information to help detectives identify the two victims.

After reading this book if you have any information as to the identity of the two teenagers please contact your local sheriff’s department or Detective Mike Nelson of the Hernando county Sheriff’s office at 1-352-754-6830 or e-mail to [e-mail].

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 19, 2007
• ISBN: 9781462819270

Book preview

Copyright © 2007 by W.R. Langston.

COVER ANGEL DESIGN BY: My 12 year old granddaughter,

BRITTANY And her friend from school OLIVIA

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/08/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

575899

Contents

Preface

When Angels Weep

The Weeki Wachee Homicides

Acknowledgments

Chapter One: Urban Legends of Billy Mansfield

(A)   The Old School Bus, the Fireplace, and the Hidden Bodies Under the Cement Slab

(B)   Hostages in a Marion County Hotel Room

(C)   Assault at the Rock House Pub

(D)   Rape on Fort Dade Avenue

(E)   Watery Graves on Nightwalker Road

(F)   Never Go Fishing with the Mansfield Boys

(G)   Stalking Children at the Bus Stop

(H)   The Buzz at School

(I)   Hero Named Joker

(J)   A Rose by Any Other Name,Convenience Store Clerks, Tourist, and Hitchhikers

Chapter Two: A Tormented Childhood

Chapter Three: Billy’s True Love

Chapter Four: The Trip to Florida

Chapter Five: The Family

Chapter Six: Trail of a Sex Predator

Trail of a Sex Predator ALetter to a Sex Predator

Chapter Seven: Sex, Drugs, and Murder

Chapter Eight: Murder in California

Chapter Nine: Shallow Graves

Chapter Ten: Confessions

Chapter Eleven: Unanswered Questions

Chapter Twelve: The Writer’s Journey

To

Laurie,

thank you

Deceit and promises unfulfilled

lead to an early grave,

Wine and smoke, lies and love,

A life no one could save,

A hammer closes innocent eyes

in the dark and filthy keep,

And in the shadowed sky above,

Even Angels weep.

—Al Cook, Even Angels Weep

Preface

Know your neighbors,

Surround yourself with the ones you love,

Be vigilant for your children.

For there are those that will harm both you and them.

Over half a million registered sex offenders in the United States walk among us during our everyday lives. It is an incurable disease that plagues our society and preys on our children.

This book is based on a true story account of murder and crimes against children. Be forewarned that some details are gruesome and disturbing. Most details were gathered from reliable witnesses, library archives, depositions, and police reports. While the events and moods are as close to the truth as I can detect, some quotes and events are assumed because nobody really knows what was said during the crimes, and some witness accounts of the events differ. The names of some witnesses, family members, and defendants have been changed to protect the innocent while some have not.

There is no forgiveness for crimes against children

When Angels Weep

THE WEEKI WACHEE HOMICIDES

Angels watch over our children.

The most horrific crimes we face today are crimes against children. Every time a child is molested, raped, abused, neglected, sexually exploited, or murdered, the Angels weep and a portion of our humanity is lost.

A traumatic crime against a child will last for his or her entire lifetime. A part of the child’s innocence is lost that can never be returned. Without being properly counseled, such a crime will change the course of a child’s life forever.

When Angels Weep: The Weeki Wachee Homicides is a story about the murders committed by convicted serial killer, Billy Mansfield Jr. during the late 1970s. The story also involves his father, Billy Sr., a convicted child molester/sex predator.

Billy Sr. was never charged with or convicted of murder nor for participating in one. He was charged with forty different sex crimes including sexual battery on a child under eleven. Later the forty charges were reduced to only four.

The small community of Weeki Wachee Acres, Florida, is located only a few miles from the Weeki Wachee Springs attraction that hosts the City of Mermaids. A short trip north on U.S. 19 is Homosassa, the recent site of a brutal rape and murder allegedly committed by a known sex offender on a nine-year-old child.

In early 1976, I lived less than twenty-five miles away from the Mansfields’ property in Weeki Wachee Acres. It was a quiet, almost sleepy area less than five miles from the Weeki Wachee Springs attractions. The Gulf of Mexico is also nearby. Both murder and crimes against children seemed so far away.

Acknowledgments

Thank you cannot begin to express my appreciation for the help I received while writing this book.

When Angels Weep:

The Weeki Wachee Homicides

There are many that helped with my research of the Weeki Wachee Homicides. I would like to start by thanking the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, especially for their concern for my safety while writing this book.

George, your knowledge of the Mansfields’ property and the details involving the shallow graves were vital to this book.

Mrs. Kelly, the valuable information you gave me and the important contacts you contributed were exceptional.

The Hernando County Library staff on Howell Avenue in Brooksville, your help searching the archives and other media sources was greatly appreciated. The extra documents and documentation of the events surrounding the Weeki Wachee Homicides you provided were priceless.

The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office records department, your help locating and viewing the depositions taken by the deputies involved in the investigation was the heart and soul of this book.

Angie, the information from the St. Petersburg Times answer desk was very important.

The staff at the Hernando County Court House records department.

Mary Ann, your help was very important.

Al, thank you for Even Angels Weep, a very powerful sonnet.

The Brooksville Belle Writers Group, your input helped me to become a better writer.

Dianna, your attention to details kept me on the right track.

Chris, your knowledge of the old bus parked behind the Mansfields’ home and the families’ temperament added a real-life feeling to my words.

To my son for showing me a different direction.

Most of all, a special thank-you to all those that wish to remain anonymous. I understand your reasons for confidentiality, and I respect them.

Chapter One

URBAN LEGENDS OF BILLY MANSFIELD

image%20for%20the%20start%20of%20the%20chapters.jpg

Urban legends are tales with only fragments of truth. They are usually gruesome tales that started from some type of horrific origin.

Long before the first body was unearthed on the Mansfields’ property in Weeki Wachee Acres, Florida, urban legends were already being whispered throughout the small Gulf Coast community. By the time the fourth body was exhumed from the Mansfields’ backyard, those urban legends had gained national recognition. Over thirty years have passed since Billy Mansfield’s first-known victim was reported missing. Tales of drugs, rape, murder, and sex with children still haunt the rural community.

The Old School Bus, the Fireplace, and the

Hidden Bodies Under the Cement Slab

The old school bus that was parked behind the Mansfields’ home still hides secrets that surface from time to time. The old bus was used for more than storage or as a home for one of Mansfield’s brothers. It was known as party central. The bus was a place where pot was smoked and cocaine was snorted, and the old mattress that lay on the floor was used for a place to have sex. The truth is only known by those that participated in those parties. There are those that have broken their vow of silence and remember the days of drugs and orgy-style sex in that old bus. Stories of incest, homosexual sex, rape, and murder still haunt their lives.

Many residents believed that more than fifty bodies were found in shallow graves on Billy Mansfield’s parents’ five-acre wooded homestead. Some neighbors remember tales of body parts that were burnt into oblivion in the family’s fireplace. Another gruesome story that made my blood turn cold was that an infant’s body was hidden in the masonry work of the same fireplace.

Billy would stare into the burning embers as if he were hypnotized by the flames and glowing coals. The heat generated by the fire never bothered him. He would stand and watch the fireplace for hours as if he was deep in a trance. This is where he found solitude and time for reflecting on his crimes. He had deep thoughts about his life, his children, and his family. Sometimes he would use the fireplace to burn personal items that belonged to his victims. The incriminating evidence of rape and murder would