Man Convicted of Brutally Murdering Woman in Watsonville Denied Parole

Editor's note: This article was updated at 5:50 p.m. Wednesday.

District Attorney Bob Lee announced Tuesday that Billy Mansfield, Jr., convicted in 1982 for murdering a woman in Watsonville, would not be eligible for parole until 2022, said the D.A.'s office Wednesday. 

Mansfield, convicted in 1982 for the December 1980 murder of Santa Cruz County resident Renee Sailing, was sentenced to 25 years to in life prison, according to Assistant District Attorney Michael Gilman.

Mansfield "would pose an unreasonable threat of danger," if released, Gilman told Watsonville Patch. Gilman appeared Tuesday in front of the Board of Prison terms at California State Prison in Solano, where Mansfield is currently being held.

Mansfield met Sailing at a Watsonville bar where the two had been consuming alcohol. Witnesses saw them leave the bar together.

The next morning, witnesses found Sailing’s partially clothed corp near the county dump. Her underwear and jeans were on only one leg and her blouse was torn.

A black cord was wound so tightly into her neck that a part of it disappeared into her flesh.

Mansfield, a Florida resident who was living in Santa Cruz County at the time, was apprehended several days later driving through Winnemucca, Nevada, according to Gilman.

Subsequently investigators in Florida found the bodies of four women between the ages of 14 and 18 buried in Mansfield’s Florida backyard. A fifth woman, who survived, was also violently bound with cords and partially dressed, said Angelica Garcia, secretary to the District Attorney.

After he was convicted on Sailing's murder, Mansfield pleaded guilty in a Florida court -- which he was flown to while in prison in California -- to four first-degree murders and one count of attempted sexual battery, said Gilman. 

Mansfield sustained a prison rule violation for threatening a prison official in August of 2011. The Board of Prison Terms, the body responsible for denying parole, also found that Mansfield “has not availed himself of a sufficient amount of counseling,” said Garcia.

He recently stated, according to Garcia, "I have killed a lot of people, both males and females. I starting to have that feeling again, like I did before. Something inside me says, ‘kill him.’”

Because Mansfield “had committed his crime in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner, and because of his violent past and need for further insight into his crimes,” the Board felt justified in denying him parole for an additional 10 years, said Garcia.

Mansfield was sentanced concurrently for 25 years to life in prison for the five murders and his case will be reviewed every 10 years, Gilman told Patch.

"He's eligible for parole, but he can continue to be denied and die in prison," said Gilman.