Page 13 - Dave Mcmannis News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Finishing college and obviously that was a goal of hers. so i did feel a connection to her, thinking about her and where she would've been at my age now. >> reporter: and the defendants now on trial? phil barr owned a septic tank repair business, dave mcmannis was his helper the day tara disappeared. the detectives had learned that barr used his business as a cover for stealing from the homes of unsuspecting customers. and here's what happened, said the state, that first of october, 2001: tara's landlord asked barr for a repair estimate. barr and his helper, mcmannis, began their work-day by s...

Two men coming and going from tara's house? >> could it be she made herself believe this over so much of a time to make sure the bad guy goes away? >> reporter: dave mcmannis's attorney, michael bross, said his view those detectives focused on the wrong man. said phil barr's accomplice must have been peewee st. john, the man who'd turned in jewelry three days after tara went missing. >> there's enough circumstantial evidence to believe that he was involved if not in the murder, but definitely in the complicity to cover it up. >> reporter: the only thing that dave mcmannis was guilty of, said b...

>> meaning detectives spoke with other people who had heard the men talk about the murder but they were not the type a jury would likely believe. much of what they said sowned like drug and booze soaked gossip. it wasn't enough certainly to support charging peewee but thought the prosecutor, maybe he could find a way to go after barr and mcmannis, and he had an idea. bring some of the key witnesses before a grand jury, just to see who passed the credibility test, and who didn't. >> i've prosecuted over a hundred homicide cases, and the complexity and the amount of information that we had to re...

Attorney, michael bross, said his view those detectives focused on the wrong man. said phil barr's accomplice must have been peewee st. john, the man who'd turned in jewelry three days after tara went missing. >> there's enough circumstantial evidence to believe that he was involved if not in the murder, but definitely in the complicity to cover it up. >> reporter: the only thing that dave mcmannis was guilty of, said bross was being a sarcastic guy. >> the majority of the statements that were made were sarcasm at best. so if he's guilty -- >> it's a claim. yeah. and that's kind of an easy out...

And barr tells him, "hey, shut up. we're all gonna end up in prison." >> and it was somebody with credibility. >> be -- better than what we had before, yeah. >> reporter: but overall, a key problem remained. >> terrible witnesses. >> reporter: meaning detectives spoke with other people who'd also heard the men talk about the murder, but they were not the type a jury would likely believe. much of what they'd say sounded like drug and booze soaked gossip. there wasn't enough certainly to support charging peewee. but, thought the prosecutor, maybe he could find a way to go after barr and mcmannis...