Page 19 - Dave Mcmannis News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Is now on trial. phil bar owned a septic tank repair business. dave mcmannis was his helper the day tara disappeared. bar used his business a cover for stealing from the homes of unsuspecting customers. and here is what happened, said the state, that 1st of october 2001. tara's landlord asked bar for a rea pair estimate. bar and his helper mcmannis began their work day by smoking crack. around noon, four hours before veronica arrive home from school, the men most likely knocked on the door and tara let them in, unaware they had robbery, not work, on their minds. >> dave mcmannis was taking the...

Ever seen. >> the idea worked. grandy indicted both for tara's murder. dave was arrested in maryland where he grew up. u.s. marshals mounted a man hunt for phil bar. >> kind of lost track of him. we were then able to locate phil in the vermont area very close to the canadian border where we think he had fled with the intent possibly of leaving the country. >> but the case against the men needed more. and so, the cold case team kept investigating and in 2014, one of them came across a name buried deep in an old file. right after tara disappeared next door neighborhood told investigators she saw...

>> reporter: one witness testified about overhearing a conversation between barr and mcmannis. >> phillip barr was saying to david mcmannis, "i didn't want to kill her." and she overheard david mcmannis respond, "she had to die." >> reporter: not very believable, said the defense attorneys. just people making things up, said barr's lawyer, mark de sisto. >> we contended that those conversations never took place. >> reporter: some of those witnesses were inmates, too, snitches. >> i never met a confidential informant that's gonna inform just 'cause he wants to be a nice guy or a good citizen. t...

>> reporter: the idea worked. the grand jury indicted both phil barr and dave mcmannis for tara's murder. they were arrested in late 2012, 11 years after tara vanished from her home. dave mcmannis was arrested in maryland, where he grew up, while u.s. marshals mounted a manhunt for phil barr. >> kinda lost track of him. we were actually then able to -- to locate phil in the vermont area, very close to the canadian border, where we think he had fled with the intent possibly of -- of leaving the country. >> reporter: but the case against the men needed more, and so the cold case team kept invest...

The dots. >> reporter: what requests did you make of them? >> we wanted to know more about every piece of evidence, every -- we have to rule out every piece of dna in that house. so it was closing doors, it was excluding other people. >> reporter: so, that's what these three did, as a large photo of tara kept watch. but again, there was no dna to help them. all they had really were lingering suspicions about the workmen who went to tara's house the day she vanished. phil barr, the guy who owned the septic tank business, his helper that day, dave mcmannis, and their buddy "peewee" st. john, but...