dan feinberg was joined by a co- prosecutor named jennifer garczewski trials began. dan feinberg was joined by a cool prosecutor name jennifer, 14 years almost through the day since tires life ended. she s only a year younger than me. so when i think back to where i was in 2001, i was just finishing college. and obviously, that was a goal of hers. so i did feel a connection to her. and thinking about her where she would have been at my age, now. and the defendants now on trial phil barr owned a septic type repair business. david mcmannis was his helper. the detectives had learned that barr use his business as a cover for stealing from the homes of unsuspecting customers.
her body in the woods. but to tell that story took too long trials. each people to buy witnesses the jury might not think are credible. people who supposedly heard barr and mcmannis say things like we raped and killed the girl. they are not going to find her. i am going to kill you like i did the girl in florida. the girl i killed was 20. one witness testified about overhearing a conversation between barr and mcmannis. philip barr and with saying two mcmannis i didn t want to kill her. and she overheard david mcmannis respond, she had today. not very believable, said the defense attorneys. just people making things up said barr s lawyer mark de sisto. we contended that these conversations never took. place some of these
really? detective sport with other people who had also heard the men talking about the murder. but they were not the type a jury would like to believe much of what they say. so, drug and blue so gossip. it was an 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 credibility tests. and who didn t. i ve prosecuted over 100 homicide cases and the complexity and amount of information that we had to review to determine if we could prosecute this case was the most i had ever seen. the idea worked. the grand jury indicted both phil barr and david mcmannis for murder. they were arrested in late 2012. 11 years after tower vanished from her home. david mcmannis was arrested in maryland, where he grew up. a u.s. marshal not run noted a man hunt for phil barr. we lost track of him we were actually able to locate fi
did. as a large photo of tara kept watch. again, there was no danny to help. all they had really or lingering suspicions about the work men who went to towers house the day she vanished. phil barr, the guy who owned the septic time tank business. his helper that day, david mcmannis and their buddy peewee st. john. but nothing in this huge trove of investigative material proved anything. he organized it in such a way that it was easier to understand. what happened in difficult understand? it was confusing to the point where you didn t know what we were able to get in court. so the context was in there but. you can figure it out because it was a mess. the majority of the majority of it was. we have to track the analysis, that was what took so long. an awful lot of detective work amounts to reading thousands of pages of reports and witness statements. and this in that.
all were followed up, every one of. them detective mehl chased down a 2001 walmart literacy and found a purchase, except the times now are the receipt cast serious doubt on phil barr s alibi. didn t exactly rocket. but cocked him in a significant lie. that s how detailed we are getting. and then, they just happened to run into a guy who said he knew him barr and mcmannis and peewee. and he overheard them talking about killing this girl. he heard them ask say we shouldn t have done that girl that way. if i don t get out of town i m going to spend the rest of my life in jail. phil barr said something similar, because peewee is talking about, well i ve only seen the body. is not against the law to see the body. and barr tells him, hey, shut up were going all way to end up in prison. somebody with credibility? better than what we had before. yes. overall, a key problem remained. terrible witnesses.