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. there s always something in it for him. reporter: that woman, the star witness found by the cold case team, who said she saw the 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
they re not gonna find her. i m going to kill you like i killed the girl in florida. the girl i killed was 20. 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. there s always something in it for him. reporter: that woman, the star witness found by the cold case team, who said she saw the 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? report
people there, and the crime scene van outside. reporter: now deputies were taking tara s disappearance seriously. mike gandy was a captain at the charlotte county sheriff s office back then. sometimes you ll respond to a scene or a call where someone s missing and you can tell from the family interaction that it s not a big deal. this was not the case with tara s mom. it was obvious that we had a serious problem. first thing, find out the last time anyone had seen or spoken with tara. they knew by the time veronica got home just before 4:00 p.m., tara was gone. they learned tara s last phone call began at 11:49 a.m. ended at 12:05. she d talked to a colleague at the mall jewelry kiosk where she worked. she said she d be by, pick up her paycheck, and go shopping. but first, their landlord had arranged for a septic repair company to drop by the house. so, did tara stay and wait? maybe the owner of the repair company knew something. one of our criminal investigation division sergean
had somebody that could put the case together, connect all of the dots. 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 nothing in this huge trove of investigative material proved anything. kurt, we call him the scribe. he organized it in in such a way that it was easier to understand. what had been difficult to understand? it was confusing to the point
reporter: like, ground into the carpet? yeah, right oh, yeah, just we had to pull them out. reporter: they also noticed a small palm tree in their front yard had been damaged along with the decorative bricks around it. and then there was tire tracks. reporter: what, across the lawn? across the lawn. reporter: how close do those tire tracks come to the house? it wasn t a big yard, but no, it wasn t a big yard. reporter: they went up to the door. and they found two ribbons, the kind tara wore in her hair, outside their front door, and scuff marks on their bedroom dresser. tell me about the what those scuff marks look like. like somebody moved it or rubbed something against it? if you took your shoe and you kicked something and you left a mark. reporter: okay. like, if, you know, if you walk on a floor and you drag your feet, it leaves a mark? reporter: yeah. well, that was on the dresser drawers in our bedroom. reporter: one of the missing pie