located her, and spoke to her. what did she have to say? she floored me. why? that visitor was not blocked by the fence like her relatives were. she had been sitting in full view, not more than 15 yards from tara s front door. and she saw a lot. she did see the vehicle pull in, a couple different times, and then the second time she saw the vehicle there, it was backed up to the front door, and the two guys got out, opened the tailgate and were walking back and forth inside the front door. wow. how important was that? extremely important. she identified david mcmannis as being at the house with barr. she identified him there at a time when the pickup truck was backed up to the front door. what other reason was that pickup truck backed up to the front door other than to take tara out of that house. you realize how close it is. we went out to the house to get a better idea of where this woman was sitting and what she could have seen. so she s sitting right here.
statements, this and that, all were followed up, every one of them. detective mayo traced down a walmart receipt, a minor forgettable purchase but the time stamp cast serious doubt on phil barr s alibi, caught him in a significant lie. that s how detailed we were getting. and then they just happened to run into a guy who said he knew barr and mcmannis and peewee. and he overheard them talking about killing this girl. he heard david mcmannis 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. fi phillip barr said i ve only seen a body. barr tells him, shut up we re all going to end up in prison. somebody with credibility. better than what we had before. a key problem remained. terrible witnesses.
still, this was way more than they had before. and finally, 14 years after tara vanished, barr and mcmannis were going on trial for her murder. what had happened at the house that day, a jury finally hears him. reporter: a mother s perseverance had brought the case this far. she fought and fought and fought. reporter: would a verdict bring justice at last? when dateline continues. you can t compete anymore, you owe it to yourself, to your team, to find a fresh start. so, yeah, that s why i did it. that s why i walked away. from my fantasy league. (announcer) redeem your season on fanduel. play free until you win. fanduel. more ways to win.
stolen jewelry from phil barr. no jewelry from tara s home was found in the possession of phil barr. anyway, barr told investigators, tara was fine when he and his helper left her house that afternoon. but questions went on and on, and phil barr who had a business to run didn t appreciate that kind of attention. barr complained to a local nbc reporter about it. it s been very stressful. i realize the police are doing their job, and they re, you know, looking into things, but nonetheless, i feel like i ve been, you know, harassed. and several times, he, himself confronted the detectives, insisted he was innocent. all the talk was unfair. i had nothing to do with this girl s disappearance. it was a problem. detectives certainly had their suspicions but evidence? there was none. and most everyone they questioned who knew barr was, well, a bit shady.
long trials, each peopled by witnesses the jury might not think were very credible. people who supposedly heard them say things like we raped and killed the girl. they re not gonna find her. i m going to kill you like i did 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 because 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