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. 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
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. and here s what happened, said the state, that 1st of october, 2001. towers landlord asked for barr repair estimate. barr and his helper mcmannis began their work day by smoking crack. around noon, for hours before verona cartwright home from school, the men most likely knocked on the door and tara let them in. unaware they had a robbery, not work, on their minds. dave mcmannis was taking the property while barr was couldn t distracting her in the bathroom. we believe she found out. she heard something or saw something that mr. mcmannis was doing, where he was in a place
this after all the time to make sure the bad guy goes away. david but mcmannis s attorney said those detectives focus on the wrong. man and said phil barr s accomplice must of been peewee st. john. the man who turned in jewelry three days after tehran went missing. there s enough circumstantial evidence to believe that he was involved. if not in the murder, but definitely in the complicity to govern it up. the only thing that dave mcmannis was guilty of, was being a sarcastic guy. the majority of the statements that were made were sarcasm at best. that s kind of an easy out for saying terrible things. isn t it? well, it was an inappropriate statement. if said at all, david is known to be a joke stir and sarcastic. even during the course of the trial, he would say things that were sarcastic. the trials, two of them, dragged on. for more than 15 days. with delays after delay, and a
were over, the prosecutors, detectives and their spouses got together for dinner with sharon and keith and veronica. detective mehl made a presentation. she was a fighter and she kept us fighting for her, for you and your family. dave had the picture hanging in their office for a very long time. and they passed it on to me. i can look at it now and go, we did it. we did it. you ve given us a new chapter to our life. the family gave the cold case detectives and the prosecutors gifts as well. each was engraved, justice for tara. here s to tara. cheers. they put in so much hard work and time, and respect,
the verdicts: guilty. both men were sentenced to life in prison without parole. mcmannis has filed an appeal. barr lost his. i think everybody would agree that but for sharon, neither trial would ve taken place. she fought and fought and fought for justice. reporter: tara s little sister veronica has two children of her own now. they know their aunt tara. and they have necklaces with her pictures on it. and my daughter, you would think that she had met her. she dreams about her. never met her, but they love her. that warms my heart. reporter: a few weeks after the trials were over, the prosecutors, detectives and their spouses got together for dinner with sharon, keith and veronica. detective mehl made a presentation.