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When 19-year-old Tara Ord-Sidarovich went missing from her Westwood Drive home in October 2001, police thought it would be an open and shut missing person case, but about a year later, when her skeletal remains were found, everyone was taken aback.
NBC Dateline's upcoming episode is slated to delve into the murder mystery of Tara Ord-Sidarovich, a former cheerleader from Florida who reportedly worked at the Golden Isle Jewelry store.
These facts about the Tara Ord-Sidarovich murder mystery make it more startling
1) Siblings returned home to find their sister missing
When Tara Ord-Sidarovich's siblings, Veronica and Paul Ord, stepped off their school bus, they were surprised to find that their sister was missing. But her car was parked in the driverway and her personal belongings were present in the house. As Tara did not return home until the evening, her worried mother got the police involved.
Tara's colleagues at the Golden Isle Jewelry store said she was on her way to pick up her paycheck but never returned. For weeks and months, there were no fresh leads in the case.
2) Family offered a $5000 reward
As Tara Ord-Sidarovich's whereabouts were unknown for several months, the family decided to announce a reward worth $5000 to anyone who would fetch a lead.
The investigators reportedly left no stone unturned to find Tara. They used cadaver dogs to pick up the scent of any human remains and searched a ranch home. Despite these efforts, they were unable to locate any convincing proof.
However, some missing jewelry in the house led investigators to believe it could be a burglary case.
3) Two repairmen saw Tara last
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office led the case investigation along with Charlotte County State’s Attorney’s Office, the FBI, U.S. Marshal’s Office, the C3I Unit, and the Cumberland Police Department.
On her disappearance, Tara Ord-Sidarovich was reportedly waiting for two repairmen, David Ray McMannis and Phillip Barr, to fix a septic tank. The investigators put them on their radar as they were the last two men to see her alive. However, the police had no solid proof against them.
In 2002, Tara's skeletal remains were found in a swamp-like area in the woods of Florida, and the police concluded a possible homicide.
4) A fellow jailmate's hunch
In 2007, while Michael Artell was watching a TV show about Tara Ord-Sidarovich's murder mystery, he thought he might have some information about the case.
In his testimony, Artell recalled conversations with Phillip Barr while he was in the same pod at a local jail a few years back. Barr reportedly confessed to Artell that he was afraid he might be a suspect in Tara's case.
“He was worried about them finding evidence on this crime,” Artell said.
In addition to Artell's testimony, several other witnesses claimed to have seen Barr's truck parked at the scene of Tara's disappearance.
Additionally, Barr's ex-girlfriend claimed that she saw him loading a bloody bundle; when she inquired about the bundle, Barr said it was a dead hog.
David Ray McMannis and Phillip Barr were arrested in 2012.
5) The two pleaded not being guilty
Both McMannis and Barr pleaded "not guilty." However, armed with convincing evidence, the jury convicted them of first-degree murder.
Barr and McMannis were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
