"After the autopsy was done, the cause of death is strangulation. He strangled his wife, and then he strangled the 6-year-old girl," said Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
The child had multiple areas of blunt force trauma on her body. Tameera's 10-year-old sister was in the house, but she was not injured, which was puzzling to investigators. On the day the bodies were discovered, a long-time neighbor offered this possible explanation.
"He was a real nice guy, he always said hi, waved to me every time he went down the street. You know real friendly neighbor everything," said Ray Reyes.
"I'm big-time shocked, you know, from what I see he seemed like a family guy and everything like that, and I think the divorce just ended up getting to him and maybe it pushed him over the edge," said Reyes.
Homicide detectives feel another reason is very possible.
"Very tragically, I guess through family members, he was able to find out that the 6-year-old girl wasn't his biologically, but he had raised her and most likely went into a rage," said Gutierrez.
Veteran investigators say that when they're investigating cases of murder by strangulation, usually the person who does the killing is motivated by a strong, personal anger.
Barbar is not fighting extradition, and he will be returning to Riverside County in the next two weeks. His 10-year-old daughter was not injured and is being cared for by relatives.
