Jeffrey Manchester escaped from prison while serving a 45-year sentence for robbery, and lived in a Charlotte, North Carolina, Toys-R-Us for several months before he was apprehended.
Manchester’s story is recounted in the new film “Roofman,” and Channing Tatum, who plays Manchester in the movie, admitted the real-life story of the robber is stranger than fiction in an interview on TODAY on Oct. 6.
Repeating a line the film’s director Derek Cianfrance would tell the cast and crew, Tatum recalled, “He always says, ‘If this was a fiction, we’d be the worst screenwriters on the face of the Earth.'”
Tatum added that his reaction after reading the script was: “This can’t all be true.”
Cianfrance, along with Kirt Gunn, wrote the screenplay for the film after researching Manchester’s story and talking with him on the phone for about 400 hours, Cianfrance said in an interview on Morning Joe on Oct. 8.
Tatum said on TODAY he also spoke with Manchester from Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, in preparation for the film, which was shot on location in Charlotte.
“I had all these lists of questions and things that I wanted to know,” he said. “And as soon as you get on the phone with him, he’s just the most warm. I mean, he spent nine years in solitary confinement … but you talk to this guy, and he like, kind of takes care of you on the phone. He really does. He’s optimistic, he has all these dreams and plans when he gets out.”
Here’s what to know about the true story behind “Roofman,” which premieres in theaters on Oct. 10, including Manchester’s crimes and where he is now.
“Roofman” is based on Manchester’s life, starting with a robbery at a McDonald’s in May 2000, according to the Charlotte Observer, which obtained newspaper archives, court documents and interviews with those close to the case.
Manchester carved a hole in the roof of the McDonald’s in Belmont, North Carolina, and ordered the workers to lie on the ground as he told another to open the safe — while holding a .22 caliber rifle.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You’re the good people,” Manchester reportedly told the employees, according to the Observer. “I’m the bad guy. I’m sorry for doing this to you.”
In addition to a robbery he committed the night before at another McDonald’s in Gastonia, North Carolina, Manchester made out with more than $8,000 in cash.
Manchester locked the workers in the freezer, though they’d later break down the door and call police.
As police headed to the McDonald’s, one officer noticed a car in an empty church parking lot, and minutes later, Manchester approached the vehicle.
The officer turned on his lights, called for backup and eventually police apprehended him after a brief chase. And about two hours later, Manchester confessed.
The Observer reported Manchester, who had recently divorced from the mother of his three children, told police he did it for the money, “to pay bills and buy things for my kids.”
“I will do everything I can do to fix the situation. I still have a lot to give the community and the Army,” he said. “I thought it was going to be quick cash, and I ended up scaring people and wasted the police’s time as well, and I am sorry for that.”
Authorities in California suspected Manchester was behind more than 40 other robberies in the state and others, as his military assignments would put him near the locations.
Manchester told police in North Carolina he “got the idea from news of similar circumstances” in California, and that he had “never done anything like this before, and I won’t do it again.”
Manchester was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering and eight counts of first-degree kidnapping, and he was held him on a $1 million bond, according to the Observer.
He turned down a plea deal that would have let him serve 15 to 22 years in prison, and was later convicted of the charges, the Observer reported. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
But after serving just four years in prison, he escaped in June 2004 by hiding underneath a truck that took him beyond the prison walls, the Observer reported.
Manchester then hitched rides to bring him to Charlotte, where he would make a home inside of a Toys R Us, per the Observer. An employee eventually found his makeshift home behind a false wall in the store, though Manchester would later just move into a different part of the store.
Manchester also started frequenting Crossroads Church under the guise of the name John Zorn. There, he would meet Leigh Wainscott, a mother of three who was separated from her husband, played by Kirsten Dunst in “Roofman.”
The pair began dating, with Wainscott under the impression that John was unmarried with no kids, per the Observer. He would later buy her a car and bring gifts for her kids when they’d meet up, the Observer reported.
But on Dec. 26, 2004, he robbed the Toys R Us he had been living in, and when officers started investigating, they found a secret passageway that led them to the abandoned Circuit City next door, where they found a living space similar to the ones they found in the toy store, according to the Observer.
Investigators found a fingerprint in the space, which was a match for Manchester, who had escaped from the state prison months before, per the Observer. They started showing Manchester’s mugshot to people in the area, and on Jan. 5, 2005, they showed his photo at Crossroads Church to Wainscott.
“Miss Wainscott, the man that you’ve been dating is not who you think he is,” investigators told her, according to the Observer. “He’s an escaped convict. He’s considered extremely dangerous.”
They showed her Manchester’s mug shot on America’s Most Wanted, and she later helped investigators catch him.
Manchester was set to take Wainscott out for dinner that night, as it was her birthday, and she called him to confirm he was picking her up, per the Observer. As investigators tailed his car, he stopped at a Bi-Lo grocery store to pick up flowers.
Once he was at Wainscott’s door, the tactical unit swarmed, and Manchester surrendered, according to the Observer.
Authorities said they were able to connect him with other prior robberies at Toys R Us, as well as a break-in at a pawn shop and an arson at a dentist’s office, according to the Observer.
“Knowing what we know now about him, how crafty and skilled (he was), I think he enjoyed the chase,” Leigh told the Observer. “It wasn’t about the money. … I think he enjoyed eluding the police and being sneaky and seeing what he could get away with.”
Manchester is currently imprisoned at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, where he’s serving time for kidnapping and other counts.
He’s serving the rest of his 35-year sentence for his crimes in Gaston County, and more than 25 years for his crimes in Charlotte concurrently, according to the Observer.
His projected release date is Dec. 4, 2036, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
