Jeffrey Alan Manchester: The Roofman Cometh…AGAIN

In honor of the new Paramount Pictures movie Roofman, we’re re-releasing this episode from May 2024. Paratrooper Jeff Manchester used his skills to burgle Corporate America as The Roofman. First, he'd focused on McDonalds and other fast food. Then, like a criminal butterfly, he morphed into a Toys 'R' Us Man who built a secret apartment in an open store –– it was the ultimate inside job.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Elizabeth Dunton. I got a question for you, sir. Do
you know what's ridiculous? What I do?

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Beyonce? No, they're all going to come and get me.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm coming out to get.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Let me finish my thought. So Beyonce, I don't know
if you heard. She had an album called Renaissance that
came out of this, and then she had another album
called Cowboy Carter and on both of them, apparently the
cover has the picture of a horse. Yeah, and so

(00:41):
do you know, Oh my god, anyway, do you know
the name of the horse on the Renaissance album? Steve Well,
the fans the high they were calling it rene Renaissance
and then ny I g h okay. Well, so anyway,

(01:05):
Justina Omakua, who is the senior vice president at Parkwood Entertainment,
Beyonce's production and management company, clarified, No, no, no, no, the
horse is named shardonay with any like at the end. Yeah,
it's it's a it's a tragedy. So Shardona is the
name of the buttery shard And that's ridiculous. But wait

(01:27):
there's more. Oh no, yeah, so people hear about this, like, oh,
that's cute. Like no, but I do have to tell you,
Bold refined Horsey. Now you can blame. You can blame
Michelle Zibadiba on Instagram and k Law on Instagram. They're

(01:51):
the ones, the first two through the gate who told
us about this. All right, Bold refined Horsey. What am
I talking about? Yes, I am talking about the fact
that Arby's released uh Horsey sauce, which apparently that's their life.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I heard people reference these people. They're going on my list.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, put them on there with like Cheetos and all them.
They have released a Horsey sauce that's infused with Shardonnay
wine and it's called Chardonnaise with the any Igh Horsey Sauce.
And it's in this like frosted glass wine bottle, sixteen
dollars a bottle. It has. The package has a silhouette
of quote, a majestic horse in mid.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Gallop for a mayonnaise sauce.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
I suppose, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Its right. I'm assuming that's.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
A no because they got the idea from.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
From the I know, but I'm assuming it's a mayonnaise
space sauce.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
I've never had Horsey sauce. What is it? Is it
like donkey sauce? Whatever? I've never been to an Arby
can I can? I admit that.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Which could beat each other in a fight. Horsey sauce
or donkey sauce. Donkey I'm saying donkey sauce.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Every time, especially if Guy Fieri did a mashup between
donkey sauce and he brought in Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabbo tequila.
Like anyway, So if you want some chardonnayse Arby's horse
Horsey sauce, which, oh, there's just a lot for me
to talk about, you have to go to the Arby's

(03:18):
website and sign up for their Arby's Club. I didn't
I was going to sign you up for Club Arby's,
but I didn't know. I didn't do it. I didn't
do it. It's oh, it's a signature horse Radish sauce with a.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
It's a roast beef place, the.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Beef people, of course. Okay, anyway, so this has gone
on way too long.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know about them, right? They have the meats.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, that's what they tell me. If I were to
watch TV and.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I assume they also have the meat sweats.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Of course they do. Of course they.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
That's daring, ridiculous. I know you know else is ridiculous.
Tell me how about a guy who makes corporate practices
the basis for his outlandish crimes. Yeah, Elizabeth, this cat
he's a break in artist with a McDonald's problem.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Oh mashup.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
No, this is ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd and

(04:31):
outrageous capers, ice and cons. It's always ninety nine percent
murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. Cheers, Elizabeth Jarh
November nineteen ninety eight.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
I remember it.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
You do? You remember en times we had in November
nineteen ninety eight. It's so good.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Keep going.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Let me take you back the song do Wop That Thing?
By Lauren Hill? Yeah, number one on the Billboard charts. Yeah,
you loved that song, sure, Aaron, Lauren Hill. Sure you
even wore your hair like hers and sister Act too Appropriation, which,
by the way, came out in nineteen ninety three, which
is just two years after your new favorite bank ribery film,

(05:15):
Point Break. Yes, did you know Point Break came out
in nineteen ninety one?

Speaker 3 (05:19):
You're kidding me, sort of? I had no idea, right,
and I've never heard that.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, you'll remember it later anyway. Also on the radio,
back in nineteen ninety eight, your man was holding it
down in the number forty spot on the Billboard chart. Man,
he's new to the charts. It's his first time in
such rarefied air. This was his first hit off of
his third album, but it won't be his last. In
ninety eight, it's his first big hit song. It's called

(05:42):
hard knock life ghetto anthem. That's right at your man.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Jay Z horse face as you call it.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
He's got a long nogging. What was going on at
the Cineplex Elizabeth in November of nineteen ninety eight.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
November ninety eight, Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
And by the way, if jay Z has horse face,
and so does Troy Aikman, So really I'm shooting a
lot over here. I'm wide shots anyway, November ninety eight
at the Cineplex. You remember movies, right, That's where the
group it was a group activity, was it.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
People?

Speaker 2 (06:10):
They would go and they would sit in a darkened
room and they would stare at a blank screen. In
every twenty fourth of a second, a new image would
be projected onto the screen. Right, It was amazing. It's
this steady stream of images would be creating the simulation
of movement paired with sound. It was a very evocative
art form. Sadly it's been forgotten to history. Kids today
they see pictures of movie theaters from the nineties and

(06:31):
they will often mistake them for some sort of like
an ancient ritual space, like it was a cult. Perhaps, yeah,
a church dedicated to snacks and cold drinks. Anyway, back
in November of nineteen ninety eight at the box office,
can you guess what the number one movie was?

Speaker 5 (06:45):
No?

Speaker 2 (06:46):
The water Boy?

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Oh goodness, it was such a bleak time nineties.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Harder question. What was the third highest grossing film of
November nineteen ninety eight?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Was it another Adam sit where They're too?

Speaker 2 (07:00):
No, but it was a movie that was part of
what you Love, which is two movies that come out
at the same time and people can't decide.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Which one is an asteroid movie.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
No, good guess though it was? It was an insect movie.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
That's my Oh, bugs and ants?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yes, which one a bugs? Life did better?

Speaker 3 (07:17):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay, okay. Last question of our cinema ninety eight pop quiz,
Keep going Elizabeth for the Grand Prize. I love pennies.
Can you correctly name the number four highest grossing film
of November nineteen ninety eight.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Okay, so we've got water Boy and Bugs.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, I'll throw in here just to help you.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Oscar Bait.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Number two was the Rugrats movie. Just, oh my god,
throw that rounded?

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Was it a film for grown up?

Speaker 2 (07:44):
This was the first film for grown ups on our list.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Okay, tell me who was in it? Tell me one
person who is oh man?

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Okay, one person. I'm going to start from the bottom
of the list. This film had an amazing cast, right,
and I'm just gonna listen to some people I liked
at the bottom of the Lisa Bonnet, Regina King, Jack Black,
Jason Lee, the pro skater thing, Yes, skater, Jake Busey,

(08:12):
son of the Busy, Scott Cohn, son of the con
So we got two sons of it's so rich with
nineties goodness. Do you want the top guys? You'll immediately
know the film if I say tell you the top
guys Will Smith and Gene Hackman.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Oh what's it called?

Speaker 2 (08:33):
I love this film. I'll give you a hint.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
So's it's on the tip of my tongue.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Will Smith. At one point in the trailer he asked
Gene Hackman, what the hell is happening, and then Gene
Hackman says, I blow up the building, and Will Smith
is like why, and then Gene Hackman shouts back, because
you made a phone call. I jumped out of my seat. Elizabeth,
give me the name Enemy of the State.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
That's right, Lisa bonet me.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
That was the college girlfriend for Will Smith. Gena King
was the White anyway, Elizabeth and a movie that launched
later a blank one eighty two album with a similar name.
Oh that's Right of the State.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Boom, Yeah, there it is. Wow, it's all coming together,
you guys.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Nineties action films they hold so much. If Jerry Bruckheimer
produced it, I'm gonna watch it, right, I mean, come on, Elizabeth,
Amy the State, right, I mean Enemy? This date is
great because it's this paranoid action thriller about how the
NSA is watching everything. It's like this post Watergate paranoid
thrillers of the seventies, but now it's like you know,
the Parallax few with the Warren Baby, right but now,

(09:33):
which I also love that movie. But anyway, I love
paranoid thrillers. I think the point is that they're like
key holes in for like the moment in that time. Right.
But anyway, if Tony Scott made it, I'm gonna watch
that one. Took True Romance, not a paranoid thriller. But
I love that Tony Scott film. Interesting anyway, it's another movie.
I love them, just laying out movies I love.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
But besides, that's what today's show is about. Movies we love.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
November of nineteen ninety eight, jay Zy Hard Knock Life
Gene Hackman, An Enemy of the State. That was November ninetea, Elizabeth,
you remember it well, right, anyway, that's same November. That's
the time when today's perp first started getting busy. I
want you to be able to know the context in
which he was.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Well, it's actually very important.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
I think it helps sometimes in this case it does matter.
So today, Elizabeth, I want to tell you the story
of the Roofman, Jeffrey Manchester.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
The Roofman. What were we talking about yesterday? Oh, rack Man.
There was like some business where they sell racks. It
looks like, yeah, saying it sounds like it sounds like
something that in like a hip hop song would be
the name of like a like a guy who sells
drugs on the corner to see the rack man, Like
I'm too old to know that. Yeah, and so Roofman

(10:41):
also sounds like that, like there's gonna be a whole
thing like forty talking about Roofman. I'm like, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, You're like I thought I brought my jeep there
and got a new roof rat.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
And then I'm like trying to act cool, like, yeah,
I got this from the roofman.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Okay, lady, lady, it's not a local advertising thing.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Like but jay Z told me say it.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Well, we were recommended this story by a few rude dudes.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh really Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Most recently Brandy This, a comic from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She
suggested we do this one, and I just happened to
be reading up on him when she tweeted me about
this synchronous So I bump the Roofman right to the
top of the big board. Is I mean you said synchronicity,
I think of serendipity. It's happening. It's an idiot.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
It's all connected.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Government named for this cat. Jeffrey Allen, Manchester, Jeffrey, Yeah,
which makes him my second favorite. Jeffrey Allen. I've covered
Jeffrey Allen. Yes, Jeffrey Allen. Lash look him up anyway,
this guy norcow guy.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Elizabeth's jamming the Bay jam. So.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
He was born in Sacramento in seventy one.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Good for him.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
You went to Rancho Cordova.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
High, Okay, second a kid, yeah right, you know.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Your man Hurtcane. He graduated, went on to enlist in
the army. He joins the eighty second Airborne. You know,
the eighty second Airborne.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Thank you for your service.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Do you know about the airborne. That's the paratroope.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
You're in the sky.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
They jump out of the planeanes thick, easy company and
band of brothers. Right. They parachute behind enemy lines with
a rifle and that's about it. Okay, right, there's they
can do on their own.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
They just parachute and then they don't do anything. That's
about it.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's it. The scarecrow. Now stand there. So paratrooper eighty
second Airborne jeff Manchester. He is trained in the military
arts of his particular task. And his task. He gets
really good at a repelling, so he's good with ropes,
climbing gear. He was also skilled at dropping to the
grounds from a great height.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Oh, I say I could do that.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
I know you can do that. But he gave it
from way higher than you and land it stick the
landing the hospital. Yeah, there's no hospital trips for him.
No bruises like livers, none of that. No skilled camouflage
and evasion as well. Yeah really yeah, you.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Like it's like the back of a g I Joe totally.
So tell you more about this cat so code name so.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Like many who listen in the military, Jeff man Manchester,
he got married young, right he was twenty?

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Did he have a dodge charger dodge magnet so.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
By nineteen ninety nine, though, Jeff Manchester and his young family,
they were living in Conquered, California, Conquered just over the
hill from here. He was stationed at the Naval Weapons
station there at Conquered And in November nineteen ninety nine,
Jeff Manchester's wife said, Hey, I want a divorce. Oh
I'm out deuces.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
That's sad.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Not really, it was good for her because the couple,
the couple had a fight. I don't know exactly what happened,
but you know, perhaps she discovered her husband's big secret
that he was an accomplished break in artist to spend
his nights burgling local businesses as the roofman. Or maybe
she's just like, I'm tired of your snoring. I don't
know what happened when something happened.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
So either way, she signed on for life.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
You know, got I feel you on that. But when
you're married to Rufman, that's a different question. So, by
the way, when you have the name Rufman, as you
can no doubt guess there's a story behind you.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, oh really, yes.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Elizabeth, I'm gonna tell you that story. So Jeff Manchester
he earned his norm du crime for his work as
a regional tile distributor like a roofing tile. No, he
did not do that. It was his habit of breaking
into businesses through the roof and then stealing whatever cash
he could find. Yes, the Roofman was particularly fond of McDonald's.

(14:14):
Starting back in November of nineteen ninety eight, a year
before he got divorced, he began a crime spreed that
stretched across the country. We're talking. He robbed spots in California, Nevada, Oregon, Massachusetts, Maryland,
North Carolina, Virginia, Minnesota right now. In California, he broke
into McDonald's restaurants in towns you know, places you've been to,

(14:36):
San Luis, Obispo, Sam Pedro down South up here. He
hit spots like Emeryville, Dublin, Pleasanton, Pleasant Hill, from Roseville
to Placerville, all around the Sacramento.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
County Whereville McDonald's is.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
I think you do too. So based on eyewitness accounts
of the roofman, the police gave this description of the perp. Right,
They're like, be on the lookout for this guy who's
probably between eighteen and thirty years old. He was sought
to anywhere between five seven and six foot three. That's
that's a hell of a ring exactly. He looked like
a roof To put that into perspective, the range five

(15:11):
seven to six foot three, that starts with like Mark
Hamill and Robin Williams and like Willem Dafoe, they're all
five foot seven actors. At six three, you got Chris
Hemsworth aka Funny Hammer Guy. Yeah, yeah, so he's six three.
So if you're looking for a guy somewhere between Robin
Williams and the guy who plays Thor.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
And you don't have your glasses on, and he's like
moving around and bend and you.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
May not know, possibly moving quick. Who knows? So this
cat roof man. The cops also pointed out a couple
other things. They said he had a prominent Adam's Apple.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Wait, now hold on, you can you can't tell if
he's a little in but.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
People have noticed this. Yeah, it must be really pro
it's even it's even better Elizabeth. Also apparently he had
a pair of noticeably fold lips.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
What did he look like? Well, he had pillowy.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Lips, an apple, cozy bosom, and I quote he also
had extremely athletic build. It sounds like the copa roof
man if only I can swipe right on.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, that's like their dating profile. He has to be
anywhere between five seven and sixth Street, but he must
have beautiful casts.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Mike van Winkle from the California Department of Justice. He
said that the Roofman was and I quote, business like
and focused and very serious about what he does.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
You carry a briefcase, but many.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Of those he robbed have been struck by What a
nice decent guy. He seems to be a real gentleman.
I really hope that the cost. I hope that they
find the roofman, because they seem really sprung.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
They have a future.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yeah, I mean, who knows, but I can see why
they love him. He's good. Right, As Van Winkle said,
it's human nature that when you find something that works,
you continue to do it. And he also added, and
I quote he knows that unlike banks, where you often
encounter silent alarms, video cameras and armed security guards, that's
not the case with fast food places. Like he's a

(17:10):
smart guy.

Speaker 5 (17:11):
This guy his intellect if he's reinventing robbing seven months
free Jeff Manchester, he burgled forty restaurants, pulling a total
of one hundred grand.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Right, but as good as the cops made him out
to be, Rufman did occasionally run into troubles. Like his
mo o was to start from the roof. He'd find
a McDonald's he liked the looks of. Then he would
grab up his bag of drills and hammers and axes.
You get up there and repel up or whatever. Then
he'd chop into the roof and then he'd drill a hole.
Sometimes he couldn't get in so right later on cops

(17:46):
would discover some like half drilled hole, a mess of
abandoned tools, right, And other times he didn't do enough research,
so he'd get there he'd drill his hole. So when
he was in fulsome right Falls in California, he drilled
a hole in the roof, dropped in, but the restaurant
was closed. He's like, damn it, right.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
There was another place he was going in when it
was open.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, he would go in late at night to rob them.
So basically right at the end of the.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Ship, when people were still in there.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yes, well the employees were still in the right time.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
You can't repel up, right, you can only repel down.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
You basically repelled down. Yeah, but I mean like you
can pull, you.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Can climb on when you go up climbing, something.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Telling you mountain climbing. That's why it's called climbing high.
So other times he would cut a hole in the
wrong place and he'd wound up in like a tiny
spot behind a freezer. You know, it's just like stuck, Yeah,
a little Heidi hole. So in Plasterville, he almost got
caught when the police arrived on the scene. He was
still inside the McDonald's. So the cops spot Jeff Manchester
inside and he spots the cops. So what did he do?

(18:45):
He jumps out of like I don't know, I imagine the
drive through window, and then he makes a run for it.
The local cops they give chase, right, but they haven't
had to do this kind of exercise in a while.
So yeah, right, So the roof man when he makes
a run for it, remember he's got that real extreme
physically fit body, and he's like, a yeah, exactly, it's
got those amazing calves.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Have you seen the caves?

Speaker 2 (19:04):
If he wore short shorts, I'm telling you, I had
to eat it up. So anyway, he runs down to
Highway fifty, right, because they're in. He runs down the
Highway fifty. He runs across the freeway, four lanes of
speed and traffic. He loses the cops on the other side.
They're like, I get paid enough for that, right, he
gets away. The reason why he's so successful for so
long was that he targeted teens who were working at

(19:26):
night under supervised totally. Because I remember, as I said,
this is the nineties, right, So the weak spot in
the American capitalism in the late nineties were all the
teenage assistant managers working at a McDonald's on a school night.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah right, like I'm not going to be a hero.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
No, totally. The roofman he droves a two foot by
two foot hole he drops into a fast food spot,
usually McDonald's. The employees would be like almost closing. They're
stunned by this guy's mask. He's got like a semi
automatic weapon. He's demanding the day's receipts. They're like, oh, sure,
here you go. Here's all thirteen hundred dollars. Man, would
you want to go back through your hole now? So

(20:00):
the money? He would order that the employees into a
back room, maybe a walk in fridge.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
That's dangerous.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Oh yeah, totally. But he would always then call the
cops to have them come and let the kids out. Wow.
Oh yeah, totally right. Detective from Lodi, California, who investigated
robbery your spot right, he described the Roofman's mo as saying,
how quote as he herds them into the cooler, He'll say, well,
look at it this way, at least you'll get the
rest of the day off. He's definitely not your typical

(20:25):
hands up. This is a robbery kind of crook. Yeah.
In fact, he was memorable for his kindness as consideration.
One McDonald's manager remembered that end I quote. He was
really polite. He was apologizing. He said, would you please,
ma'am get on the floor, Would you please, ma'am, just
get down, like when he was in a pleasant hill,
you know, pleasant he asked employees, He robbed, can you
please get in the freezer?

Speaker 3 (20:46):
The Sacramento be right, your beautiful mouth says it. I'll
do it.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Those pillowy lips tell me what to do. So the
Sacramento b newspaper they wrote about Roofman, how he enjoyed
quote a coast to coast reputation. Is the most courteous
thief in the nation. They're dropping bars at the video
over here. Anyway. Other times he gets noted for giving
employees coats before he locked him into the walk in fridge.
The guy's a sweetheart, right. But now obviously he would
show up with a loaded firearm. So sometimes he had

(21:12):
to let off a few from the semiauto to get respect.
But he put him into like the floor of those ceiling,
not at people, you know. Other times he one time
he shot out a glass door to make his escape,
which is just dramatic. That's fun. Anyway, Clovis police lieutenant,
they once noted that for a guy holding a gun,
he was pretty mellow. He wasn't excited in the least,
all right, So even the cops, they love him everywhere
he goes. Now, now, now that we've gotten to know

(21:33):
the roof man, let's take a little break, a little
and after this, I'll tell you why he focused on McDonald's.
But also there's so so much more, like just wait
till we get to toys r us Oh and Rebecca

(22:04):
Elizabeth Hi, I know, Hi? So why McDonald's why not?
What did the roof man have against the red wigged
clown and his fast food spot?

Speaker 3 (22:14):
I don't know. He wanted to be a hamburglar?

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Why did Yeah? Why did he want to be the
real world hamburglar? When McDonald's became aware of this burglar
who kept targeting their franchisees, yeah, they were pretty proud
of his brand loyalty.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Oh really, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
There was an official who was not named in the
stories I found, but he said, and I quote, he
likes us. He's very brand loyal, a loyal customer, and
we work hard to build that loyalty.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
And he was unnamed. Yeah, oh, my god, you know that,
like the higher ups are reading this to me, like,
oh my god, would you come on, You've got to
figure out who that.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Was that guy from Clovis. So, Elizabeth, if you were
the roof woman, yeah, what would be what would be
your McDonald's? What store would you constantly break into? Burgle
Like here, I'll give you time to think. As an example,
I go with the store that sells kettle corn, just
all sorts of varieties my house. I know what do

(23:07):
you think? I got the idea there's a cattle store dedicated.
I'm coming through the roof. Just get back in. I'm
like walking out. I got all the kettle corn for day.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
You know what I would do?

Speaker 2 (23:20):
What you do?

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Like the mattress firm. First of all, you drop through,
you land on a mattress.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Hello, I like this thinking, and you know, just.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Find me a good pillowtop o man. And then you know,
we have all these theories that those are money laundering.
So I'm going to imagine serious cash in there.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
And if you get the right day that they're doing
the deliveries for the.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Washing yep, I'm the mattress mama.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
What did you do yourself? I'm not even going to
take that cheap shot that I could. I'm gonna I'm
looking at me being a gentleman, Elizabeth. Moving on, the
real reason why Jeff Manchester McDonald's was not his love
of big Maxim broken shake machines. Now, the truth was

(24:09):
far more mundane than that, you see, Elizabeth. He worked
there as a teen. It was the nineties. Everybody works
as a team, So he knew McDonald's. He knew the schedule,
he knew a manager would likely leave early and let
a teen assistant manager close up. He knew that. Yeah,
he knew their restaurants, right, He knew their whole routine,
so it didn't matter if it was fulsome California, Devil's Triangle,
North Carolina. He knew the layout before he walked in.

(24:31):
Sometimes they were so cookie cutter. I mean, he knew
where the back office would be from the rooftop, all right.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
So he's just whipping up a couple quarter pounders while
he's waiting.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
He just got to go and cook and like, right,
go get the cash. I'm gonna flip these burdens. So
he was like, you know, basically robbing the same restaurant
over and over and over again, and for a military man,
it's this is ideal. He had the same mission every
time and he could just perfect it. He's just dialing
it in. So, but I'll be honest, he wasn't exclusive
to MCD, despite what the fast food giant would tell you.

(25:03):
His brand loyalty also extended to I mean extended far.
He would even be He would rob a burger king
in the Burger Wars. He was on both sides of
the battlefield.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
No, he'sire it is so.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
He would also burgle other spots, other restaurants, places that
weren't restaurants, grocery stores, Blockbuster video, maybe a home base
or a toys r us. More on that later. So
the deal is the roofman is mostly driving around our
old stomping grounds into our cow drilling holes into roofs McDonald's,
dropping in on unsuspecting teens working the night shift on
a Tuesday, on a school night, and he shepherd them

(25:36):
into the walk in fridge, sweet talk them a little,
then rob the place blind and walk out.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
Did he leave?

Speaker 2 (25:43):
He usually just walk right out here? Why climb back
up the hole? He never got caught, his glorious hole.
He never got caught Elizabeth. One investigator believed he was
so good. They thought, this cat will never get caught.
There's no chance for us.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
He's just so good, he's so beautiful.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
And why because the roofman was quote extremely fast, strong,
and has kept his cool when cornered. Now nothing good
can last forever. Oh my god, you can just Yeah,
I'm like steam and Jean's over here, officer. So what's
next for Rufman? Obviously he must have gotten caught if
he's on this show, so he indeed get caught. I'll

(26:19):
just skip to the end on that. But in May
two thousand, Jeff Manchester he was sent east. Right, he
was stationed in North Carolina, which is what ended his
North cal crime spree because now he's slipped in a
whole different states. And also it ended his crime spree
in general because though he goes out one night.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
At this point, did he find the Lord?

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Well, he was in the four hundred and eighty first
Transportation Company, Right, he gets sent out to North Carolina
for an annual training exercise. He's like still in the service,
right was he?

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Where was he sent? I don't know where. They air
army in Gastonia. Oh I know where that is right.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, So May twentieth, he drops into McDonald's in Gastonia,
but it was closed. Oops. He didn't do enough survice
on he was just like, I guess working out a jag.
He's like, I just got here. I gotta go steal something.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's like if you go to in fayette Fille, North Carolina,
if you're driving up, I think that's Marines. Though they
have like.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
There's a ton of base.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
The people, all the parachuters like to see them, like
littering the sky, these little boys.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
You look across the horizon.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
It's so creepy. It's strange. But so I wonder if
he was sent to fat Mom.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah that's what they called me. Yeah, I don't I
don't know where exactly, but uh, I just know this
Elizabeth And as far as the crime goes, that same
night he decided, you know what, I got my jag.
I just didn't do it for me. So he went.
He drove ten miles down the road to a town
called Belmont, and he had a second McDonald's. Okay, he'd
waited so long. It was five hours later now, right,

(27:44):
so the McDonald's it was closed, but he thought he'd
wait for the morning rush and be like, open up
and give me the receipts from last night, right, some
employees they come in. He surprises them. He robs the place.
He ushered them into the walk in fridge. But apparently
this wasn't like a nighttime teenager assistant manager. This guy
was on it right. He breaks them out of the

(28:05):
walk in fridge, He escapes, calls the cops. Police arrive
in time that Manchester is still inside the McDonald's, but
he spots the cops. He makes a run for it
once again. I'm imagining him jumping out of the drive
through a window. And of course why not, you know,
Bellemont cops they give chase, and unlike the California cops,
you chase these guys. They're relentless. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
They chase Rufman into the woods, into the brush, over

(28:27):
a hill and dale. He gets basically located in like
a bunch of tall grass. He gets tired of running.
He just lays low. Doesn't work. When he gets caught.
He doesn't get into a shootout, he doesn't swing on
the cops. Instead, he just looks up at the arresting
officers and says, you guys did a real good job today,
and they're.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
Like, oh my god, he's so putty.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
He spoke to us. Did you see those lips so full?
Do you think he had work done? So in custody,
Roofman said he wasn't the guy who robbed McDonald's in California,
which they may hear about. No, that he was just a.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
Copy like preemptively telling.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Me, yeah, He's like, I'm just a copycat imitating that guy.
So if you hear anything, I wasn't there. The problem
with that story was his military records. They neatly corresponded
with the timing and the locations of all the burglaries.
So jeff Manchester, he gets sent to prison. He's thirty
three years old. It's his Jesus here, Elizabeth. Yeah, and
like Jesus, heyesus Christo, he too, rolled back the rock

(29:21):
and came back from the dead. For four years, Jeffrey
Manchester was on his best behavior. He earns the wardens
trust Elizabeth. He gets rewarded with the job in the
prison metal shop. Then he starts to track the trucks
that come in and out of the prison. He decides,
you know what, that's gonna be my way out of here,
so he takes some plywood he paints it black. Then
in June, he climbs under an outgoing truck. He fastens

(29:45):
his plywood platform to the bottom. He secrets himself away.
He tucks in some cardboard to take care of the sides.
Truck drives out of the prison roofman goes with it. Wow,
first time a prisoner had ever escaped from this recently
built prison. Word spreads of his escape right some of
the officers who had been investigating him back in northern California,
they started on the grape Vinyl officers. They're like, this

(30:08):
is like pretty much pre social media, pre internet kind
of stuff. So they're calling around. I guess Jose de
Latoa he hears about this. He's like, you gotta be
kidding me. Anytime someone escapes, it's surprising. But this guy
was very good at what he did. So once again,
now he's free. He's out. He climbs down from the
hidden platform. He hitchhikes to This is Charlotte, North Carolina.

(30:32):
And this is two thousand and four, mind you. Right.
In the fall of two thousand and four, a man
named John Zorn makes a new life for himself in Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
John Zorn, that is such a fake. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, So he sinks some roots in the community and
it's the South Elizabeth. What does that mean. It means
he goes and he attends Crossroads Presbyterian Church. You gotta
get yourself a church. He gets himself a church. And
he was as he was, you know, his neighbors described
him as a quiet, unassuming man. He told folks he
worked for the government. A lot of people do back there,
and the sort of government job where he had a

(31:04):
security clearance and thus he couldn't talk about it convenient.
This satisfied most of the folks, like what a good patriot.
So at church, John Zorn, he met a woman named
Lee Wayne's Cot and they were close in age, although
she was a few years older. Just a couple, but
the two hit it off. Lee, the way she recalled it,
John Zorn was quote funny, romantic, the most sensitive man
I've ever met. She also added, and I quote the

(31:27):
guy that every girl would want, Lee, I got some
bad news for you. Also, every cop.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
Biggest Adam Zeppelin ever seen.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
I'm telling you. Well, he was a forty year old
single mother, right, so she couldn't just let herself fall
for any guy. Right, she's got she has to be responsible,
a responsible right, so she had to think for and
for her kids. Right, she meets this guy and John Zorn.
He's good with her kids. He's kind, he's always bringing
them toys. He's very generous. Also, the couple they being

(31:55):
in to start talking about their future. I mean stuff
that you did she didn't expect. The forty year old's
mother was like, I didn't think I was this was
gonna happen, right. Unfortunately, John Zorn had a secret. His
name wasn't really John Zorn, Elizabeth, it was Jeffrey Allen Manchester.
And he did not have a top secret job with
the government. He was unemployed because he was an escaped convict.

(32:16):
He had no home that he could take Lee and
her kids too, because he was unhoused, and technically he
lived inside of a shuttered circuit city store.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Stop what you're doing in closed circuit city.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yes, a closed, abandoned circuit city store. So when the
Roofman was in prison in North Carolina, he'd heard from
one of his fellow inmates, because you know, it's like
a little educational center in there. So they tell him
like yeah, man, you have criminal sentences for commercial burglary
are not terribly draconian in Mecklenburg County. So that's why

(32:50):
he picked Charlotte, Charlotte Mecklenburg, right, So that's why. At
first he moves inside of a Toys r Us superstore.
That's his first home. But it's it's open, it's a business.
He's living in an opened.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
That is like every eight year old toys stream exactly.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
He finds a way to sneak inside the walls of
the store right right behind like a bicycle display and
the toys. Yeah, he digs into like the dry wall.
He gets a little crack open, he digs into the wall.
He makes himself a little spot. But then he starts
like doing renovations boys in the wall and he makes
himself a little secret Toys.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
R Us apartment out of legos.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
No, just like inside the drywall, in the segments in
between the walls. He just makes himself a little place
to live. He starts like digging around the wall and
accidentally kicks through the wall and gets into the next
door business, which is a circuit City, which has been closed,
but the power is still on. So that's where he
sets up a secret apartment that will not be disturbed
by knows the employees, or because there's no employees, there's

(33:46):
not a storry about, right, So Elizabeth, can you imagine
living inside a Toys r Us? But not as an adult, like,
let's imagine it is kids.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
Yeah, oh dang, it's over.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
I don't know about you, but do you remember holiday
season the Toys r US catalog?

Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (33:59):
I got my sister and I it was this a
storehouse of desires, circle stuff, tear up pages, lay them
around the house.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah, exactly, better would around like what's this on the
dining room table?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Just happened to be there? Circled and pointed out?

Speaker 3 (34:14):
So crazy?

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Darren would love this? Did Santa put that there?

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Picking up?

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Like? Mom?

Speaker 3 (34:20):
Did you want me to see this? I was actually like.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
This exactly what I wanted in that color. So do
you know the name of the giraffe mascot for Toys
r Us?

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Jeffrey? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Why do I know that? Right?

Speaker 3 (34:34):
But isn't it like Geoffrey.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
With the g look at you double down?

Speaker 3 (34:38):
There's so much that I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
And then the things you do the name of the
mascot for a defunct toy.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Company exactly, or like songs that come on.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
The hall the looks you're amazing with that.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
By the way, the roofman's name is Jeffrey.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
In their coverage, ever did this, They never compared to Yes,
the whole It's the Toys r us Man, the Jeffy's
he grew up as the It's the Toys r us
Man anyway, jeff Manchester, as I told you, he's dating
the single mother Lee Waynscott. He's playing at being a stepfather.
He's a member of the local Presbyterian church. He's living
inside a deserted circuit city. He's doing his shopping from

(35:15):
the neighborhood Toys r us So. This tiny area that
he called a home was the space beneath the stairwell
right in the circuit city. He had a bed that
he stole from Toys r us On his bed he
had spider totally had like Spider Man sheets because he
also stole from Toys r us On the walls of
his secret apartment, he had posters of Spider Man and
Superman movies. Oh yeah, put up posters a whole bit,

(35:37):
you know, for evening entertainment. He'd wired up a DVD player,
and he stole some DVDs from Toys r US. So
he had like forty days and forty nights. He had
match Stick men. Of course, he had Spider Man two,
the Tobey Maguire one. Now for nutrition and nourishment, you
may be wondering what's he doing to live on.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
I was totally I was thinking that.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Baby food, jars of baby food that he stole from
toys r us. They sell baby food and toys r US.
So he lived off of strain peas and oh my god,
just all diarrhea.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
That's all.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Paste at this point. So he was super attracted the
lad Oh god. Yeah. They also he wired up a
smoked a fire. He had a fire extinguisher and a
smoke detector as an early warning detection system. There's like
a motion detector. He also, yeah, he wouldn't we wouldn't
be surprised by workmen or inspectors.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
He had to totally like rig it up. Otherwise it's
like you're only early detecting a fire exactly.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
So, by the way, think about this, he's been in prison,
right he escapes. He had a four foot by eight
foot sell in prison. Now he has a four foot
by ten foot secret apartment in Circuit City.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, I mean he has the whole place place.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Exactly, cleaned down, empty, there's like.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Stains on it, thousands of square feet.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
But he spotted inside because.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
He probably had like small quarters in the.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Builds, a prison of his own design. It's like it's
like a little piece of heaven for someone living on
the land. I guess. Anyway, beyond the DVDs, he falls
asleep too. And the baby food eats for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. What else did the roof man do all
day and all night inside Circuit City? And toys are Well,
there's a bit answer that. I'd like you to close
your eyes and take a break, okay, and when we

(37:23):
get back, I will tell you what it's like inside
Toys or US when you have it as you take
your apartment.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
Yay, Elizabeth, how were those ads?

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Huh?

Speaker 3 (37:53):
I don't know. My eyes were closed.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Oh okay, well they were good. I'll just tell you
that now if.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
You want to get here with my eyes c to
know what was.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Going on and say, you like a Circuit City that's shuttered, yeah,
and next door to a Toys r US that's open,
and you live in both.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Of those m and I got the squirts.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Boy, if I got a treat for you, yeah, because
I'd like you to close your eyes and i'd like
you to pictures. It's a quiet night at the Circuit City, Elizabeth.
The lights are low, but there's music playing from a
DVD player. It's the soundtrack for the movie Smoking in
the Bandit and you, Elizabeth, are Jeffrey Manchester's imaginary friend

(38:31):
Regina Corntower. At the moment, you are driving in a
race against Jeff, He's piloting a Barbie dream car. You
are driving the right along Barbie pink cheek and you
are losing. You're racing around in the aisles and the
battery powered car engine wines as you punch it. The
car tires slide across the Linolean tile floor. You think
you can overtake the lead, maybe beat Jeff, because of

(38:53):
course you do, since you're an imaginary friend. And that's
what Jeff Manchester wants you to think. But also he
has a plan. When you pulled even with him, hoping
to pass, he lets you take the outside and then
he puts you in the wall hole. No, just like
Tom Cruise and days of thunder a Jerry Bruckheimer production.
The Barbie Jeeks slams into the shelves, the toys fall

(39:14):
off and hits you in your imaginary head. Jeff Manchester
laughs and continues to race on around the empty toys
r us late at night. I'll bite himself. He's won again.
He always wins.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
He wins again.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
So I've even messing around and living the best life
an eleven year old in a Hollywood movie about a
kid who calls a shuddered toy store at his home.
What else was Jeff Manchester doing? Elizabeth?

Speaker 3 (39:38):
Am I still picturing it?

Speaker 5 (39:39):
No?

Speaker 2 (39:39):
They were picturing it. What do you think?

Speaker 3 (39:42):
I just think that every time he sat down it
was a squeeshiesun.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Gotta bring it back?

Speaker 1 (39:49):
I could.

Speaker 6 (39:51):
Well.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Luckily they toys are us. They sell diapers, He's goods
and they have they got wipes. They have a product
called Boudreau's butt paste, so he's should be covered. That's
her babies who have issues with anyway, Elizabeth back to
Lee Waynscott, his girlfriend many partners. She wanted to go out.

(40:11):
She wanted to go out for a nice dinner and
not eat babyfood. She wanted to go out and see
a show, maybe a play. Something he wanted to do
a couple's due. But John Zorn, her boyfriend and his
top secret government job, couldn't give her those things.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
You didn't even like go dutch on a bill.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
No, no, not at all. He's got no cash. Yeah,
he's not really real, because what was real was that
Jeffrey Manchester needed to figure out a way to get
some cash in his life, right, not Spiderman DVD. So
he starts to plan his next great robbery. Instead of
going back to his old mo, he had a new idea.
He would rob the toys r US.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
Well, I'm wondering why that hasn't happened yet, right, Yeah,
but this would require some surveillance, right, So he installed
a series of baby monitors around the store.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
He used those to spy on the goings on of
the employees management. He's like McCauley, Kulkan is robbing toys
r using.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
That anyway because it's so boring.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, totally. You would not be able to last two
days at this. But not only this, he also starts
to change the employee's schedules because he wants to create
a weak moment without any managers on the floor, and
that's when he'll rob the Toys r Us. Really, so
he'd take his girlfriend out for a real date. So,
just like the McDonald's, the Toys r Us also followed regular,
predictable corporate practices that made it far easier target for

(41:26):
him to burgle. But unlike McDonald's, he was essentially living
inside the Toys r Us and so thus he was
living behind. He's leaving behind all this evidence of his presence, right,
so it didn't take long for employees to notice Smith,
the missing merchandise, the baby boot bottles everywhere. Yeah, the
smell suspicions start to grow. People are getting tired of
blaming Greg, so casual investigations get launched. If he was

(41:50):
going to rob from the Toys r Us, his window
is closing fast and he gets that. Right. Meanwhile, he's
attending Bible study class every Wednesday. He's going over to
his girlfriend's place. He'd ocay robin McDonald's and then take
Lee out to a nice restaurant one he could afford,
like Red Lobster. Yeah, he's like Beyonce, you know, if
you're good, you're gonna take you out to Red Lobster.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
I bet you that when he went to Bible study,
he just like loaded up on all the snacks. On
Wednesday night, they're just like he does like early morning
stuff to get them arms nice.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Get some protein. So other nights, sometimes a couple they
would stay in watch movies because the guy had quite
a DVD collection. I'm telling you, buzz. He remained generous,
remember exactly double trouble. Anyway, he's bringing over toys for
the girlfriend's kids. Oh sure, every time he comes over

(42:42):
brand new, big ticket toys. The rest. He's also donating
to the church that she's like, he's so generous. Yeah,
so John Zorn even though also he gave the church
pastor the first two seasons of Seinfeld on DVD. So
the church pastor is like, and I quote, he's very engaging,
down to earth, nice felt lips. Oh yeah. So around

(43:03):
the same time he goes to a dentist have some
work done, right, he's got a tooth pain. So also
at the same time he's got a gym membership. She
started to lay down some other roots. He creates a
little life for himself. And he didn't know it then,
but this would be the mistake that he's making. He
cannot have a life for himself. As John Zorn anyway,
one Charlotte police captain much later noted, if you draw

(43:24):
a donut around that circuit city, I bet he talked
to everyone within a mile. Yeah. So he's out there
now trying to do he got a life. Yeah, yeah,
he's just out there, like, hey, how you guys doing.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
How's he paying for his gym membership?

Speaker 2 (43:37):
He goes and robs and McDonald's and then he's got
a couple hundred bucks. He's not much. It's not paying rent,
but he doesn't have car insurance. I got him once again.
I don't know, maybe a cash anyway. The holidays approach Elizabeth.
Now he's set for the kids obviously, so he can
always steal, you know, some something. Maybe he can't steal
a toy for Lee. So he's like, what am I
going to do for her? But for her he wanted

(43:59):
to get something special, right, He's like, I should show
her that we're going to start a life together. He's like, okay,
I need to rob the toys, r ust, I need
to get serious. So December twenty sixth, the day after
Christmas aka Boxing Day in Canada, roof Man it's time
to bring back the skills. Oh man, He decides the
time to rob the toys or ust. But he's not
coming through the roof. He's coming through the walls. So

(44:21):
he knew holiday shopping it's done. Now. It's the twenty
six right, the store should be flush with cash, the
most it'll have the entire year. And it's not yet
deposited in the bank.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, because banks close on the twenty fifth.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
So he walks right through the wall into the giant
toy store. He's got a gun in one hand, and
then he'd stolen from a pawn shop. He tells the
stunned employee.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
He's steal a gun from a pawnshop.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Through the roof. Oh yeah, that's just my shot.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
That's just like I imagine him standing at the counter,
all yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I don't think the place was open.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
I don't think.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
So he walks in. He's got his pawn shop gun,
he's got his like mask on. He's like roofman, back
baby back in the game, don't Carolina. So he tells
the stunted employees that he's there to rob the store.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Take your shirt off, spin it around.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Your head like a helicopter, Raise up now he was
very kind and thoughtful, as always right, and he tells
him like, I'm just here to grab the cash. I
don't want to hurt anybody. Pair of employees, they're like
this North Carolina. I don't believe you. They run for
the door. So they managed to escape and they go
and they call the.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Cops like a beautiful man is robbing.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
So the police they show up. They're quick on the scene.
Roofman has not had time to leave. He hears the
police arrive, He's able to flee without getting caught. However,
he now no longer has a home. He has the
cash to take his girlfriend out because he stole that,
but he has no home. What's next for the roofman?
Does he say we should get married and move to Mexico. Well,

(45:44):
when the police arrived to investigate the toys, r us
burglary police dogs get called in. The dog sniff and
sniff and doesn't take them long to find something because
he's stinky at this point. But anyway, he'd left a
cash of toys that the roofman had secreted away in
the ceiling tiles. Oh how the dogs sniff that, I
do not know, but they're onto something. Now the Charlotte
Mecklenberg cops, they continue to investigate. They remembered there was

(46:05):
a report of how they responded to a burglar alarm,
and the cops had previously investigated the abandoned Circuit City.
One cop even tested like a piece of loose dry
wall while they were searching. They had never discovered the
roofman's hidden apartment. So now they return they investigate again.
They go looking around in the Circuit City, this time Elizabeth.
They also found nothing.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
They didn't find the apartment.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Later on, one cop this dude named Fred Allen, which
to me is like the old radio comedian. I'm like,
that's wild. Anyway, So he's patrolling the parking lot of
the Circuit City. He spies something strange and I say
something strange, like only you would have noticed this. He's
looking at the wall of the store, like the one
of the back walls, and there's lights on, right, all
these lights are lighting up the wall. But because the

(46:46):
power still on this in the business in the store,
one spot on the back wall is totally dark and
he's like, well, that's odd, and he goes over to
take a look at it and he sees there's like
it's been painted. There's this hidden door painted to match
the wall. He opens the door and he finds a
secret room. It's the hidden apartment of Jeffrey Manchester. He
just walks right in. Jeffrey Manchester was not there. He

(47:09):
happened to be out of here. I guess he was
up with Lee and the kids. Yeah, maybe it's Wednesday,
he's at Bible class. Anyway, cops get called in, they investigate,
They fingerprint everything. On one DVD. They find a fingerprint
the dvd Elizabeth, catch me if you can stop it.
Sear to god, that's a great detail. Like put that
in the movie, right, the house sublime? Right. Anyway, the
cops now they have their suspect. They fingerprint, they identify them,

(47:31):
They put out an APB. They turn to local media.
They release a mugshot of the suspect. It goes on
the nightly news the next morning. Jeffrey Manchester. He goes
back to that dentist office where he had the work done,
and you know he has gotten they got medical records inside. Yeah,
that would you know, connect him. So he burns the
place down. He burns down the dentist's office. Does go

(47:53):
on to Steel's records and then go and steal like
a bunch of records. He just burns the office down. Fortunately,
though that was too late for that kind of severe
drastic actions, because several churchgoers have to be watching the
news the night before. They all recognized the mug shot.
They're good church people. They call up the cops. They're like,
that's John Zorn. He goes to my church and they
tell the cops he's friendly with Lee Waynscott.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
And so a lot of toys exactly real generous.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
So detective goes out to speak with Lee. It was
just after New Year's at this point to January Fitch,
January sixth. The detective walks up to Lee and asked,
do you know this man? Like? How T two is that?
But the terminator too? Is not? Really what was happening, no, Elizabeth.
It was a detective holding up a photograph of Jeff Manchester.
Lee looked at the photo, then back at detective, then

(48:40):
back at the photo side, looked back at the detective
and said, that's John. The detective told her his name
was not John Zorn, he was Jeff Manchester and he
was an escaped convict. As far as the cops could
tell he'd been living inside of a Circuit City store
doing all his grocery shopping at the Toys r Us,
and the detective asked if she knew where John, or

(49:01):
rather Jeff might be. Lee said she didn't know where
he was. She wasn't protecting for him. She literally did
not know, but she told the cops he would probably
call her soon. The cops say, well, would you would
you be willing to help us contact him or maybe
set up a trap. She's like, yeah, I will help
you set up a meeting with John Zorn aka Jeff Manchester.

(49:21):
But also, by the way, Lee, she's shocked and sat
into her Cory. You called it right. I mean, we
got to feel sorry for She thought she met a
good guy at church. He's great with the kids, great
with the community. Turns out to be he lives in
the Toys r Us with her city, and he's he's
the roof man.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Imagine. I'm just thinking about like she's sitting in therapy. Yeah,
so it didn't work out.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Let me tell you what, John Zorn does he have
any friends.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
And they are welcome to club jaded. He's never going
to trust anyone again.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
I can't introduce you to any of his friends because
he's not a real person. Oh my god, so she
as I said, She agrees for the cops to help
catch her boyfriend. Days later, she calls a detective and
tells him that she's invited John Zorn over for her
fortieth birthday party.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
Oh, happy birthday.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
She's gonna have a party. And so they're like, what
if we're the guests? So she's like, okay, So she
invites Jeff over to her party with the cops. The scene,
though it's joyous, it's festive. The cops are doing their
best to give her a happy fortieth. Secretly, Lee is
dying on the inside, right, So she's faming a smile
when John, or rather Jeff, arrives at her birthday party and.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Kind of turn it around. I would be like, this
is the greatest da because I'm gonna just nail this exactly.
I am going to ruin myself and justice. It would
be the best party.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Yeah. Yeah, you can't spell justice without ice ice cold.
Now there's no parties, I told you, Elizabeth, just a
bunch of cops pretending they're holding solo cups or whatever.
And so her kids are out of the house because
in case there's a bad scene. So the roof man arrives.
He's got a bouquet of flowers for his girlfriend. He
strolls into Lee's place, Happy fortieth baby.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Oh god.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
He finds that she's alone except for these cops. SOPs.
They swarm him. They arrest him immediately. The Charlotte Police
sergeant Catherine Scheimerife or shim Reef said, after the bus
and about the bus, the Roofmand's biggest mistake was quote
going back for the girl one last time. Oh my god,
so Elizabeth, he broke the thirty second rule from Heat, which,

(51:17):
by the way, is your new second favorite bank robbery movie. Okay,
so in that movie, Robert de Niro says, don't let
yourself get attached to anything you were not willing to
walk out in thirty seconds flat if you feel the
heat around the corner. Now, dude broke the heat dictate.
I don't know what to call this, right over the
heat dictate the thirty second rule. He broke it. Yeah,
now he gets busted. The cops let roofman phone his

(51:37):
girlfriendly and she says he was apologetic. They told reporters
at the time he was very sad and humbled and
felt terrible that he had to deceive us. He encouraged
me and told me to be strong and to do
the things we talked about doing. He wasn't upset and
get this, Elizabeth, she forgave him.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Are you kidding?

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Good Christian Southern woman, I'm telling you right, heart filled.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
With you know what? More power to her said vengeance
would be mine.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
She said, I don't hate them. I'm disappointed and confused.
I don't know whether to smack them or hug them. No,
I say throw out in the trash, but please custdy
Jeff Manchester. He also phoned his mother. He calls up.
He's like, Mom, I kind of lost focus direct flow, Mama,
I kind of lost focus. She added, he doesn't seem

(52:24):
super embarrassed about the notoriety. I know I would be.
That's my mother, that's her response. Would Yeah, he should
be embarrassed, embarrassed, me, embarrassed the family. I would have
died of embarrassment at a good nature if I was him.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
You gotta just don't talk to the press.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 6 (52:40):
Now.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
She also said her son seemed like a character out
of a movie. That's his mother, I can't imagine this
is something you would see in the movies. Yeah, Now,
we always compare our lives to the movies, which we
are losing. So what do you think we're gonna use
to make sense of our lives when movies are gone? Like,
this is like something you'd see in a video game.
It doesn't have the same pinas on the ticker, right,

(53:01):
this seems like something you've seen in his streaming series.
It just doesn't anyway. Back to Charlotte Police Sergeant Catherine
scheim Reef, she said, you hate to compliment the guy
because he's a dirt bag, but we can we can
learn a lot from him. So even she's a victim
to it is happening. And she's partly right because since
he was certainly worthy of a compliment from cops apparently,
but being that I'm not a cop, I'll just say it.

(53:23):
He was wildly good at what he did, and he
wasn't done trying. So February two thousand and nine and
October twenty seventeen he tried to escape from prison. Oh god,
yoh yeah. Now both attempts failed. At the moment, he's
still in prison. He's at Central Prison, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
And now he's scheduled for release in twenty thirty six.
Ladies take note, So at that time he will be

(53:44):
sixty five years old. It's kind of wild that he's
living in a North Carolina prison as opposed to California,
because he was sent there for a short deployment. He
gets busted, gets caught, and he spent half of his
life in a North Carolina prison. Yeah. Anyway, and oh,
by the way, we can now look forward to a
movie about his exploit because Channing Tatum has signed on
to star in the film of his story. The title

(54:06):
roof Man, Magic Roofman, Roofman.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
That's a good Where did they get that time?

Speaker 2 (54:11):
I know? Fun Fact Toys r Us went bankrupt in
twenty seventeen. Fun Right. All the stores closed. It was
the end of an era that was I hated it, right,
but it was the result of greedy, unscrupulous investors who
loaded the company up with debt and then tanked its
future and then sold off the parts for profit. Now
they basically loaded the store the stores because they all closed,

(54:32):
yet none of them will go to prison. Instead, they're
celebrated as smart, rational economic actors. Right, taking advantage of
market dynamics or whatever. Yeah, personally, I prefer my thieves
like Jeffrey Manchester.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
That's what I say.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Now. I bet Lee Waynscott would have a different opinion,
But I'm just saying as an outsider, you.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Know, in terms of like maybe a person here there
lost their job because of Roofman. Sure, yeah, but like
that it was venture capitalists, Pretrick.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Yeah, totally. I believe it was capital I believe.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Was Romney wiped everybody out. Yes, it's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
All the stories. Everyone loves their job, but none of
them that's not like a bad thing. This guy going
in and stealing some baby food.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Clever anyway, I prefer him, I agree.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
So what's a ridiculous takeaway or Elizabeth?

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Oh, my ridiculous takeaway is there's no need for brand loyalty?
I like, what about you?

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Look at you. My ridiculous takeaway is is this a mashup?

Speaker 3 (55:32):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (55:33):
Okay, there you go, so pritzy you got a talkback
for us? Sure do you? Oh my god?

Speaker 3 (55:46):
I went.

Speaker 6 (55:51):
Hey, Elizabeth and Zarin. One of the things I wanted
to ask about was if you knew about this skit
from Sentient live That was done back in the eighties
and it ties in with all the episodes to end
up with the cons writing books. So if you go
to YouTube and search for Pros and cons SNL and
that's p R O s E, you will see a
short film supposedly written by Norman Mailer about the next

(56:14):
great wave of Piliser winning writers and poets coming from
the American prison system. Anyway, I love the show.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Oh well, my god, I love this.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
I have to go.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Look, I'm gonna stop this show right now to go. Look,
can you just stop it? Hand me my phone? Well,
how's always? How you find us online? Ridiculous Crime on Twitter, Instagram,
have the website ridiculous Crime dot com and we obviously
love your talkbacks. That one was excellent. Yeah, email us
if you like a Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com
and hit us up on the iheartapp if you would like,
you can download it and possibly hear your voice on

(56:45):
the show.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
As always, thanks for listening. We will catch you next crime.
Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett,
produced and edited by our resident toys r ust Man
Dave Houston. Research is by ruthe Person Marissa Brown and
Wall Lady Andrea Song Sharpen Too. Our theme song is

(57:09):
by Circuit Curity employees of the Month Thomas Lee and
Travis Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by Bidany five hundred.
Guest hair and makeup by Sparkleshot and Mister Andre. Executive
producers are McDonald's Rooftops, Secret Shoppers, Ben Bollen and Noel Brown.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Why Say It One More Time? Geeks Crime.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts.
My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.