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Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast

The Rooftop Robber: The Wild Story of Jeffrey Manchester

Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast

Moms got ya covered-feed

True Crime

4.68.8K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1998, a polite and oddly courteous criminal known as "Roofman" began a crime spree across nine states, targeting mostly McDonald's restaurants. Jeffrey Manchester, a former Army paratrooper, would cut holes in the roofs of buildings, wait for employees to arrive, and then rob them at gunpoint—after politely telling them to grab a jacket before locking them in the freezer. After being caught and sentenced to 45 years, he escaped prison by hiding under a truck.
 
For six months, he lived inside the walls of a Toys "R" Us in Charlotte, North Carolina, surviving on baby food and entertaining himself with remote-controlled cars. He even started a new life, complete with a girlfriend and a church community who knew him as "John Zorn." This is the unbelievable true story of the criminal who turned a toy store into his personal hideout and the bizarre double life he led before his final capture.
 
 
New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!
 
Follow us on Instagram: @momsandmysteries
 
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Visit our website: momsandmysteries.com
 
#TrueCrime #Podcast #JeffreyManchester #Roofman #RooftopRobber #ToysRUs #CharlotteNC #CrimeSpree #PrisonEscape

Transcript

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0:00.0

He escaped prison by hiding under a truck, lived for months inside a Toys R Us, and somehow convinced a church full of people, and a girlfriend, that he worked for the government.

0:10.6

His name was Jeffrey Manchester, but the world knew him as Roofman.

0:14.6

And this story? Well, it's one you couldn't make up if you tried.

0:24.8

Thank you. you couldn't make up if you tried. Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a true crime podcast featuring myself,

0:30.6

Mandy and my dear friend Melissa.

0:32.2

Hi, Melissa.

0:33.1

Hi, Mandy, how are you?

0:34.5

I am doing wonderful.

0:36.7

Mandy, I have a question.

0:39.8

Do you have, it goes with this episode. It's not really about random, but do you have movies or something that you want your kids to

0:45.0

watch with you that they haven't or they will watch with you? Is there like one that sticks out to you?

0:52.6

Obviously, I have a story about this because that's

0:54.7

such a random question. I know. I'm like, well, this must be going somewhere. Wouldn't it be great if it

0:59.7

wasn't? And I was just like, oh, I don't. Cool. No, well, no, I don't know. I mean, we do sit down and

1:07.7

watch movies like as a family, but, you know, I, I don't know.

1:11.9

I've always been that kind of parent that, like, just doesn't like kid movies. So I don't only sit down and watch a lot of kid movies. There's a few that have grabbed my attention that I've, like, enjoyed, like, cartoon movies. Oh, I don't mean that at all. I mean, what's one that you love and you've allowed your kids to watch or like you've convinced them?

1:30.4

Oh, I've forced them to watch the Wizard of Oz with me numerous times. Yeah, obviously. And I'm a huge Wizard of Oz fan. I actually just made my whole family watch it with me like two nights ago. Are you a Wicked fan? Because that's like all the video. No, that's the crazy part. I'm not.

1:44.9

My daughter doesn't like Wizard of Oz, but she loves Wicked.

1:47.4

Oh, my gosh.

1:48.6

See, well, put us together and we have one complete fan.

1:52.4

A brain. What is that? The Tin Man? No.

1:54.3

No, that's the scarecrow.

...

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