With Roofman now in cinemas, viewers will be surprised to learn the events unfolding on screen are based on a true story. Directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester, the film brings to life one of the wildest crime sprees and jail breaks of all time, including robbing over 40 McDonald’s, escaping jail under a truck and hiding out in a Toys “R” Us, but Manchester’s story isn’t the only crazy jailbreak in history.
From raincoat rafts to helicopter getaways—these escapes are proof that real life can be even crazier than fiction, and leave you wondering, “That really happened?”
The Roofman: Jeffrey Manchester
Jeffrey Manchester, a.k.a. “The Roofman”, didn’t start out as an escape artist—he first made a name for himself by turning McDonald’s into his own personal ATM. Beginning in 1998, he carried out a string of more than 40 robberies with one simple observation: every McDonald’s had practically the same floor plan.
Armed with this knowledge—and a saw—Manchester would cut his way through the roof at night, slip inside, and camp out in the restroom until morning. When the morning staff arrived and business began as usual, he would burst out and order the employees into the walk-in refrigerator before emptying the registers. Big Macs weren’t his prize; cash was on the menu.
His spree came to a halt in May 2000, when police finally caught up with him. Convicted and sentenced to 45 years, Manchester was transferred through several North Carolina prisons before landing at Brown Creek Correctional Facility.
Whilst at Brown Creek, Manchester worked in the prison’s metal shop, where his sharp observational skills came in handy once again and he plotted his great escape. Noticing the truck’s patterns coming in and out of the shop, Manchester built a makeshift escape platform out of plywood, painted black for camouflage, and slid it beneath a departing truck on June 15, 2004. Clinging to his contraption, he rode undetected straight out of Brown Creek—and into Charlotte, North Carolina.
But he didn’t stop there—Manchester then set up camp inside a Toys “R” Us. He lived in quiet, unvisited areas and back rooms, sneaking out at night to eat the inventory of snacks and baby food, and exercising on the children’s bikes.
Eventually, he upgraded his hideout to a neighbouring abandoned Circuit City, where he painted the walls, decorated, and made his space a home. From there, he cautiously re-entered society, joining a local church and even dating a local named Leigh Wainscott, whom he would spoil, along with her daughters, gifting them toys and stock stolen from the very store he was living in. All the while, secretly plotting his next move: robbing the Toys “R” Us itself.
That plan unfolded on December 26, 2004, when Manchester robbed the store. However, his plan was foiled after two employees slipped away and called the police, forcing him to flee with whatever cash he could grab. Soon after, when Wainscott revealed his true identity to authorities. Police set a trap at her home, and lured Manchester into an additional 40-year sentence onto his record.
Alcatraz Escape: Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin
In June 1962, Frank Morris and brothers, John and Clarence Anglin pulled off what remains the most infamous escape from Alcatraz. After spending months planning and crafting a makeshift raft out of 50 raincoats and creating dummy heads out of papier-mache, the trio escaped the famous prison through ventilation ducts and unguarded corridors. Though authorities presumed they drowned in the bay upon their escape, no bodies were ever found. Many speculate the trio made it out alive. However, the case still remains unsolved to this day.
Frequent Flyer: Pascal Payet
French criminal Pascal Payet escaped by helicopter not one, not two, but three times in 2001, 2003, and 2007, even orchestrating one to break out fellow inmates who he was arrested with in 1999. Complete with hijacked pilots and landing zones on prison rooftops, Payet utilised the distractions of festivities such as Bastille Day to organise his escapes, before being captured and sent back with additional years added to his record. After his third escape, Payet was imprisoned in a secret location in hopes to stop his attempts, where he remains imprisoned to this day.
Light At The End Of The Tunnel: El Chapo
Former drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, more widely known as El Chapo, vanished from Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 in July 2015—through a 1.5km long, ventilated and lit tunnel 10 metres below the ground, accessible via a hole in his prison cell shower. This tunnel led to a nearby construction site in the Santa Juanita neighbourhood, where he fled until his arrest in 2016. EL Chapo was sentenced to life plus 30 years in 2019. Interestingly, authorities found a motorcycle in the tunnel which they assume he used to transport materials and himself when planning and executing his escape.
With helicopters in Paris, tunnels in Mexico and rafts and dummies in Alcatraz, Roofman’s pedal powered bikes, and baby-food raids gives a mischievous and ingenious flair that Hollywood can’t resist.
Catch Roofman in cinemas October 17th, starring Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, and Peter Dinklage.
