Eric Manning is the half-brother of kidnapped boy Adam Forbes, who was also born from his mother Carolyn Forbes.
History[]
Eric was from Carolyn's first marriage to his father Stephen Manning, with divided visitation rights between his parents. Carolyn later married Peter Forbes, having a son named Adam with him, but she was in the process of divorcing him too. They were in the process of fighting in court for custody of Adam, with Eric overhearing Carolyn wanted Adam as badly as Peter did. When Eric was about to visit his grandmother for his birthday, he was told to get Adam from his room. Eric called Carolyn up to tell her Adam wasn't there, a cut in the window screen revealing Adam was kidnapped. Getting wrong the screen was cut from the inside, when it was really from the outside, detectives tried to guess a familiar kidnapper.
Both parents accused each other while represented by their attorneys, and even Eric was briefly suspected out of hate or jealousy. Eric instead, while in the company of Stephen, pointed the finger at Carolyn, who said she'd rather hide Adam away from Peter than lose Adam. None of the families were guilty, as the screen really was cut from the outside, but the mistake happened because the windowpane was on backwards. The kidnapper, Kevin Walker, was arrested shortly after stabbing two men who let him live in their store, killing one of them. Adam was rescued after Kevin was threatened based on his schizophrenia, as he believed Adam was his son Tate and secret police were after him. (SVU: "Coerced")