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When Morgan Metzer glimpsed a masked figure standing in her bedroom doorway shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day 2021, she thought she might just be seeing things. But then —

Morgan Metzer: He’s standing there like a soldier, like with his fist clenched and like he was ready to go. … He ran at me and jumped on top of me. And that’s when he started pistol-whipping me.

Just hours earlier, she’d been ready to ring in the new year in Canton, Georgia, with her best friend, Nichole Stabasefski.

Nichole Stabasefski: That’s what we were looking forward to. … And I knew she was exhausted.

It had been a long year for Morgan. Recently divorced, her 8-year-old twin son and daughter were spending a few days with her sister in Florida.

Nichole Stabasefski: I mean we’re moms. … We just wanted to hang out for a second. … We had planned for it.

But after arriving at Stabasefski’s, Morgan, feeling tired, decided to make it an early evening.

Nichole Stabasefski: When she left, I did — I — I gave her some crap. I was like, “what are you doing?” … And I was like, “You loser, fine, whatever. Text me when you get home, blah, blah, blah, see you tomorrow.”

A VIOLENT INTRUDER DRESSED IN BLACK

Little could either friend have guessed that a short time later, Morgan would be in fear for her life. Her attacker had brought zip ties with him, already pre-looped and intertwined. He put Morgan’s hands behind her back, slipped them on, and tightened them.

Morgan Metzer: It’s an out-of-body experience.

Nikki Battiste: I can’t imagine what you’re thinking. What you’re feeling.

Morgan Metzer: Vulnerable, exposed. What’s going to happen to my kids? … I haven’t done a will. … I haven’t talked to my family about who gets them. … I was like … “they’re not going to have a mom.”

Her assailant strangled her nearly unconscious twice.

Morgan Metzer: It’s the worst feeling in the world to think you’re dying. And you feel like you’re going to be tortured beforehand.

Morgan’s attacker sexually assaulted her.

Nikki Battiste: Who did you think was attacking you? 

Morgan Metzer: I don’t know. I just felt like it was some random person. 

In addition to the mask, the intruder had taken great pains to disguise himself.

Morgan Metzer: Black … hoodie jacket. … Black pants, black gloves.

He said very little, but when he did, Morgan says her assailant seemed to be disguising his voice — making it sound low and gravelly like the Batman movies. He also seemed to know about Morgan’s personal life — specifically, her recent divorce.

Nikki Battiste: He said something about your husband.

Morgan Metzer: Yes. “You’re going to miss your husband.” I said, “No, don’t hurt my husband.”

Morgan says her mind raced trying to piece together why this was happening to her.

Morgan Metzer: I swear, I like went through my whole life in my head. That’s how my brain was … just everywhere. I mean, 50,000 tabs opened up at one time in my brain.

Her attacker demanded to know where Morgan kept her valuables.

Morgan Metzer: “Where’s your jewelry? Where’s,” you know, “all of your other nice stuff?” And he is ripping out stuff out of my, you know, my drawers.

And then —

Morgan Metzer: The attacker asked for my phone and the passcode to my phone.

Morgan’s house had an alarm system which she’d set before going to bed. An app on her phone controlled it, along with several security cameras around her home and a lock on the door of her second-floor bedroom which led out to a back porch.

Morgan Metzer: I wasn’t too sure what he was doing on my phone at the time until I heard a, uh, a door lock open, which was for the back porch.

The attacker had unlocked the door remotely through that app on Morgan’s phone. Morgan says he put a pillowcase over her head.

Morgan Metzer: He got me out of the bed, walked me out to the back porch. I was naked … still with my zip tie handcuffs behind my back.

Nikki Battiste: Did he just leave you there?

Morgan Metzer: Yes.

Nikki Battiste: What did he say as he left?

Morgan Metzer: He said, “do not get up until you hear two car honks or I’ll kill you.”

Morgan’s property was secluded, with little chance of a neighbor seeing or hearing her on the back porch. And with that pillowcase over her head and the attacker’s final words of warning ringing in her ears, Morgan had no way of knowing if he — or someone else — was watching her.

Morgan Metzer: I just listened to the stream and tried to be as peaceful and calm as I could.

Forty minutes passed. Then, a sound in the distance struck terror in Morgan all over again.

Morgan Metzer: I hear somebody walking up.

Unable to see, she feared her attacker had returned to finish the job.

Morgan Metzer: I hear them shuffling, walking and they hit the stairs. … And I knew they were at the top when he hit the first board and it creaked really loud.

That’s when Morgan heard a very familiar voice.g

Morgan Metzer: “Oh honey, what happened?”

Morgan’s grueling ordeal was finally over. And who would turn out to be her rescuer? Her ex-husband Rod Metzer.

A HERO TO THE RESCUE?

When Morgan’s ex-husband Rod Metzer turned up at her house, he immediately called 911.

911 DISPATCHER: Cherokee County 911.

ROD METZER: Somebody — somebody broke in over here.

ROD METZER: She was on the back porch. Uh, and — and the back door was wide open.

ROD METZER: She was tied up with a hood over her head.

As they waited for help to arrive, Rod tried to console Morgan. Their conversation heard on the 911 call.

MORGAN METZER (911 call): Please don’t leave, Rod.

ROD METZER: I’m going to be right here.

MORGAN METZER: Please.

ROD METZER: I’m going to leave the door open, OK?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: He came up and — and rescued her on the back porch.

Nikki Battiste: Saved her.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: Saved her.

Nikki Battiste: Her hero.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: Absolutely.

Sergeant Dakota Lyvers was a detective with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department in 2021. He had a lot of questions. Exactly why had Rod gone to Morgan’s home in the middle of the night?

Rod moved out of Morgan’s home and into his own apartment shortly after the divorce, said Lyvers.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: He was … getting ready for bed. He was brushing his teeth when he heard knocking on his window. Um, that knocking was accompanied by a voice in which he could only decipher the word “Morgan” was being said.

Concerned, Rod said he tried calling Morgan, but she didn’t answer.

Nikki Battiste: What did he say he was thinking? I mean, someone knocks on his window in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: He obviously went to the worst. Um, he thought that that something was, uh, gonna happen to Morgan or something might be happening to Morgan.

Rod told investigators he’d gotten in his car and made the 12-minute drive over to his ex-wife’s house. Despite being divorced, Rod said he was still looking out for Morgan. Their relationship stretched back nearly 20 years.

Nikki Battiste: How old were you when you met Rod?

Morgan Metzer: 14 years old.

Nikki Battiste: Was it love at first sight?

Morgan Metzer: Yes, it was. It was — it was scary how fast it was.

Kathy Metzer: He was 17 at that time.

Kathy Metzer is Rod’s mother.

Kathy Metzer: We were on the way to a baseball game and he said, “Mom, you’re gonna meet Morgan tonight.” And I said, “Who’s Morgan?” “That’s my girlfriend.” And I said, “What?” He said, “Be nice.” (laughs)

Nikki Battiste: Did Rod change at all when he was dating Morgan?

Kathy Metzer: Oh, yeah. … There was nothing that she could mention that she didn’t get.

Nikki Battiste: How did he treat you?

Morgan Metzer:  Amazing. … He called me “princess.” And so he literally treated me like that.

No one was surprised when the couple married in 2009. Morgan was 21 years old.

Kathy Metzer: Morgan was one of the most gorgeous brides I’ve ever seen in my life.

Kathy Metzer: Weather was perfect. It was outside, so thank goodness for the weather.

Morgan Metzer: It was everything I dreamed of. My dad gave me everything I could want, you know. … It was just precious.

Nikki Battiste: What was marriage like in the very beginning?

Morgan Metzer: It was just awesome. … It’s just you two. … You’re mourning the loss of your, like, wedding being over (laughs) and your honeymoon. And it’s like, “I wanna go again!”

Unfortunately, their newly wedded bliss would be short-lived. Eight months after the wedding, Rod’s younger brother Kevin, who wished the couple “endless years of love, health and happiness,” at their wedding, lost his battle with leukemia at the age of 19.

Kathy Metzer: It really hit Rod hard. I mean, it — I don’t think he was ever the same after that. … He depended on Morgan at that point, more than he did anybody. I don’t think he left her side for more than an hour or two.

But the next year would bring some good news to celebrate.

Morgan Metzer: We got pregnant with our son.

Morgan says picking his name was easy.

Morgan Metzer: Kevin always wanted to be an uncle. He always talked about it, how much fun he would have.

Kathy Metzer: They named him Kevin after my Kevin, Rod’s brother. (cries)

But the family would suffer a second, and devastating, loss. Baby Kevin was born early, with a congenital heart defect. He lived just 18 days.

Morgan Metzer: He actually died on his due date.

Nikki Battiste: The loss of a child is unthinkable and I would imagine tough for you and Rod. 

Morgan Metzer: Very tough. … Don’t really remember a lot of it. It’s a big blur with all the emotions. 

So it seemed like a miracle when, just three months later, Morgan discovered she was pregnant again. Kathy remembers the moment Rod showed her the ultrasound picture.

Kathy Metzer: He says, “what do you see?” I said, “a baby.” He said, “No. Look, what do you see?” And I just screamed at the top of my lungs, “two babies,” you know. (laughs)

Nikki Battiste: Twins.

Kathy Metzer: Twins. They were gonna have twins.

Morgan gave birth to a healthy boy and girl in 2012. It should have been a happy time but not long after, the marriage began to change.

Morgan Metzer: Probably about a year after they were born, which is right around the time that Rod lost his job, is when it started going down south from there.

Nikki Battiste: What did Rod do for work?

Morgan Metzer: He, he had so many jobs. His main one, when he lost all of his money, was he was being a day trader for himself.

Rod’s job loss happened to come at the same time Morgan’s career was starting to flourish.

Morgan Metzer: I started my own interior design business and it took off. … I just didn’t expect it to boom and blow up.

Morgan’s company, Shiplap and Sugar, became so successful she asked Stabasefski to join her.

Nichole Stabasefski: She was saying, you know, like “I need help, I’m overwhelmed.”

Nikki Battiste: So you became business partners?

Nichole Stabasefski: Yeah. … Making money. … Working our tails off, doing what we love.

Morgan says her professional success, and Rod’s lack of it, made for a dangerous combination. She says he began to abuse her — both physically and mentally. She recalls one Labor Day weekend. She and Rod were celebrating on a boat with friends and had just returned to their cabin.

Morgan Metzer: I guess we had gotten into an argument about something, … that’s the first night he beat the — he beat me.

Nikki Battiste: Did you think, he hit me. I’ve gotta get out of here?

Morgan Metzer: Yes. I had my dad come and get me.

Shockingly, Morgan says Rod tried to convince her, and the people closest to her, that she was to blame for her injuries.

Morgan Metzer: He convinced my parents that I was the one that did it.

Nikki Battiste: What did he say?

Morgan Metzer: “You were just out of control. You — you — you couldn’t keep your temper. You were just whaling all over the place.”

Morgan says Rod claimed she got hurt because he was forced to physically restrain her.

Morgan Metzer: And I’m like, OK, well, maybe that’s my fault. … And my friends stopped talking to me then because he had no marks on him. It was all me.

Morgan says that’s when a new phase in the marriage began, one in which she started to doubt her own reality because, she says, Rod was gaslighting her — making her think every conflict Rod instigated actually began with her.

Nichole Stabasefski: I think she thought she was crazy. You know, you get programmed to think that you’re crazy, like it’s all in your head.

Morgan says Rod even involved their children in his deception.

Morgan Metzer: He pretended I pushed him down the stairs and he literally rolled down the stairs. You know, he actually got hurt and said to the kids, “Look, Mommy pushed me downstairs. Can you believe that?”

Morgan says Rod sexually abused her as well, although she says it took a while for her to recognize what it was.

Morgan Metzer: A lot of times he’s very aggressive and wouldn’t take the word no. And so now looking back on it, I guess he did sexually abuse me.

Morgan filed for divorce in 2020.

Nikki Battiste: When Morgan decided to … go through with the divorce, how was she handling it?

Nichole Stabasefski: You know, it was the first time I think I saw her have peace.

The divorce was final in December and Morgan was ready to move on. But now, in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, it appeared Rod had come back into her life as her hero.

CRITICAL CLUES IN THE INVESTIGATION

Sergeant Lyvers and Sergeant Robert Haugh recall that when they first arrived at Morgan’s house at 3 a.m. Rod’s behavior had struck them as unusual.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: So, as we were walking up … Rodney was, um, seated in his car right here … with another deputy.

Nikki Battiste: Did he say anything?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: Yeah, he did. … He asked, “Hey man, are you the guy that we’ve been waiting on? And I said, “uh, yes, sir, I am.” And then he replied, “do your f****** job.”

Nikki Battiste: What did you think?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: I was taken aback. I really was.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: This guy just had found his wife bound, um, and beaten on the back porch. And you would think that my arrival to help find a resolution to this, uh, would be welcoming.

Immediately, Morgan’s appearance startled the investigators.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: Her eye was swollen shut, black and blue. … She still had the, uh, zip tie around her one wrist. And I was shocked, and I had seen a lot in my career. And, uh, I was surprised that somebody would — would be so harsh.

Nikki Battiste: What did it make you think?

Sgt. Robert Haugh: Somebody was mad.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: Absolutely. It was an emotional attack.

Morgan was not only physically injured; investigators could tell she had suffered psychologically after the attacker left her.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: She was in fear that she was — someone was still back here watching her and that they were gonna kill her if she moved. And so she laid here and waited.

Morgan was outside for 40 minutes before Rod arrived, but initially she thought it was just half that.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: Morgan believed it to be somewhere around 15 to 20 minutes, max. Um, that was her perception of time.

Nikki Battiste: Interesting. I would’ve thought the opposite, that would’ve felt longer for her.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: I agree. … When their adrenaline’s going, you know, people perceive things differently.

The first thing Lyvers and Haugh did was separate Morgan, Rod and Morgan’s father and brother — who came over after she called them. Then Lyvers recorded his conversation with Morgan inside the house.

Safely out of earshot of her ex-husband, who was standing just outside, Morgan told investigators that she suspected her attacker was the man pretending to be her hero.

MORGAN METZER: I just thought it was him.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: When you say “him,” you’re talking about your ex-husband?

MORGAN METZER: Mm-hmm.

Morgan said she had no idea who her assailant was when the attack began, but then came one critical moment.

Morgan Metzer: When he said … “you’re going to miss your husband,” I said, “no, don’t hurt my husband. I love him very much.” And I don’t know what made me do that. But at that exact moment is when … the mood of the room changed. I knew I was going to live.

And then there was another, even bigger clue, when her attacker lifted Morgan off the bed to place her outside.

Morgan Metzer: That’s when I really knew it was him.

Morgan remembered something from years earlier.

Morgan Metzer: I was pregnant with my kids, my twins. And sometimes you have to get help out of the bed. … The way he gently held me and got me out of bed, it was so familiar that I was like, this is him. I know it’s 100% percent him.

Morgan Metzer: I wasn’t going to let him know that I knew it was him. Because if he did then he — I didn’t know what he was going to do.

She told them the attack had followed a chaotic week which began with very troubling news.

Morgan Metzer: He thinks he’s got pancreatic cancer.

Morgan Metzer: He just called me …  and said, “I’ve got pancreatic cancer.” And so I rushed to go see him. … I said, “you’re the father of my children. … I’m here for you.”

Morgan Metzer: He showed me doctor’s notes and whatnot.

Rod had told no one else and Morgan explained that she’d been letting him stay at her house.

Morgan Metzer: He’d been sleeping on my sofa because he had been really freaked out and upset obviously.

Morgan told the investigators that Rod had spent the week trying to reconcile with her.

Morgan Metzer: He kept begging me to get back together with me. … Just constantly haggling me.

But Morgan says she had no interest. By the morning of Dec. 31, she’d had enough. Feeling the pressure of being his sole emotional support, Morgan insisted Rod share his health news with his parents.

Morgan Metzer: He said, “no, absolutely not. I’m not telling anybody.” And that’s when I was like, “OK, get out.”

Morgan says Rod spent the day texting her.

Morgan Metzer: “You need to get back with me. I’ll make enough money. You can quit your job right now.”

Fed up with it all, Morgan lied and told Rod she’d be sleeping elsewhere that New Year’s Eve night.

Morgan Metzer: “Staying at my parents’ house tonight. I’m turning my phone off.” Like, give me some space.

As Morgan shared her suspicions with investigators, she didn’t know if they would accept what she was telling them.

Morgan Metzer: I’ve been mentally, emotionally, physically abused.

Because Rod made her feel like she was to blame for years.

Morgan Metzer: That’s what he’s built in my brain.

But that all changed when Lyvers told her he believed her.

Morgan Metzer: And I just melted. … He heard me. I have not been heard in years. Nobody listened. Nobody heard me and he heard me.

Rachel Ashe: That started the investigation into Rodney Metzer.

Rachel Ashe is the Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney for Cherokee County. She works exclusively on domestic violence cases. Parker, an emotional support dog, is often with her to comfort victims. Ashe says investigators were perplexed that Rod had come to Morgan’s house that night after she’d told him she’d be at her parents’ home.

Rachel Ashe: Why did you even come here? Why didn’t you go to her parents’ house? Why didn’t — why didn’t you check with her parents?

Sgt. Robert Haugh: He claimed it was just habit, normal.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: “It’s what I would do.”

Nikki Battiste: Were you scratching your heads?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: Yeah.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: A little bit.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: We questioned him on it.

Rod said that after hearing that knocking on his window, and someone saying Morgan’s name, he tried phoning Morgan to warn her. Haugh wanted to check.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: I think that’s what prompted, “hey, where’s your phone?”

Rod handed his cellphone to the investigators.

Rachel Ashe: Gave them permission to look through his phone.

And what they found came as a surprise.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: It was an Apple iPhone, and it had a hidden folder. … And in the hidden folder were images of Morgan — um, partially dressed.

Rachel Ashe: A lot of photos of Morgan nude and those photos of Morgan nude, it was pretty apparent that she didn’t know he was taking those photos of her.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: She was quite alarmed.

Investigators also discovered Rod had snapped pictures of Morgan’s cellphone showing text messages between her and another man. They considered these and the photos of Morgan to be an invasion of privacy.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: You didn’t have that permission. Y’all don’t have that relationship. She’s f****** baffled that you have that. That’s stalkerish.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: We knew we had to … get him in custody … while we started doing search warrants and started investigating … to prevent him from destroying evidence.

ROD METZER: People make mistakes, man.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: I think you made a lot of mistakes.

SGT. ROBERT HAUGH: Big, big mistakes.

Nikki Battiste: So you arrested him for having taken those photos secretly?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: That’s correct.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: Stand up.

ROD METZER: You’re kidding me?

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: Nope, we’re not kidding you. Stand up. This is not a joke. C’mon.

But could investigators prove that Rod had attacked Morgan that night?

ZIP TIES AND ALARMING INTERNET SEARCHES

Morgan Metzer: Watched him get, uh, arrested, walk to the car, and be put in. It was kind of like, is this really happening?

Nikki Battiste: Was any part of you sad?

Morgan Metzer: No, not at the time. It was angry and just sore.

Even as they booked Rod for taking those pictures of Morgan and her texts, Haugh and Lyvers had already developed a theory about why Rod might have attacked her.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: I believe, he thought he was going to come in and — and rescue her and be the savior and, uh — and win her back.

Investigators hoped home security cameras would support their theory. But they quickly learned that all the video from the time of the attack had been erased through the app on Morgan’s phone that the assailant had used to unlock her back porch door when he left. Morgan’s attacker took her phone with him. It was never recovered.

Nikki Battiste: Were you ever able to retrieve those missing videos from the security company?

Sgt. Robert Haugh: No. … Once videos are deleted, they’re deleted from their cloud.

But since Morgan had a home security system, how did the attacker get in without setting off the alarm? It did not take long to figure out.

Nikki Battiste: This is the window the attacker entered?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: That’s correct. Right here is the, uh — the window that we found the screen was actually removed.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: That basement window … had an alarm sensor that was removed from the window and put together on the windowsill. So, if the window was to open, it would appear, you know, to the alarm system that the sensor is still making contact.

Investigators believed Rod had disabled the sensor while he was staying at Morgan’s house that week.

Morgan Metzer: I was sleeping. It was in the middle of the night.

Although the home security videos had been erased, there was other video from prior to the attack. The camera on Morgan’s front porch caught Rod earlier that evening.

Morgan Metzer: He had sent me a picture of a check…. And he’s like, “it’s underneath your front porch.”

Sgt. Robert Haugh: It was for $56,000 and change.

Morgan says the message Rod sent with the picture of the check made it seem like he was trying to make a grand gesture.

Morgan Metzer: “You should have all the money. You deserve everything,” pretty much in a nutshell.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: I think it was to get her to come back to the house that evening because … she told Rodney she was gonna be at her parents’ house for New Year’s.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: Morgan returned to the house, retrieved it, and kind of made some sort of a — uh — of a gesture and she walked back into the house and put it on the kitchen countertop.

Morgan’s attacker took that check with him. It was never found.

Nikki Battiste: What did you find out about Rod’s finances?

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers:: That check would’ve bounced.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: Yeah, he was broke.

The day after his arrest, investigators executed search warrants on Rod’s car and his apartment. As soon as they walked through the door, they found a key piece of evidence.

Rachel Ashe: They located this bag of zip ties in his apartment. And … a portion of a zip tie.

Before arriving at her house, Morgan’s attacker had pre-looped the zip ties he’d put on her wrists.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: He was working in the dark. He was handcuffing somebody. You never know how much fight that person’s going to put up.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: One of the zip ties actually, um, was pretty unique because it had two, um — other zip ties that had been, uh, ratcheted onto it and then cut. And so basically what we were looking at was a — a zip tie that had two extra heads.

Haugh and Lyvers needed to find out if that portion of a zip tie, essentially a tail, found in Rod’s apartment, lined up with one of the extra heads on Morgan’s restraints. They headed to their crime lab.

Nikki Battiste: So these are the zip ties that were actually found on Morgan?

Sgt. Robert Haugh: Yes, they are.

Melanie Thrasher is a crime scene technician.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: She was able to match the — this tail to one of the heads on the zip tie for Morgan’s wrist.

The striations on the tail found in Rod’s apartment lined up exactly with those on Morgan’s zip tie. A “perfect match” said Haugh.

Nikki Battiste: What did you think when you saw this?

Sgt. Robert Haugh: That we were going to be adding charges to his, uh, existing booking. … And we had our guy. … I would’ve never, you know, imagined, uh, having a piece of evidence like this.

But the search warrant of Rod’s apartment yielded even more. There was a book —

Sgt. Robert Haugh: “7 Ways to —

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: “To Be Her Hero.”

Sgt. Robert Haugh: — “Be Her Hero,” to — to win somebody back.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: That gave us the motive. … It added to that motive.

Investigators examined Rod’s browser history.

Rachel Ashe:  The searches … were very disturbing.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: He was researching “how to change your voice.”

Rachel Ashe: “How long to choke somebody unconscious.”

The searches also included “How to crack an iPhone password,” “How to get sympathy from your ex” and one that was especially appalling.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: He Google searched … “cancer diagnosis letters.”

Investigators searched Rod’s outgoing emails. There they found Rod had set up a fake email account to create the pancreatic cancer diagnosis letter he’d shown Morgan. And there was more.

Rachel Ashe: He had created a bill for a doctor’s office to show that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer. … All of this in order to convince Morgan that he had pancreatic cancer.

Nikki Battiste: He wasn’t sick at all?

Rachel Ashe: No. … He did not have cancer.

Nikki Battiste: Do you think that he faked the cancer diagnosis as a way to try to get you back or as a way to get access to your house ’cause he had this plan?

Morgan Metzer: I think it was to get me back. It might have been both.

On Jan. 3, two days after the attack, Lyvers and Sergeant Tom Harris interviewed Rod. They talked to him about his health.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: You said you’re diabetic

ROD METZER: Yes.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: What other kind of health issues do you have?

ROD METZER: Nothing as far as I know of yet.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: I thought you had cancer.

Lyvers confronted Rod about the cancer diagnosis he’d faked to Morgan.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: How did you tell her that … this — this cancer thing?

ROD METZER: I don’t know if I should talk to you guys anymore. I’m starting to get a really bad feeling. What angle you guys are coming from.

Then Rod tried to turn the tables — by attempting to take the upper hand in the interview.

ROD METZER: I’ve already learned something about you, that your facial expressions.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: Tell me.

ROD METZER: And you keep scratching yourself, and you get agitated by what I say.

SGT. DAKOTA LYVERS: I’m a 100% not agitated.

ROD METZER: Mm-hmm.

The investigators also questioned Rod about his internet searches.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: Has there been a time recently where you were interested in how you can change the sound of your voice?

ROD METZER: Maybe.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: Tell me about that.

ROD METZER: I felt like I wasn’t — my voice wasn’t manly enough.

Then Harris lowered the boom.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: The, uh, most significant thing that we found in your apartment was a collection of zip ties.

ROD METZER: Zip ties?

SGT. TOM HARRIS: Black zip ties.

ROD METZER: I don’t have zip ties.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: I know you don’t. We have ’em now.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: These are identical to the ones that were, uh, binding Morgan’s wrists.

ROD METZER: This is just starting to get squirrelly.

Harris told Rod about that zip tie tail they’d recovered.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: We compared that microscopically to the zip ties that were on Morgan’s wrists when the deputies found her. And wouldn’t you know it? It is a perfect cut.

ROD METZER: There’s something funny going on here.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: Did somebody break in and put ’em there?

ROD METZER: There’s something funny going on here.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: Like what?

ROD METZER: I don’t know.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: What do you think’s going on?

ROD METZER: I didn’t have some big-ass f****** zip ties in my apartment.

But new evidence was about to say otherwise.

ROD METZER PLEADS GUILTY

Hours after the interview with Rod Metzer concluded, he was charged with 10 counts related to the attack on Morgan Metzer — including home invasion, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and sexual battery.

MORGAN METZER: As soon as I felt that gun right here in my head, I was like —

SGT. TOM HARRIS: So, you thought —

MORGAN METZER: “All right, Jesus, I’m coming.”

The next day Morgan, with her friend Nichole by her side, talked to investigators again.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: You thought you were gonna die?

MORGAN METZER: Yep. I thought I was dead. But then also part of me was like, no, I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna let myself die. … I have gotta fight for my kids.

Harris told Morgan they’d watched the home security video of Rod arriving at her house after her attack. He rang the front doorbell but when there was no response, headed around to the back.

SGT. TOM HARRIS: I thought it was kind of interesting that he called out your name as he’s walking around the side of your house.

MORGAN METZER: Yes. … Like, why would you think I was outside.

Nikki Battiste: What was your reaction when you learned Rod had been arrested for violently attacking Morgan?

Kathy Metzer: Oh, that — that absolutely threw me under the ground. … There had to be a mistake. Rod wasn’t capable of that.

Two days after Rod was charged he talked to his mom Kathy on the phone.

ROD METZER (jail phone call): Why is she doing this to me? She knows it wasn’t me.

But the evidence kept mounting. When investigators recovered those zip ties from Rod’s apartment, the bag they came in was found as well.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: I brought up a — a, uh, my Lowe’s app on my phone and scanned the UPC code and the UPC code came back that they were in fact sold at Lowe’s.

Rachel Ashe: The sheriff’s office then went to the two Lowe’s that we have here in Cherokee County. … And they started searching for transactions.

It didn’t take long. Rod Metzer had purchased those zip ties on Dec. 30 — about 36 hours before the attack; easy to find because he paid with his debit card. Investigators obtained the security video from Lowe’s.

Rachel Ashe: This was during COVID and this was during a period where everybody was wearing a mask, except for Rodney Metzer. So the surveillance images and the videos that were recovered from Lowe’s of him purchasing those zip ties … his face is right there in the camera.

Next came the security video from Rod’s apartment building.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: There’s actually one inside the, uh — the breezeway there, which leads to Rodney’s apartment specifically.

Lyvers says there was no video of Rod leaving after he said someone knocked on his window.

Sgt. Dakota Lyvers: What we do see is after the time of the incident that Morgan was attacked, Rodney come in, disheveled, in a hurry.

Just four minutes later, Rod is caught on camera again, leaving the building, wearing completely different clothes and sneakers, and carrying a plastic bag. The time stamp was 1:24 a.m.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: We never found that bag in his car when we did the search warrant.

Rachel Ashe: We just don’t know where that went.

Investigators can’t know for sure what was in that bag but believe it had evidence Rod discarded on his drive back to Morgan’s house. The attacker’s mask was never found. But Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ashe says they had more than enough to prove Rod was guilty.

Rachel Ashe: This is a prosecutor’s dream to put up because the evidence in this case was overwhelming, overwhelming.

But Ashe says she wanted to offer Morgan an opportunity for quicker closure than a trial would bring in the form of a plea deal for Rod.

Rachel Ashe: We went through the pros and cons of letting him plead guilty, letting him accept responsibility. … We agreed, um, we should try. He took it quickly.

On Aug. 4, 2021, Rod pleaded guilty to a total of 14 counts related to Morgan’s attack and the photos found on his phone.

Sgt. Robert Haugh: He agreed to serve 25 years on a 70-year sentence. So, when he gets out in 25 years, he’ll serve another 45 years of probation.

Nikki Battiste: I think you even described it as like a death.

Morgan Metzer: It is a death. I’ve lost my husband. He’s dead to me.

At Rod’s sentencing, Morgan delivered a victim impact statement several pages long.

Morgan Metzer: Once I got started, it just started pouring outta me.

There were no cameras in the courtroom. “48 Hours” asked Morgan to read her statement. Here’s a portion of it.

Morgan Metzer (reading her victim impact statement): Rod, not only will this statement be to my attacker, but it’ll also be my last words to whom I thought was the love of my life. … The last four years being married to you was like living with a monster that constantly tried to break me down and fence me in. … It was a blessing in disguise. … I can now walk with the confidence knowing the pain you have given me is turned into power.

Morgan Metzer: I walked off that stand with a thousand pounds off of my shoulders. It felt so good. It felt empowering. And I got the last word.

Nikki Battiste: How was it to listen to your best friend read this incredibly powerful statement?

Nichole Stabasefski: It was awesome because she did not cry. … Her voice did not shake … and she said everything she needed to say, and when she was done, she was done.

Rachel Ashe: She was laying to rest this relationship. She was telling him this: “I’m never going to be yours,” right? “I’m never going to be yours.”

Rod’s actions that New Year’s Day continue to affect everyone.

Nikki Battiste: Have you been able to visit Rod in person at all?

Kathy Metzer: He hasn’t wanted me to.

Nikki Battiste:  Why?

Kathy Metzer: He’s afraid of my reaction.

Rod has from Type 1 diabetes and Kathy says his health is rapidly declining in prison.

Nikki Battiste: You’re worried he could die.

Kathy Metzer: Oh, I’m absolutely worried he’s going to die.

Morgan says once the ordeal was behind her, she had to take steps so she could recover, seeking therapy to help her cope.

Morgan Metzer: Everything happens for a reason. God has everything happen for a reason. And I’m starting to see that right now. There’s just a lot of great things that are happening with us.

She says she is focused on raising her children, and helping others who find themselves in similar circumstances.

Morgan Metzer: I’m trying to raise awareness for … narcissism and gaslighting. … I want to help women realize they’re in a situation before it gets too bad.

Nichole Stabasefski: I’m just excited to see who she continues to grow to become. … She’s … beautiful and strong and resilient. So this is just a steppingstone in her journey.

Rod Metzer’s sentence prevents him from contacting Morgan and their children in any way.

 

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Produced by Susan Mallie. Ryan N. Smith is the development producer. Michael Loftus is the field producer. Annabelle Allen is the associate producer. Marlon Disla, Michelle Harris, and Greg Kaplan  are the editor. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

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