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[Music] something like this to happen in our town was crazy I mean really kind of
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unheard of Canton is just beautiful you've got a lot of trees tons of places to go
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hiking so it's really cute this was one of those cases that when it happened everybody knew that
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this was bad citizens don't want to think that monsters live amongst them on New Year's Eve of 2020 I went to
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Nicole's house I'm Morgan metzer's best friend we were going to have a glass of wine stay inside and just
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chill we're going to stay there and watch the ball drop together but I left early I was like we never get to you
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know hang out and she's like no I'm just really tired I got home I just didn't have any
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interest waiting up for the fireworks closed the house down and I went to bed she was alone she recalled waking up
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about 11:59 I woke up because of fireworks cuz I can hear him in the distance I got
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down and kissed my dog and I was like happy new years's and I go lay back in bed she went back to sleep and then the
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next thing that she knew she woke up and there was this figure standing standing
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in her door I opened my eyes they flung open and that's when I saw the shadow of
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a man's body standing there you know all in black and just lit up by the light in
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the background he had a mask on I screamed so loud he pounced on me he then hit me
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with a gun then he punched me he turned her over and he put these handcuffs on her that were fashioned with zip ties
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what was your attacker saying was he saying anything yes he said you're going to regret this you've done really wrong
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now it was the sound of Batman's voice she described it like Batman kind of like Batman trying to disguise his
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voice he would keep continuing to hit me pistol wh me he'd strangle me a few times to the point of where I knew I was
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about to pass out did you think you were going to die yes I did who would want to do this to Morgan
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metzer nobody should want to do this to Morgan metzer eventually I would learn the
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Intruder was somebody that I knew he was not the kind of person that most people
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suspect of something like this [Music] the [Music] [Music] he's standing there like a
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soldier like with his fist clinch like he was ready to go when Morgan metzer glimpsed a masked
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figure standing in her bedroom doorway shortly after midnight on New Year's Day 2021 she thought she might just be
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seeing things but then he ran out me and jumped on top of me and that's when he started
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pistol lipping me just hours earlier she'd been ready to ring in the New Year in Canton
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Georgia with her best friend Nicole stabi that's what we were looking forward to and I knew she was
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exhausted it had been a long year for Morgan recently divorced her 8-year-old twin son and daughter were spending a
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few days with her sister in Florida I mean we're moms so we just wanted to hang out for a second we had planned for
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it but after arriving at Nicole's Morgan feeling tired decided to make it in early evening when she left I did I I
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gave her some crap I was like what are you doing I was like we never get to you know hang out and I like loser fine
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whatever text me to get home blah blah blah see you tomorrow little could either friend have guessed that a short
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time later Morgan would be in fear for her life her attacker had brought zip ties with him already pre looped and
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intertwined he put Morgan's hands behind her back slipped them on and tightened them it's an outer body experience I
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can't imagine what you're thinking what you're feeling vulnerable exposed what is going to happen to my
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kids I haven't done a will I haven't done I don't I haven't talked to my family about who gets them I was like
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they're not going to have a mom her as salent strangled her nearly unconscious twice it's the worst feeling
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in the world to think you're dying and you feel like you're going to be tortured beforehand Morgan's attacker
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sexually assaulted her who did you think was attacking you I don't know I just felt like it was some random
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person in addition to the mask the Intruder had taken great pains to disguise himself black hoodie jacket
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black pants black gloves he said very very little but when he did Morgan says her as salance seemed to be disguising
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his voice making it sound low and gry like the Batman movies he also seemed to know about Morgan's personal life
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specifically her recent divorce he said something about your husband yes you're going to miss your husband and I said no
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don't hurt my husband Morgan says her mind raced trying to piece together why this was happening to her I swear I like
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went through my whole life in my head that's how my brain was just everywhere I mean 50,000 tabs open up at one time
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in my brain her attacker demanded to know where Morgan kept her valuables where's your jewelry where's you know
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all of your other nice stuff and he's ripping out stuff out of my you know my drawers and then the attacker asked for
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my phone and the passcode to my phone Morgan's house had an alarm system which she'd set before going to bed an
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on her phone controlled it along with several security cameras around her home and a lock on the door of her second
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floor bedroom which led out to a back porch I wasn't too sure what he was doing on my phone at the time until I
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heard a door lock open which was for the back porch the attacker had unlocked the
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door remotely through that app on Morgan's phone Morgan says he put a pillowcase
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over her head he got me out of the bed walked me out to the back porch I was naked still with my zip tie
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handcuffs behind my back did he just leave you there yes what did he say as he left he said do not get up until you
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hear two car honks or I'll kill you Morgan's property was secluded with little chance of a neighbor seeing or
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hearing her on the back porch and with that pillowcase over her head and the attacker's final words of warning
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ringing in her ears Morgan had no way of knowing if he or someone else was watching her I just listened to the
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stream and tried to be as peaceful and calm as I could 40 minutes passed then a sound in the distance struck Terror in
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Morgan all over again I hear somebody walking up unable to see she feared her attacker had returned to finish the job
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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
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it creaked really loud that's when Morgan Heard a very familiar voice oh honey what
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happened Morgan's grueling ordeal was finally over and who would turn out to be her rescuer her ex-husband rod metzer
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[Music] when Morgan's ex-husband rod metzer turned up at her house he immediately
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called 911 911 somebody somebody broke in over here she was on the back porch uh and
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the back door was wide open she was tied up with a hood over her head as they waited for help to arrive Rod tried to
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console Morgan I'm going to be right here I'm going to leave the door open okay he came up and rescued her on the
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back porch saved her saved her her hero absolutely Sergeant Dakota livers was a detective with the Cherokee County
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Sheriff's Department in 2021 he had a lot of questions exactly why had Rod gone to Morgan's home in the middle of
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the night this was Rod's apartment right here correct he moved here shortly after
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the uh the divorce Rod said he'd received an eerie message about Morgan that night he was getting
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ready for bed he was brushing his teeth when he heard knocking on his window That Knocking was accompanied by a voice
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in which he could only decipher the word Morgan was being said concerned Rod said
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he tried calling Morgan but she didn't answer what did he say he was thinking and someone knocks on his window in the
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early morning hours of New Year's day he obviously went to the worst he thought that something was uh going to happen to
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Morgan or something might be happening to Morgan Rod told investigators he'd gotten in his car and made the 12-minute
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drive over to his ex-wife's house despite being divorced Rod said he was still looking out for Morgan their
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relationship stretched back nearly 20 years how old were you when you met Rod 14 years old was it Love at First Sight
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yes it was it was it was scary how fast it was he was 17 at the time Kathy metzer
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is Rod's mother we were on the way to a baseball game and he said mom you're going to meet Morgan tonight and I said
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who's Morgan that's my girlfriend and I said what he said be nice did Rod change at all when he was
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dating Morgan oh yeah there was nothing that she could mention that she didn't get how did he
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treat you amazing he called me princess and so he literally treated me like that no one was surprised when the
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couple married in 2009 for we are gathered here today in the presence of God Morgan was 21 years
00:11:43
old Morgan was one of the most gorgeous prds I've ever seen in my life love is patient love is kind it does weather was
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perfect it was outside so thank goodness for the weather [Music] it was everything I dreamed
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of my dad gave me everything I could want you know it was just precious you may kiss to your heart's
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content what was marriage like in the very beginning it was just awesome it's just you two you're mourning the loss of
00:12:20
your like wedding being over and your honeymoon and it's like I want to go again unfortunately their newly wedded
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bliss would be shortlived 8 months after the wedding I wish you both endless years of Love health and happiness Rod's
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younger brother Kevin lost his battle with leukemia at the age of 19 it really hit Rod
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hard I mean it I don't think he was ever the same after that he depended on Morgan at that point
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more than he did anybody I don't think he left her side for more than an hour or
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two but the next year would bring some good news to celebrate we got pregnant with our son Morgan says picking his
00:13:11
name was easy Kevin always wanted to be an uncle he always talked about it how much fun he would have they named him
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Kevin after my Kevin's brother but the family would suffer a second and devastating loss baby Kevin
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was born early with a congenital heart defect he lived just 18 days he actually died on his due date the loss of a child
00:13:42
is Unthinkable and I would imagine tough for you and Rod very tough don't really remember a lot of it it's a
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big blur with all the emotions so it seemed like a miracle when just 3 months later Morgan
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discovered she was pregnant again Kathy remembers the moment Rod showed her the ultrasound picture he says what do you
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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
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twins twins they were going to have twins Morgan gave birth to a healthy boy and girl in 2012 it should have been a
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happy time but not long after the marriage began to change probably about a year after they
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were born which is right around the time that Rod lost his job is when it started going down south from
00:14:43
there what did rod do for work he he had so many jobs his main one when he lost all of his money was he was being a day
00:14:52
trader for himself Rod's job loss happened to come at the same time Morgan's career was
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starting to flourish I started my own interior design business and it took off but I just didn't expect it to boom and
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blow up Morgan's company shiplap and sugar became so successful she asked Nicole to join her and she was saying
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she know like I need help I'm overwhelmed and she became business Mar yeah making money working our tails off
00:15:26
doing what we love Morgan says her professional success and Rod's lack of it made for a dangerous combination she
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says he began to abuse her both physically and mentally she recalls one Labor Day weekend she and Rod were
00:15:41
celebrating on a boat with friends and had just returned to their cabin I guess we had gotten into an argument about
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something that's the first night he beat the he beat me did you think he hit me I've got to get out of here yes I had my
00:15:54
dad come and get me shockingly Morgan says r tried to convince her and the people closest to
00:16:01
her that she was to blame for her injuries he convinced my parents that I was the one that did it what did he say
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you're just out of control you you couldn't keep your temper you were just wailing all over
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the place Morgan says Rod claims she got hurt because he was forced to physically
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restrain her well I'm like okay well maybe that's my fault and my friend stopped talking to me then because he
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had no marks on them it was all me Morgan says that's when a new phase in the marriage began one in which she
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started to doubt her own reality because she says Rod was gaslighting her making
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her think every conflict Rod instigated actually began with her I think she thought she was crazy
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you know you get programmed to think that you're crazy like it's all in your head Morgan says Rod even involved their
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children in his deception he pretended I pushed him down the stairs he literally rolled down the
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stairs you know he actually got hurt and said to the kids look Mommy pushed me downstairs can you believe
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that Morgan says Rod sexually abused her as well although she says it took a while for her to recognize what it was a
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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
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sexually abuse me Morgan filed for divorce in 2020 when Morgan decided to go through
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with the divorce how was she handling it you know it was the first time I think I
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saw her have peace the divorce was Final in December and Morgan was ready to move on but now
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in the early morning hours of New Year's Day it appeared Rod had come back into her life as her hero
00:18:05
[Music] Sergeant liver and Sergeant Robert hulke recall that when they first arrived at
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Morgan's house at 3:00 a.m. Rod's Behavior had struck them as unusual yeah so as we were walking up
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Rodney was seated in his car right here with another deputy did he say anything yeah he did he asked hey man are you the
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guy that we've been waiting on and I said uh yes sir I am and then he replied do
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job what did you think I was taking a back I really was this guy just had found his wife bound and beaten on the
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back porch and you would think that my arrival to help find a resolution to this uh would be
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welcoming immediately Morgan's appearance startled the investigators her eye was swollen shut
00:19:02
in black and blue where she still had the zip tie around her one wrist and I was shocked and I'd seen a lot in my
00:19:08
career and I was surprised that somebody would be so harsh what did it make you think somebody was mad absolutely it was
00:19:16
emotional attack Morgan was not only physically injured investigators could tell she had
00:19:22
suffered psychologically after the attacker left her she was feared that she was someone was still back here
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watching her and that they were going to kill her if she moved and so she laid here and
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waited Morgan was outside for 40 minutes before Rod arrived but initially she thought it was just half that Morgan
00:19:41
believed it to be somewhere around 15 to 20 minutes max that was her perception of time interesting I would have thought
00:19:48
the opposite that would have felt longer for her I agree were there adrenaline's
00:19:52
going you know people perceive things differently the first thing liver and Hawk did was separate everyone seen here
00:20:00
through this Zoomed In Front Porch security video Morgan rod and Morgan's father and brother who came over after
00:20:08
she called them then livers recorded his conversation with Morgan inside the house spell your last name for me m e t
00:20:19
z e r safely out of earshot of her ex-husband who was standing just outside Morgan told investigators that she
00:20:28
suspected her attacker was the man pretending to be her hero I just thought it was him when you say him you're
00:20:34
talking about your ex-husband Morgan said she had no idea who her as salent was when the attack
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began but then came one critical moment when he said you're going to miss your husband I said no don't hurt my husband
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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
00:20:57
changed I knew I was going to live and then there was another even bigger clue when her attacker lifted
00:21:05
Morgan off the bed to place her outside and that's why I really knew it was him Morgan remembered something from years
00:21:12
earlier 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
00:21:20
and got me out of the bed it was so familiar that I was like this is him I know it's 100%
00:21:26
him I wasn't going to let him know that I knew it was him so if he did then he I
00:21:31
didn't know what he was going to do she told them the attack had followed a chaotic week which began with very
00:21:37
troubling news he thinks he's got pancreatic cancer he just called me and said I've
00:21:45
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 he showed
00:21:51
me doctor's notes and whatnot Rod had told no one else and Morgan explained that she'd been letting
00:21:57
him stay at her house we've been sleeping on my stuff because he' been really freaked out and upset obviously
00:22:03
Morgan told the investigators that Rod had spent the week trying to reconcile with her he kept begging me to get back
00:22:11
together with me just constantly haggling me but Morgan says she had no interest by the morning of December 31st
00:22:21
she'd had enough feeling the pressure of being his sole emotional support Morgan
00:22:26
insisted Rod share his health news with his parents he said no absolutely not I'm not telling anybody and that's when
00:22:32
I was like okay get out Morgan says Rod spent the day texting her you need to get back with me
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I'll make enough money you can quit your job right now fed up with it all Morgan
00:22:45
lied and told Rod she'd be sleeping elsewhere that New Year's Eve night stay at my parents house tonight I'm turning
00:22:52
my phone off like give me some space as Morgan shared her suspicions Within investigators she didn't know if they
00:23:00
would accept what she was telling them mentally emotionally physically abused because Rod made her feel like she was
00:23:08
to blame for years that's what he's built in my brain but that all changed when Sergeant livers told her he
00:23:15
believed her and I just melted he heard me I have not been heard in years nobody
00:23:23
listened nobody heard me and he heard me that started the investigation into Rodney that's
00:23:29
her Rachel Ash is the Deputy Chief assistant district attorney for Cherokee County she works exclusively on domestic
00:23:37
violence cases Parker an emotional support dog is often with her to comfort victims Ash says investigators were
00:23:46
perplexed that Rod had come to Morgan's house that night after she told him she'd be at her parents why did you even
00:23:53
come here why didn't you go to her parents house why didn't why didn't you check with her parents he claimed it was
00:23:57
just what I would do were you scratching your heads yeah we we question him on it Rod said that after hearing that
00:24:06
knocking on his window and someone saying Morgan's name he tried phoning Morgan to warn her Sergeant Hawk wanted
00:24:14
to check I think that's what prompt is Hey where's your phone rod handed his cell phone to the investigators gave
00:24:21
them permission to look through his phone and what they found came as a surprise it was an Apple iPhone and it
00:24:26
had a hidden folder and the hidden folder were images of Morgan partially dressed a lot of photos of Morgan nude
00:24:34
and those photos of Morgan nude it was pretty apparent that she didn't know he was taking those photos of her she was
00:24:41
quite alarmed investigators also discovered Rod had snapped pictures of Morgan's
00:24:48
cell phone showing text messages between her and another man they consider these
00:24:53
and the photos of Morgan to be an invasion of privacy you did have that y don't have that relationship she's
00:25:01
baffled that you have that that's stalkerish we knew we had to get him in custody while we started doing search
00:25:08
warrants and started investigating to prevent him from destroying evidence people make
00:25:13
mistakes I think you made a lot of mistakes make big mistakes so you arrested him for having taken those
00:25:19
photos secretly correct it's correct y kidding me no we're not kidding you this not a joke come on but
00:25:27
could investigator prove that Rod Meer had attacked Morgan that [Music] night watch him get
00:25:53
arrested walk to the car and be put in it was kind of like is this really happening was any part of you sad no not
00:26:00
of the time was angry and just sore even as they booked rod for taking those pictures of Morgan
00:26:08
and her texts Haw and livers had already developed a theory about why Rod might have attacked her I believe he thought
00:26:16
he was going to come in and and rescue her and be the Savior and win her back investigators hoped home security
00:26:25
cameras would support their Theory but they quickly learned that all the video from the time of the attack had been
00:26:32
erased through the app on Morgan's phone that the as salent had used to unlock her back porch door when he left
00:26:39
Morgan's attacker took her phone with him it was never recovered were you ever able to retrieve those missing videos
00:26:46
from the security company no once videos are deleted they're deleted from their Cloud but since Morgan had a home
00:26:55
security system how did the attacker get in without setting off the alarm it did
00:27:01
not take long to figure out this is the window the attacker entered that's correct right here is the uh the window
00:27:07
that we found the screen was actually removed that basement window had an alarm sensor that was removed from the
00:27:15
window and put together on the window sill so if the window was to open it would appear you know to the alarm
00:27:21
system that the sensor is still making contact investigators believed Rod had disabled the sensor while was staying at
00:27:28
Morgan's house that week I was sleeping it was in the middle of the night although the home security videos had
00:27:35
been erased there was other video from prior to the attack the camera on Morgan's front porch caught Rod earlier
00:27:44
that evening he had sent me a picture of a check and he's like it's underneath your front porch was for
00:27:52
$56,000 in change Morgan says the message Rod sent with the picture of the check made it seemed like you was trying
00:27:59
to make a grand gesture you should have all the money you deserve everything pretty much in a nutshell I think it was
00:28:05
to get her to come back to the house that evening because she told Rodney she was going to be at her parents house for
00:28:11
New years's Morgan returned to the house retrieved it and kind of made some sort
00:28:19
of a of a gesture and she walked back into the house and put it on the kitchen countertop Morgan's attacker took that
00:28:24
check with him it was never found what did you find out about Rod's finances that check would have bounced yeah he
00:28:32
was broke the day after his arrest investigators executed search warrants on Rod's car and his apartment as soon
00:28:41
as they walked through the door they found a key piece of evidence they located this bag of zip ties in his
00:28:48
apartment and a portion of a zip tie before arriving at her house Morgan's attacker had pre-looped the zip ties he'
00:28:56
put on her wrists he was working in the dark who's handcuffing somebody you never know how much fight that person's
00:29:02
going to put up one of the zip ties actually was pretty unique because it had two other zip ties that had been
00:29:10
ratcheted onto it and then cut and so basically what we were looking at was a zip tie that had two extra
00:29:22
heads Hawk and livers needed to find out if that portion of a zip tie essentially
00:29:27
a tail found in Rod's apartment lined up with one of the extra heads on Morgan's
00:29:33
restraints they headed to their crime lab so these are the zip ties that were actually found on Morgan yes they are
00:29:40
this is crime scene technician Melanie Thrasher she was able to match this tail to one of the heads on the zip tie from
00:29:47
Morgan's wrist the striations on the tail found in Rod's apartment lined up exactly with those on Morgan zip tie
00:29:55
that's incredible perfect match perfect match what did you think when you saw this that we were going to be adding
00:30:01
charges to his existing booking and we had our guy I would have never you know imagine having a piece of evidence like
00:30:09
this but the search warrant of Rod's apartment yielded even more there was a book seven ways to be her hero be her
00:30:18
hero to to win somebody back they gave us the motive I think it added to that motive investigators examined Rod's
00:30:26
browser history the searches were very disturbing he was researching how to change your voice how long to choke
00:30:34
somebody unconscious the searches also included how to crack an iPhone password how to get sympathy from your ex and one
00:30:42
that was especially appalling he Google searched cancer diagnosis letters yes investigators searched Rod's outgoing
00:30:50
emails there they found Rod had set up a fake email account to create the pancreatic cancer diagnosis letter he'd
00:30:57
shown Morgan and there was more he had created a bill for a doctor's office to show that he was being treated for
00:31:05
pancreatic cancer all of this in order to convince Morgan that he had pancreatic cancer he wasn't sick at all
00:31:12
no he did not have cancer do you think that he faked the cancer diagnosis as a way to try to get you back or as a way
00:31:19
to get access to your house cuz he had this plan I think it was to get me back I might have been both Rodney you know
00:31:27
me I'm investigator loers yes sir on January 3rd 2 days after the attack Sergeant livers and sergeant Tom Harris
00:31:35
interviewed Rod they talked to him about his health you said you're diabetic yes
00:31:40
what other kind of health issues do you have nothing as far as I know of yet I thought you had cancer detective livers
00:31:49
confronted Rod about the cancer diagnosis he'd faked to Morgan how did you tell her that this this cancer thing
00:31:57
I don't know if I should talk to you guys anymore I'm starting to get a really bad at
00:32:00
feeling what angle you guys are coming then Rod tried to turn the tables by attempting to take the upper hand in the
00:32:07
interview I've already learned something about you that your facial expressions and and you keep scratching yourself
00:32:13
when you get agitated by what I say I'm 100% not agitated the investigators also
00:32:20
questioned Rod about his internet searches has there been a time recently where you were interested in how you can
00:32:27
change the sound of your voice maybe tell me about that I feel like I wasn't voice wasn't mainly
00:32:35
enough then Harris lowered the Boom the uh most significant thing that we found in your apartment was a collection of
00:32:44
zip ties zip ties mhm black zip ties I don't have zip ties I know you don't we have
00:32:53
them now these are identical to the ones that were binding Morgan's wrist it's just starting to get
00:32:59
squirly Harris told Rod about that zip tie tail they'd recovered and we compared that
00:33:05
microscopically to the zip ties that were on Morgan's wrists when the deputies found her and wouldn't you know
00:33:12
it it is a perfect cut there's something funny going on here did somebody break in and put him
00:33:19
there there's something funny going on here like what I don't know I didn't have some big ass TI in my
00:33:28
apartment but new evidence was about to say otherwise what do you make of Rod metzer's interview with police for an
00:33:38
in-depth look at the evidence go to 48 [Music] hours.com you make me feel like I that
00:33:55
you think I did this hours after the interview with Rod mitzer concluded he was charged with 10 counts related to
00:34:03
the attack on Morgan including home invasion kidnapping aggravated assault and sexual
00:34:09
battery as soon as I felt that gun right here in my head I was like all right Jesus I'm
00:34:16
coming the next day Morgan with her friend Nicole by her side talked to an investigators again you thought you were
00:34:23
going to die yep I thought I was dead but then also part of me was like no I'm not going to I'm not going to let
00:34:30
myself die I've got to fight for my kids Sergeant Harris told Morgan they'd watch the home security video of Rod
00:34:37
arriving at her house after her attack he rang the front doorbell but when there was no response headed around to
00:34:44
the back I thought it was kind of interesting that he called out your name as he's walking around the side of your
00:34:51
house yes it's like why would you think I was outside what was your reaction when you learned Rod had been arrested
00:34:57
for violently attacking Morgan oh that that absolutely threw me under the ground there had to be a
00:35:07
mistake Rob wasn't capable of that two days after Rod was charged he talked to his mom Kathy on the
00:35:15
phone why is she doing this to me she knows it wasn't me but the evidence kept mounting when investigators recovered
00:35:26
those zip ties from rods apartment the bag they came in was found as well I brought up a a my Lowe's app on my phone
00:35:34
and scanned the UPC code and the UPC code came back that they were in fact sold at lows the sheriff's office then
00:35:42
went to the two lows that we have here in Cherokee County and they started searching for
00:35:47
transactions it didn't take long Rod metzer had purchased those zip ties on December 30th about 36 hours before the
00:35:56
attack easy to to find because he paid with his debit card investigators obtained the security video from Lowe's
00:36:04
zoomed in here for clarity this was during covid and this was during a period where everybody was
00:36:11
wearing a mask except for Rodney metzer so the surveillance images and the videos that were recovered from lows of
00:36:18
him purchasing those zip ties his face is right there in the camera I see a security camera here next
00:36:28
came the security video from Rod's apartment building there's actually one inside the uh the Breezeway there which
00:36:34
leads to Rodney's apartment specifically Sergeant liver says there was no video of Rod leaving after he
00:36:41
said someone knocked on his window what we do see is after the time of the incident that Morgan was attacked
00:36:49
Rodney come in disheveled in a hurry just 4 minutes later Rod is caught on camera again leaving the building
00:36:58
wearing completely different clothes and sneakers and carrying a plastic bag highlighted here the time stamp was 1:24
00:37:07
a.m. we never found that bag in his car when we did the search warrant we just don't know where that
00:37:14
went investigators can't know for sure what was in that bag but believe it had evidence Rod discarded on his drive back
00:37:21
to Morgan's house the attacker's mask was never found but deputy chief assistant district attorney Rachel Ash
00:37:30
says they had more than enough to prove Rod was guilty this is a prosecutor's dream to put up because the evidence in
00:37:37
this case was overwhelming overwhelming but Ash says she wanted to offer Morgan an opportunity for a quicker closure
00:37:46
than a trial would bring in the form of a plea deal for Rod we went through the pros and cons of
00:37:53
letting him plea guilty letting him accept responsibility we agreed we should try he took it
00:38:00
quickly on August 4th 2021 Rod pleaded guilty to a total of 14 counts related to Morgan's attack and the photos found
00:38:10
on his phone he agreed to serve 25 years on a 70-year sentence so when he gets out in 25 years he'll serve another 45
00:38:20
years of probation I think you even described it as like a death it is a death I've lost my husband he's dead to
00:38:28
me at Rod's sentencing Morgan delivered a victim impact statement several pages long once I got started it just started
00:38:37
pouring out of me there were no cameras in the courtroom we asked Morgan to read
00:38:43
her statement here's a portion of it R not only will the statement be to my attacker but it'll also be my last words
00:38:50
to whom I thought was the love of my life the last four years being married to you was like living with a monster
00:38:56
that constantly tried to break me down and Fence Me In it was a blessing in disguise I can now walk with the
00:39:02
confidence knowing the pain you have given me is turned into Power I walked off that stand with 1,000
00:39:11
lbs off of my shoulders it felt so good felt empowering and I got the last word how was it to listen to your best
00:39:23
friend read this incredibly powerful statement it was awesome because she did not cry her voice did
00:39:30
not shake and she said everything she needed to say and when she was done she was done she was laying to rest this
00:39:38
relationship she was telling him this I'm never going to be yours right I'm never going to be
00:39:44
yours Rod's actions that New Year's Day continue to affect everyone have you been able to visit rod in person at all
00:39:53
he hasn't wanted me to why he's afraid of my reaction Rod suffers from type 1 diabetes and Kathy says his health is
00:40:05
rapidly declining in prison you're worried he could die oh I'm absolutely worried he's going to
00:40:14
die Morgan says once the ordeal was behind her she had to take steps so she could recover seeking therapy to help
00:40:22
her cope everything happens for a reason God has everything happened for a reason
00:40:26
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
00:40:32
focused on raising her children and helping others who find themselves in similar
00:40:38
circumstances I'm trying to raise awareness for narcissism and gaslighting I want to help women realize they're in
00:40:45
a situation before it gets too bad I'm just excited to see who she continues to grow to
00:40:51
become she's strong and resilient so this is just a stepping stone in her journey
00:41:04
[Music] it's a true crime double feature first revisit the case against Scott Peterson
00:41:12
this case remains an enduring mystery then new updates on the John Benet Ramsey murder do you believe this case
00:41:19
could be solved yes I do 48 Hours True Crime double feature CBS next Saturday 98 Central and streaming on Paramount
00:41:26
Plus [Music]