By Michael Loftus
Updated on: December 14, 2025 / 1:05 AM EST / CBS News
In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2021 in Canton, Georgia, Morgan Metzer was awakened to a terrifying sight: a masked man in all black standing in her bedroom doorway. The man ran at her and jumped on top of her. “That’s when he started pistol-whipping me,” Morgan said. He used zip ties to bind her wrists and strangled her nearly unconscious twice.
“‘You’re gonna regret this, you’ve done really wrong now,'” Morgan recalled the man saying in a deep, gravelly voice he seemed to be disguising. She said it sounded like Batman. After the attack, the assailant placed a pillowcase over her head, carried her to a back porch connected to the bedroom, and warned her not to move until she heard two car honks or he would kill her. Then all went quiet except for the sound of a nearby stream.
Forty minutes later, Morgan heard footsteps approaching and, expecting the attacker, braced for more violence. Instead she heard a familiar voice. “‘Oh honey, what happened?'” she remembered her ex-husband, Rod Metzer, saying when he found her. Rod called 911 and law enforcement arrived. His arrival and apparent rescue looked heroic.
Rod said he had been checking on Morgan despite their divorce after nearly 20 years together. They began dating when Morgan was 14 and Rod was 17, married in their early 20s, and had twins, who were staying with Morgan’s sister in Florida when the attack occurred. Morgan said she filed for divorce after years of what she described as mental and physical abuse from Rod. He moved into his own apartment and their divorce was finalized just weeks before the attack.
Earlier in the week, Morgan said Rod had told her he had pancreatic cancer. “And so I rushed to go see him,” Morgan told contributor Nikki Battiste for an episode of 48 Hours. “He showed me doctors’ notes and whatnot.” She allowed Rod to stay at her home to help him cope with the diagnosis because “I needed to be supportive still because it’s the father of my children.” During that time, Morgan said Rod repeatedly tried to reconcile, but she refused. On the morning of New Year’s Eve she told him he needed to tell his parents about his health. He refused, and Morgan told him to leave. Fed up, she later lied that she would be sleeping at her parents’ home that night.
How Rod knew Morgan was at her house, and the timing of his arrival after the attack, prompted investigators to question his account. Rod had told police he planned to spend the night at his apartment but heard someone knock on his ground-floor window saying Morgan’s name. After calling Morgan with no answer, he said he drove to her house out of habit to check on her. Investigators interviewed both Morgan and Rod at the scene and grew suspicious.
Search warrants on Rod’s apartment, car and electronic devices revealed an internet search history that raised red flags: “How to get sympathy from your ex,” “How to change the sound of your voice,” and “cancer letter from hospital.” Investigators found a fake email account Rod had created posing as a doctor to send the cancer diagnosis letter he showed Morgan. He had also fabricated a bill from a doctor’s office to support the ruse.
“He did all of this in order to convince Morgan that he had pancreatic cancer,” said Rachel Ashe, deputy chief assistant district attorney for Cherokee County. He never had pancreatic cancer.
Rod Metzer eventually pleaded guilty to 14 counts related to the attack on Morgan. He was sentenced to 70 years — 25 years in prison followed by 45 years of probation.
Morgan’s account and the investigation into what became known as the “Batman” intruder are the focus of an all-new 48 Hours reported by Nikki Battiste. An encore of “The ‘Batman’ Intruder” is now streaming on Paramount+.