Shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day 2021, Morgan Metzer woke to a masked intruder in her Canton, Georgia, bedroom. He jumped on her, pistol‑whipped and strangled her nearly unconscious twice, sexually assaulted her, and bound her wrists with pre‑looped zip ties. He demanded valuables and her phone passcode, then used an app on her phone to unlock the back‑porch door, put a pillowcase over her head, carried her outside naked and left her there, warning, “do not get up until you hear two car honks or I’ll kill you.”
Forty minutes passed before Morgan heard someone climbing the porch stairs and recognized the voice: her ex‑husband, Rod Metzer. He called 911, told dispatch he’d found her tied on the back porch and remained at the scene until deputies arrived. At first he was hailed as her rescuer. Morgan, however, suspected him immediately — she recalled the attacker saying, “you’re going to miss your husband,” and the way he lifted her from the bed felt familiar from years earlier. She had divorced Rod days earlier; their marriage, which began when they were teenagers, had ended amid allegations of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, including gaslighting.
Investigators grew suspicious of Rod at the scene. Deputies separated Rod, Morgan and family members; when Morgan was interviewed out of Rod’s earshot she told detectives she thought he’d been the attacker. Deputies asked for Rod’s phone and found a hidden folder containing numerous photos of Morgan partially or fully nude that she had not consented to. He was immediately arrested for invasion of privacy.
Further evidence mounted quickly. Morgan’s home security footage from the incident window had been deleted after the attacker took her phone; investigators did, however, find that a basement window alarm sensor had been removed and sabotaged so the window could be opened without triggering the alarm. Surveillance caught Rod on Morgan’s front‑porch camera earlier that evening and later in his apartment building cameras in a disheveled rush. Security video from a Lowe’s showed Rod buying the same type of black zip ties found on Morgan about 36 hours before the attack; he’d paid with a debit card. A bag of black zip ties and a cut tail piece were recovered in his apartment, and forensic analysis matched that tail to one of the zip ties used to bind Morgan’s wrists. Investigators also found a book titled “7 Ways to Be Her Hero” in his apartment.
Searches on Rod’s devices revealed disturbing queries: “how to change your voice,” “how long to choke somebody unconscious,” “how to crack an iPhone password,” “how to get sympathy from your ex,” and “cancer diagnosis letters.” Prosecutors discovered Rod had created a fake email account and documents to fabricate a pancreatic cancer diagnosis he showed Morgan; he used the ruse to persuade her to let him stay on her couch the week before the attack and to try to reconcile. He’d also sent Morgan a photo of a check for about $56,000 left under her front porch; the check later would have bounced and was never recovered.
Rod initially claimed he’d heard someone outside his window calling Morgan’s name and drove the 12 minutes to her house to check on her. But investigators noted inconsistencies: home‑building cameras showed no video of him leaving after the alleged knock; soon after the attack he was recorded leaving his apartment in different clothes carrying an unexplained plastic bag that was never recovered. Deputies further found that the attacker had used Morgan’s phone to erase cloud video and remotely unlock doors — consistent with the assailant briefly taking her phone during the assault.
After the zip tie match, the Lowe’s receipt, surveillance images and the internet searches were all tied together, prosecutors amassed what they described as overwhelming evidence. Rod was charged with multiple counts including home invasion, kidnapping, aggravated assault and sexual battery. On Aug. 4, 2021, he pleaded guilty to 14 counts related to the attack and the illicit photos. He agreed to serve 25 years of a 70‑year sentence and faces an additional 45 years of probation after release. His sentence includes a prohibition on contacting Morgan or their children.
Morgan delivered a lengthy victim impact statement at sentencing, describing years of abuse, manipulation and the terror of the New Year’s attack. She has since sought therapy, focused on raising her twin children and worked to raise awareness about narcissism, gaslighting and domestic abuse so others might recognize abusive patterns earlier. Friends say she’s finding strength and resilience; prosecutors and investigators say the combination of physical evidence, surveillance, forensic matches and online research formed a powerful case that led to Rod’s conviction.