The Metzer Marriage: How Bliss Unraveled
Morgan and Rodney met when she was 14 and he was 17 years old. They fell in love at first sight. Rodney called her a “princess,” Morgan told 48 Hours.
The pair married in 2009. Soon after, Rodney’s younger brother, Kevin, died from leukemia. "I don't think he was ever the same after that,” Rodney’s mother Kathy Metzer told 48 Hours. Rodney and Morgan then lost their first child, also named Kevin, to a congenital heart defect, 18 days after his birth.
In 2012, they welcomed twins—a daughter and a son—but a year into parenting, Rodney lost his job and his behavior began to change. He first hit Morgan on a Labor Day weekend. She called her father for help, but Rodney convinced her family that she was bruised because he had had to restrain her when she got angry. Then, Morgan alleges, Rodney became sexually abusive.
Morgan divorced Rodney in December 2020, but he wouldn’t let go.
He called her to tell her that he had pancreatic cancer, showing her a note from a doctor that seemed to confirm it. He told her that he hadn’t shared this diagnosis with anyone else. Morgan let him stay at her house.
While there, Rodney tried to convince her to take him back, without luck, and she tried to persuade him to tell his family about his supposed diagnosis, but he refused.
By New Year’s Eve of 2020, Morgan told Rodney to leave, which he did. Then, the masked intruder arrived.
Who Was the Intruder?
Around 2:00 in the morning on the night of the attack, deputies from the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office responded to Morgan’s home, per a statement from the Cherokee County District Attorney. They found Rodney sitting on his ex-wife’s porch, appearing concerned. Morgan was found with a bruised and swollen right eye.
As police investigated, they found substantial evidence pointing in one direction: that of Rodney Metzer.
Rodney had a bag of zip ties, and a portion of a zip tie, in his apartment that matched the ones used to bind Morgan. Investigators linked the same type of ties with a purchase made on Rodney’s debit card. Surveillance footage from 36 hours before the attack shows Rodney leaving Lowe’s Home Improvement with zip ties, though in an interview after his arrest, he told police that he did not know what zip ties were.
Surveillance video also contradicted Rodney’s stated whereabouts leading up to the attack, as he is seen entering his apartment and leaving shortly thereafter, in different clothing.
Further, Rodney had a gun in his car.
His phone and laptop revealed that he had looked up "how to change the sound of your voice,” "cancer letter from hospital” and "how long to choke someone unconscious.” He also had photos on his phone showing that he had copied Morgan’s texts and surreptitiously taken pictures of her in the shower while he was staying at her home.
Investigators found a book in Rodney’s apartment for men who wanted to transform a marital relationship, called 7 Ways To Be Her Hero, which they believe suggests motive.
Finally, the cancer diagnosis letter he showed Morgan had come from an email account he had created. When a sergeant asked Rodney about how he told Morgan about the cancer, Rodney said, “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.”
Rodney pleaded guilty to 14 counts related to the attack, including aggravated assault, sexual battery and armed robbery. On August 17, 2021, he began serving his sentence: 25 years in confinement and 45 years on probation. He is currently incarcerated at Baldwin State Prison in Hardwick, Ga.
