Morgan Metzer Recounts the Moment She Knew ‘Batman’ Masked Attacker With Weird Voice Was Her Husband After ‘Stalker’ Signs

MORGAN Metzer can still hear the voice of the attacker she feared would kill her.

What she didn’t know at the time was that the person who tied her up and beat her was her estranged and distraught ex-husband Rodney.

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Brave Morgan lived to tell the story of New Year’s Eve 2020, which is the subject of a new Lifetime movie Gaslit by my husband released this Sunday, with One Tree Hill star Jana Kramer playing the single mother from Georgia.

It’s a shocking story of deceit, violence and gaslighting that resulted in Rodney receiving a 70-year prison sentence, reduced to 25 years after a guilty plea at trial.

“After that, I didn’t sleep for months,” Morgan told The US Sun during an emotional interview. “I was really scared.”

The couple, who were childhood sweethearts, had been married for 10 years – and had already suffered enough pain.

One of his sons died from a congenital heart defect just weeks after being born in 2011, and Rodney, a financial trader, had lost a large chunk of inheritance money received after the death of a family member a few years earlier.

BITTER FALL

They ended up having twins, but the marriage was full of problems, and in early December 2020, the divorce went ahead.

“He got stalkerish, real quick,” she recalled.

Morgan says her now-estranged husband made “weird” comments and continually asked her out.

Rodney thought there was a chance to win her back, even if Morgan wasn’t interested at all.

The couple drove to Florida together before Christmas to leave their children with some family, to “show them we were a united front.”
But upon his return, the distraught Rodney began to weave a sickening web of lies.

He called Morgan with the bombshell news of a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

DEFORMED DECEPTION

There was a problem, however. Morgan didn’t know it at the time, but it was all made up.

“He even forged the documents,” she said. “It was the final straw in trying to get me back.”

Morgan told her parents, who investigated Rodney about the illness, but she had no choice but to show some sympathy after such a supposed serious diagnosis.

The night before New Year’s Eve, she allowed him to sleep on her couch. But the next morning he received marching orders.

Morgan wanted to welcome 2021 with new hopes for the future. Instead, she was drawn into a violent nightmare.

She had gone to bed early, only to be woken up by fireworks just before midnight.

Morgan kissed his dog, wished him a happy new year and fell asleep.
About 30 minutes later, there was a creaking sound at her door. Someone was standing at the door.

WORST NIGHTMARE

A masked intruder, using a voice distortion tool that “sounded like something out of Batman”, was in his room.

“A lamp downstairs was on, so there was light coming from behind him. I screamed so loud, it’s a scream I don’t think I can ever do again. It was so painful. Soon, he was on top of me,” she said .

The intruder began beating her with a pistol, each violent blow leaving Morgan in a state of utter disbelief as terror coursed through her body.

Was it Rodney? His mind went back and forth. However, she was sure of something.

“At that point, I knew I was going to die,” she admitted.

The punches rained down for half an hour before he began to strangle her.

Morgan says the adrenaline rush negated the pain of the punches, but “the choke was the worst feeling in the world.”

She could only see the attacker’s eyes – “he was wearing a mask that made him look like Batman, his ears were even tilted up a little” – but then, suddenly, the attack stopped.

TWISTED NARRATIVE

He left the scene with a parting comment about how Morgan would miss her family and her husband.

“That’s when I said, ‘Wow, that’s him,'” she said. “Why would someone randomly tell you that you will miss your husband?”

Morgan was dragged outside, half-naked, into the freezing midnight air before his attacker fled the scene. He had stolen her phone so that any incriminating security camera footage could be deleted.

She made a valiant attempt to stay awake, knowing that the multiple blows to the head could cause serious damage.

At around 1:40 am, someone approached the house.

It was Rodney. His house was just 15 minutes away and he claimed someone told him about a robbery at his ex-wife’s house.

“I told him that night that I would be at my parents’ house. So why would he come there?” she said.

Morgan immediately smelled a rat and accused it of the attack. His denial was instantaneous, but his reaction was revealing when panic set in as he waited for the police to arrive.

For the first few months, I didn’t sleep at all, period. I would sit in the corner of my son’s room and look at that door.

Morgan Metzer

Upon arrival, officers called detectives who immediately got to work, and within hours, Rodney was arrested.

“No one ever believed he was a bad person, it was a relief,” she said. “He always blamed me for things too, to make me think I was wrong.

CRUSHING AFTER

Morgan was an emotional wreck, crying as the father of her children was taken away.

“Finally everyone got to see his true face,” she recalled of the moment Rodney’s violent nature was exposed.

She recalled incidents during days out with friends where she was attacked, only for him to try to turn the tables and convince Morgan that she was the problem.

The truth, however, came to light as soon as the legal process began.

He was hit with eight criminal charges – including invasion of privacy.
Investigators discovered store security video that showed him purchasing the same zip ties that held his ex-wife’s hands behind her back.

Rodney pleaded guilty to all charges, including kidnapping and aggravated assault, but even though Morgan’s hell is behind him, the nightmare remains.

She sat her children down and explained how “Daddy did something bad.”

“In the first few months, I didn’t sleep at all, period. I would sit in the corner of my son’s room and stare at that door,” Morgan admitted.

“Doors scare me now. If there’s someone standing in the middle of a door, it makes me really angry.”

She continually works with a therapist, but needed to have her children close to her right after her horror experience to help her cope.

“I probably kept them home from school probably a lot longer than I should have,” she added.

Morgan says working on the film and helping with the narrative was cathartic, and along with Kramer, who has been a strong advocate for domestic violence against women in the past, they want to help others involved in similarly shocking situations.

A book is also on the horizon.

“I want to raise awareness among people who suffer silently,” he concluded. “I want women to learn to speak in a circle with people they trust. I didn’t realize how toxic my situation was and how much easier life could be.”

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