Morgan survived a masked intruder. A hug from her ex-husband gave the whole story away.

On December 31, 2020, after a long year of lockdown, isolation and a stressful divorce, Morgan Metzer was ready to say goodbye to the year that was.

She planned to ring in the new year with her best friend, Stef, but when the night fell, she knew she wasn't up for celebrations and took herself to bed for an early night instead.

At 1am, a real-life nightmare began to unfold.

A masked intruder entered Morgan's bedroom, and she quickly noticed that he was holding a gun. She was terrified.

He beated and sexually assaulted her, before binding her hands with zip ties and leaving her on the back deck of her home, with a pillowcase over her head.

Soon after, Morgan's ex-husband, Rodney Metzer, appeared at the scene and freed her. He said couldn't believe the state of her. He tried his best to comfort her and called the police to report the crime.

But Morgan was immediately suspicious. In Rodney's arms, she could feel something wasn't right.

A high-school love story.

In 2009, Morgan married her high-school sweetheart, Rodney.

The pair met in their hometown of Canton, Georgia, when Morgan was just 14 and Rodney was 17. He was all she had ever known. Morgan told CBS' 48 Hours, it was "love at first sight."

Their relationship was faultless. Morgan described their young love as "amazing", saying Rodney called her his "princess" and treated her like it.

Image: 48 Hours.

A few months after their marriage, Rodney's brother was diagnosed with leukaemia and passed away at just 19-years-old. The loss hit Rodney hard.

"I don't think he was ever the same after that," said Rodney's mother, Kathy. He quickly became reliant on Morgan and placed a newfound pressure on her as his remaining family.

Soon, they fell pregnant. The couple were ecstatic. Their baby boy was born and naming him was easy — Kevin — after Rodney's late brother. However, tragedy struck again when their first son died from a heart defect, just 18 days after his birth.

In 2012, Rodney and Morgan welcomed their twins, a healthy little boy and girl. Finally, their family was complete.

The end of a marriage.

Morgan began to notice a change in the relationship when the children were about a year old. Rodney had lost his job, while Morgan's interior design business was at its peak. This change in income and success soon took its toll.

One weekend, after spending the day on a friend's boat to celebrate Labour Day, Rodney and Morgan returned to their cabin, and she knew something was off.

"I guess we had gotten into an argument about something. That's the first night he beat me," she said, People reports.

Morgan called her father to pick her up, saying she knew that she needed to get out. But that's when the gaslighting began.

Rodney told Morgan's parents that she was "out of control" and that he had to restrain her from hurting herself. He blamed every mark and bruise on Morgan's temper and everyone believed him, per People.

Morgan started to doubt her own reality, soon believing she was a harm to them both. It was around this time that the sexual abuse started.

"I didn't realise your husband could rape you, but he can," Morgan told TODAY.

In 2020, Morgan filed for divorce, and it was finalised in December of that year. She was finally at peace.

That was until Rodney called her one afternoon to tell her the news. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He showed her the doctor's notes and, in his emotional state, Morgan had reluctantly agreed to let him stay at her house.

Image: CBS News.

"I said; 'You're the father of my children. I'm here for you'."

But when she eventually asked Rodney to tell his family about his condition, he refused. That's when she told him to get out immediately.

It was New Year's Eve.

Every woman's worst nightmare.

A few hours after Rodney left, in the early hours of New Year's Day, Morgan woke to every woman's worst fear.

A shadowy figure was standing at the end of her bed. An unknown man dressed all in black, wearing a mask, gloves, and using a voice manipulator that sounded like Batman.

"That voice, still to this day, just haunts me when I sleep," Morgan told Fox 5 Atlanta.

She was restrained, beaten, strangled until she was nearly unconscious, and sexually assaulted. The intruder tied her up and carried her to the back deck with a pillowcase over her head, leaving her bruised, terrified and alone.

She spent 40 minutes trying to calm herself down when she heard a car pulling up. She immediately feared for her life, thinking her abuser had come to finish what he started.

But it was Rodney.

"Oh honey, what happened?" he asked her.

She was safe, but she didn't feel it.

The truth.

Morgan knew the attacker felt familiar, but she didn't want to admit it to herself. The way he carried her, the way he felt. She had a "feeling" it was Rodney. She hoped she was wrong.

Rodney claimed that someone had tapped on his window in the early hours of the morning and said Morgan's name. He immediately worried something had happened.

Police were suspicious of this. They obtained a search warrant for his apartment, car and devices. That's when they found "overwhelming" evidence that Rodney was, in fact, the attacker.

Police went through his phone and found multiple photos of Morgan, naked, showering and unaware she was being photographed. He was arrested while the remainder of the investigation took place.

At his home, they found an opened package of zip ties similar to those that had bound Morgan, and security footage of Rodney purchasing them at a nearby hardware shop. One zip tie had been cut in half, the exact match to the one on Morgan's wrists.

In his car, they located a handgun.

Image: Cherokee County District Attorney's Office.

On Rodney's bedside table, he had a copy of '7 Ways To Be Her Hero', a book about getting someone back. With this, the police had their motive.

Along with the novel, on Rodney's devices were some disturbing internet searches, including:

"How long to choke somebody unconscious."

"How to change your voice."

And "cancer diagnosis letters."

This was how they discovered Rodney had faked his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, along with the medical forms he had shown Morgan. He never had cancer.

The police had found enough. Rodney Metzer was charged with 14 counts, including home invasion, kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual battery.

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On the 4th of August 2021, Rodney pleaded guilty to all charges, including the attack and the photos of Morgan found on his phone. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and 45 years of probation.

District Attorney Shannon Wallace said, "This defendant planned a violent attack on his ex-wife that included breaking into her home, disguising himself, and pistol-whipping her."

"I cannot imagine how terrifying this must have been for her," he added. "This is a classic example of how the most dangerous time for a domestic violence victim is when she decides to leave an abusive relationship."

Morgan has since shared her victim impact statement with CBS' 48 Hours program.

"Rod, not only will this statement be to my attacker, but it'll also be my last words to whom I thought was the love of my life," he said.

"The last four years being married to you was like living with a monster that constantly tried to break me down and fence me in.

"It was a blessing in disguise… I can now walk with the confidence knowing the pain you have given me is turned into power."

Morgan was left to process what she had lived through with years of therapy and now dedicates her life to helping other victims of domestic violence.

"I'm trying to raise awareness of narcissism and gaslighting. I want to help women realise they're in a situation before it gets too bad."

Morgan's story inspired the creation of the movie 'Gaslit By My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story', released on Prime Video in 2024.

Feature image: CBS News.