Rodney and Morgan Metzer | Gaslighting Man "Rescues" Ex-Wife After Home Invasion

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[00:01:35] This is true crime psychology and personality, where we discuss the pathology behind some of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective. I'm Dr. Todd Grande. I have a PhD in counselor education and supervision and I'm a licensed professional counselor

[00:01:55] of mental health. Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel. Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Rodney and Morgan Metzer? First I'll look at the background of this case, move to the timeline of the crime, then offer my analysis.

[00:02:11] Rodney William Metzer was born in December 1984 and lived in Canton, Georgia. He went by the name Rod. Sometime around 2003 he met a 14-year-old girl named Morgan and they became romantically involved. They married in 2010 when Morgan was 21.

[00:02:29] The couple had a son named Kevin in 2011, but he died from a congenital heart defect. Due to this loss, Rod and Morgan started a charity to help other children. In 2012 the couple had twins. Eventually, Rod lost his job and the family went into debt.

[00:02:47] He had repeated intense anger outbursts, which put a lot of strain on the marriage. In mid-October 2020, Morgan filed for divorce. It was finalized in December 2020. Rod did not adjust well to life without Morgan and his behavior became even more disturbing.

[00:03:06] After the divorce, he would ask her out on dates, bring her flowers, and make what Morgan referred to as weird comments. She believed Rod was acting like a stalker. During the same month that the divorce was finalized, December, Rod told Morgan that

[00:03:21] he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He even showed her a forged hospital invoice to convince her that he was telling the truth, but of course Morgan did not know it was forged at the time. Due to this shocking diagnosis, Rod wanted emotional support from Morgan.

[00:03:39] She felt badly for him and agreed to help. Morgan allowed Rod to sleep on her couch, but Rod made comments suggesting the arrangement would be good for their relationship. Like he still didn't understand, they were divorced. Morgan kicked Rod out right before the end of 2020.

[00:03:57] She wanted to start the new year Rod-free. Now moving to the timeline of the crime. On January 1, 2021, just before 2 a.m., Rod called 911 while at Morgan's house. He claimed that he found her in a bad state after she had been attacked by an unknown perpetrator.

[00:04:17] Despite the apparent seriousness of the call, Rod acted like it wasn't a real emergency. The police arrived at Morgan's house. Here is what they found during the course of their investigation.

[00:04:29] On New Year's Eve, Rod sent a number of text messages to Morgan asking to go on a date. She told him that she was going to her parents' house and discontinued contact with him. In reality, Morgan stayed at her own house after leaving her children with her sister,

[00:04:45] so she was alone at her house. At 1230 a.m., now on New Year's Day, Morgan woke up to see a mysterious intruder standing in her bedroom doorway. He was wearing a mask and carrying a pistol. The man's voice was disguised.

[00:05:01] Before Morgan could even get out of bed, the man approached her and told her she messed with the wrong people. He struck her with the grip of the pistol, zip-tied her hands behind her back, and tried to suffocate her by pushing her head into her pillow.

[00:05:15] The man stopped just short of killing Morgan and put a pillowcase over her head. He walked her out to the back of the house and pushed her onto the deck. As he was leaving, the intruder said something to the effect of, You messed up.

[00:05:29] You are going to be fine, but we can't say that about your ex-husband. You're really going to miss him. He told Morgan to stay facedown until she heard a car horn sound three times, but she never heard the signal. Morgan was afraid and stayed where she was.

[00:05:45] About an hour later, Rod showed up on Morgan's deck and removed the pillowcase from her head. He asked her who had done this to her, as if he had no idea what happened.

[00:05:56] Morgan was curious how Rod knew where she was because she had told him she was going to her parents' house. He explained to her that someone had tapped on his apartment window and yelled her name.

[00:06:07] This caused him to be concerned about her safety, so he went to check on her. He came to her house simply out of force of habit. He didn't even think about what she had said earlier about being at her parents' house.

[00:06:18] Morgan asked Rod if he was the attacker, but he denied responsibility. At this point, Morgan realized that this type of questioning was not wise. If Rod was the person who attacked her, provoking him might lead to him finishing the job.

[00:06:34] Morgan played along with Rod as he called for help. After the police arrived, Rod told them the story about someone tapping on his apartment window, but they didn't believe him at all. At about 7 a.m., Rod was arrested at Morgan's house.

[00:06:48] As the investigation continued, the case against Rod became stronger. The only item missing from Morgan's house was her cell phone, which was used to control her video surveillance cameras. The police believed that Rod took the phone, hoping he could delete the video of him being there.

[00:07:05] Zip ties matching the ones used in the attack were found in Rod's car. There was also a pistol in there. Video surveillance from a Lowe's store captured Rod carrying a pack of zip ties. Rod had told the police that he didn't even know what zip ties were.

[00:07:20] Another video captured Rod arriving at his home on the night of the attack and leaving a few minutes later wearing different clothing. On Rod's phone, he had photographs of Morgan in the shower they were taking during the time when she was letting him sleep on her couch.

[00:07:36] Rod had also taken images of Morgan's text messages as if he was spying on her. There were some curious internet searches on Rod's phone, for example, how long before you starve to death, how to change the sound of your voice, and how long it takes to choke

[00:07:51] someone unconscious. The police believed that Rod attacked Morgan, went home, changed his clothing, returned to Morgan's house, pretended to save her, then called 911. On August 4, 2021, Rodney Metzer pleaded guilty to 14 charges in connection with the attack on Morgan, including kidnapping, home invasion, first-degree burglary, armed robbery, aggravated

[00:08:15] assault, aggravated battery, and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison with parole eligibility in 20 years. After being released, he will have to serve 45 years on probation. Now moving to my analysis. Here are my thoughts on a few areas that stood out to me in this case.

[00:08:35] Item number one. According to Morgan, in the beginning of her romantic relationship with Rod, everything seemed to be going okay. He was her first love and the only person who made her feel safe. She actually believed she was lucky to be with him.

[00:08:51] Morgan's father did not have a good feeling about Rod. As it turns out, the feeling was accurate. It's clear from Morgan's descriptions of the relationship and of Rod's behavior that she didn't recognize he was dangerous despite clear indications being available. Item number two.

[00:09:08] According to Morgan, early in the marriage, it was clear that Rod had some type of anger problem. He would have intense outbursts that involved slamming doors, putting his hands through walls, throwing items, and making degrading comments toward Morgan. His eyes would glaze over during these episodes.

[00:09:28] Morgan did not think his behavior was unusual and decided to tolerate the outbursts. Furthermore, she never thought that Rod was physically dangerous. Item number three. When Morgan and Rod had children, Morgan said that Rod viewed them as inconvenient.

[00:09:44] He would not let them sleep in bed with him and Morgan, would yell at them if they spilled something, and refused to allow them to play with glitter. That last one seems somewhat reasonable. Glitter gets everywhere and makes a real mess.

[00:09:58] During Rod's anger outbursts, Morgan would hide with her children in a closet and give them headphones to block out the sound of Rod screaming. He would yell that Morgan was a bad mother and did not care about him.

[00:10:11] Sometimes he would stay on the other side of the door for two hours. Eventually, going to the closet was no longer an acceptable strategy, so Morgan would take her children to her parents' home during Rod's outbursts.

[00:10:24] Morgan said that on one occasion, Rod threatened to create a self-inflicted gunshot wound if she left. On another occasion, Rod threw himself down a few steps and tried to convince the children that Morgan had pushed him.

[00:10:38] A pattern developed where no matter what Rod did wrong, he would blame Morgan. In response, she would apologize, believing it must have been her fault. Morgan was the victim of gaslighting. As a result of Morgan missing clear indications that Rod was manipulative and hazardous, her

[00:10:55] friends stopped talking to her. It appears as though they found her lack of awareness to be intolerable. Item number four. According to Morgan, Rod eventually started physically harming her. On one occasion, her nose started bleeding after he struck her.

[00:11:11] Rod explained to her how it was her fault because she had been drinking. Also, according to Morgan, the couple had a relatively normal sex life at first, but Rod eventually started becoming forceful. Afterward, he would accuse Morgan of being overly dramatic and tell her that she wanted

[00:11:29] to have sex. Item number five. Morgan said that after she filed for divorce, Rod showed up uninvited for the holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. He pretended that everything was fine and was unwilling to accept the end of the relationship.

[00:11:45] When confronted, he would get angry and storm away. Item number six. What do I think happened in this case? This is just a theory, my opinion. Rod was self-centered, impulsive, angry, aggressive, violent, irresponsible, vindictive, sadistic, insecure, immature, cold, callous, petty, overconfident, manipulative, possessive, controlling,

[00:12:07] demanding, had underdeveloped critical thinking skills, and had a sense of entitlement. Morgan was in love with Rod, therefore she was unable or unwilling to acknowledge that he was extremely dangerous. She also did not have other romantic relationships to compare to her marriage.

[00:12:24] Rod was able to gaslight Morgan for years, convincing her that she must be the problem. As the level of intensity and harm increased, Morgan continued to tolerate the behavior. The relationship was going to end badly one way or the other.

[00:12:38] The time and the tolerance that Morgan afforded Rod did not reduce the risk. Eventually, after a lot of suffering at Rod's hands, Morgan finally had enough. Unfortunately, because she didn't acknowledge the level of danger, she thought that she could

[00:12:53] terminate the romantic relationship with Rod, but still have contact with him. She did not understand how the moment of separation is the most dangerous time in a relationship with someone who has pronounced narcissistic characteristics.

[00:13:07] Morgan falsely believed it was safe to spend time alone with Rod and even let him sleep on her couch. She really did not understand at all what Rod was thinking. There was no way that Rod was going to accept losing Morgan, therefore he came up with a

[00:13:22] sadistic plan. Initially, Rod probably intended on murdering Morgan before bringing an end to his own life. He had written a couple of notes consistent with this intent. Ultimately, Rod did not follow through with the homicidal plan and switched to the play the hero scenario.

[00:13:40] Rod may have made this decision based on fear, like he realized that murder was more serious than assault, so it was a good move not to follow through with the murder. Another possibility is that Rod made the decision because he did not want to lose Morgan.

[00:13:54] He realized that if he killed her, she would never be with him. Rod's selfishness, need for control, and overconfidence in his ability to manipulate may have prevented the murder. Empathy for Morgan was not a factor in his decision.

[00:14:10] Rod thought that he could sell his hero story to Morgan and to the police. Maybe he could turn the entire situation around and end up reunited with Morgan after all. She would adore him because he rescued her.

[00:14:24] Whether Rod spared Morgan's life because he did not want to lose his own or because he was hopeful about winning her back, narcissism played a key part in this case. Narcissistic characteristics led to the attack, but those same characteristics may have stopped Rod from following through with homicide.

[00:14:44] Now moving to my final thoughts. This case highlights the effectiveness of manipulation tactics, including gaslighting, in the context of a marriage. The awareness of the danger level of narcissistic characteristics usually develops gradually.

[00:14:59] In this case, Morgan realized that being romantically involved with Rod was a bad idea before she realized it was dangerous. There was a part of her that still needed to believe that Rod would never harm her. This uneven development of awareness made her even more vulnerable.

[00:15:16] An outside observer would have immediately recognized what Rod was capable of, but the view from the inside of a marriage is a lot cloudier. This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from Ars Langa Media. This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Ars Langa, Vita Brevis.

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