48 Hours - Post Mortem | The “Batman” Intruder

CBS News Correspondent Nikki Batiste and Associate Producer Mike Loftus delve into the case of Morgan Metzer, who was assaulted on New Year’s Day in 2021 by an intruder later identified as her ex-husband, Rod. The team examines Rod’s manipulation tactics, including gaslighting and a fake cancer diagnosis. They also discuss his 9-1-1 call and why investigators thought it was suspicious.

Duration: 21m
Broadcast on: 17 Dec 2024
Audio Format: other

[MUSIC] Welcome back to Postmortem. I'm your host Anne Marie Green, and today we're discussing the case of Morgan Metzer, who was assaulted in her home by an intruder, but incredibly, she survived to tell the story, and she also brought justice to her assailant. So joining me today is CBS News correspondent Nikki Batis, an associate producer, Mike Loftus. Welcome, guys. Thanks for having us. Good to be here. And remember, if you haven't listened to the 48-hours episode yet, you can find the full audio version just below this episode in your podcast feed. So go ahead and take a listen, and then come on back for the conversation. Morgan and Rod Metzer, they are childhood sweethearts, right? They meet when she's 14. He is 17, which I thought was a little old because, you know, at that age, that's quite an age gap. But nonetheless, they fall in love. They date for quite a long time. They get married when they're in their early 20s, and then they have twins. But then Morgan said, Rod starts to become abusive, and Morgan falls for divorce. And then weeks after the divorce was finalized, Rod says to her, "I have pancreatic cancer." And then we find out in the hour that he lied about pancreatic cancer. Who lies about that? Did Morgan think that he faked the cancer diagnosis in order to persuade her to get back together with him? I think in the moment she believed he had pancreatic cancer and was worried enough about him that she actually took him back into her house to try to take care of him. And she was saying, "Look, you need to tell your family." He hadn't told anyone else at that point, and he didn't want to when she started to get frustrated. Later, after this assault transpires and she reflects and investigators tell her, "Look, this was a fake diagnosis. We have a fake letter from a doctor, a fake email account, fake bill." I asked her that question. I said, "Do you think that this was a way to try to get back to you? Do you think this was just part of his bigger plan?" And she does think reflecting that it wasn't in an effort to try to get her to feel badly for him, take him in. Cancer and particularly pancreatic cancer is a tough, tough battle. I don't know if he had a long-term plan. I don't think it's easy to fake pancreatic cancer treatment. You're going to look sick. You're going to be tired. I don't think he thought this out. It's one of the deadliest cancers, and his younger brother had passed away from leukemia, and yet he does this. On top of all this, investigators found that he made fake hospital bills and stuff to try and show that he had cancer. He searched cancer diagnosis letter online. He went through great lengths to try and prove this. His searches were like a treasure trove as we learned the hour sort of unfolds. This case is particularly different for 48 hours, not only because Morgan survived, but also because she details how much Rod was gaslighting her. Can we talk a little bit more about gaslighting and what was Morgan experiencing? She told us a story which we have in the show about when they went on a trip to a lake, and she said he physically attacked her. He said that she was kind of being upset. She was being out of control, and he had to do this to constrain her. She believed it. Maybe I was upset. Maybe I was out of control. This is a prime example of gaslighting his story. One thing I will say, what is unique is that Morgan did leave him eventually, which we don't always see. I think the gaslighting was gradual and became more severe. She also tells us a story in the hour about Rod essentially throwing himself down the stairs and then telling their kids that she had pushed him. Her best friend also told us that Rod would make Morgan believe that she was crazy, that this was her fault for some reason or another. Gaslighting has become a term that we hear so often now. Well, when I think about the fact that they met when she was just 14, and I know he was a teenager as well, you sort of have to take into account that they have grown up together. She's gone from being a young teen to an adult woman with this person influencing her the whole time for better or for worse. I wouldn't be surprised if what we hear in the hour are some pretty egregious examples of gaslighting, but I'm sure there were probably little things happening all along over the years that maybe she did pick up on, maybe she didn't, maybe she just got used to. Yes, I think she has told us that reflecting back, she can see it now, but I think it took her a

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