The attack ceased and the man dragged her onto her deck half-naked, at which point he attempted to flee after telling her she was going to miss her kids and husband, which made her suspicious.

“That’s when I went, ‘Wow, it’s him. Why would somebody randomly say you’re going to miss your husband?'” Metzer said, claiming she had a feeling that her ex-husband, Rodney, was responsible from the start of the attack.

Morgan tried to stay awake, fearing she could die from the head trauma she suffered if she fell asleep and, at around 1:40 a.m., her ex-husband came to her home. Rodney, who lived about 15 minutes away, claimed that a stranger showed up at his apartment and told him his ex-wife's house was broken into, attempting to seem devastated by the news.

Morgan began to accuse him of the attack as they waited for police, which he denied in a panic. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office arrived at the home at around 2:00 a.m. and, within hours of investigating, became suspicious of how Rodney arrived at the scene so quickly after the attack. Police determined that Rodney went back to his apartment, changed clothes and returned to his ex-wife's home all while she was still tied down to act like the hero.

Investigators found a handgun and zip ties inside Rodney's vehicle matching the ones used during the incident, as well as changed clothes matching the description of the suspect at his apartment, according to an Office of the District Attorney for the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit in Canton release from August 2021.

“No one had ever believed he was a bad person, it was a relief,” Morgan told the U.S. Sun. “He would always blame stuff on me too, to make me think like I was in the wrong. That was the gaslighting.”

Investigators later found surveillance video showing Rodney leaving a Lowe's store with a pack of zip ties matching the ones used during the incident. The suspect also searched terms like "how long before you starve to death" and "how long it takes to choke someone until they're unconscious" on his cellphone and laptop prior to the incident.

Rodney told police that he came up with the plan in an effort to win back his ex-wife, whom he began dating when she was 14 and he was a senior in high school. Morgan said Rodney had been gaslighting her for years, which led to their divorce in December 2020, but said the two stayed friends for the sake of their twin children, whom they drove together to Florida for the vacation before Rodney falsely claimed he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer to gain sympathy from his ex-wife.

“This man is a master manipulator,” Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ashe said via the New York Post. “In the days leading up to this attack, he faked a cancer diagnosis in an attempt to gain sympathy from his ex-wife.”

Rodney pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including kidnapping, home invasion and sexual battery, on August 4, 2021, and was sentenced to 70 years in jail, 25 of which will be served in prison and the remainder on probation, as part of a plea deal.