Wanda Palmer spent two years being hospitalized and in a coma after being “attacked, hacked, and left for dead,” the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said.
A West Virginia woman woke up after a two-year-long coma and identified her brother as her attacker, who died five days after being arrested, officials said.
Wanda Palmer spent two years being hospitalized and in a coma after being “attacked, hacked and left for dead” near Cottageville, West Virginia, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department wrote in a statement.
According to ABC 13, neighbors found Palmer unconscious at her home with serious head injuries on June 10, 2020.
"I wouldn't have wagered a nickel for her life that morning, she was in that bad of shape. Quite honestly, she was unconscious, circling the drain medically. Massive, massive amounts of head trauma, consistent with some sort of machete or hatchet-type injury," Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger told ABC 13.
Mellinger also told the outlet that investigators have not been able to recover the weapon.
ABC 13 reported that a deputy received a call from Wanda's Adult Protective Services worker on June 27, who told the investigator that Palmer had started to utter words and seemed to respond to questions appropriately.
A deputy entered Palmer’s room at the nursing home facility she was being cared for on July 12 and started speaking with her, ABC 13 reported. Palmer also remembered living in her trailer near her mother's house and being harmed there, pointing to her head to note where she was injured.
The deputy reported she claimed the person who wounded her was her brother and then identified her brother as Daniel, according to ABC 13.
"When asked why Daniel assaulted her, Wanda stated that 'he was mean,'" read the complaint obtained by ABC 13.
ABC 13 reported it took hours to get Daniel Palmer to cooperate to be arraigned by a magistrate once he was in custody. The outlet reported that the magistrate had to conduct the arraignment at the sheriff’s office instead of the courthouse because Daniel was so combative.
Daniel Palmer was arrested and charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding, according to the statement by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.
He was arraigned and assessed with a bond of $500,000, according to the sheriff. The Jackson County magistrate's office of the criminal court said he did not have an attorney because he refused to sign paperwork.
Authorities on Friday told Inside Edition Digital that Daniel Palmer died five days after being taken into custody.
"Inmate Daniel James Palmer III was booked into the South Central Regional Jail on July 15th, 2022, after being charged with the attempted murder and malicious wounding of his sister... Inmate Palmer was uncooperative while in custody and during booking procedures at the jail. On Wednesday, July 20th, 2022, Inmate Palmer was transported to CAMC General Hospital after an evaluation by jail medical staff. On Thursday, July 21st, 2022, Inmate Palmer was pronounced dead," read a statement by the state Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Division of Corrections.
Further information about the cause and manner of Daniel Palmer's death was not immediately available.
