Woman Wakes From 2 Year Coma, IDs Her Brother As Attacker

UPDATE:

Daniel Palmer III, who was charged in an incident that left his sister, Wanda Palmer, in a coma for two years, died in police custody on Thursday (July 21), the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Division of Corrections, confirmed in a news release obtained by ABC News on Friday (July 22).

Daniel Palmer was pronounced dead one day after being taken to a Charleston hospital for an evaluation by jail staff and less than a week after his arrest.

Wanda Palmer was only able to provide yes-or-no answers, but gave enough testimony for authorities to arrest and charge her brother, Daniel, in relation to her attack.

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A West Virginia woman identified her brother as her attacker after waking up from a two-year coma recently, according to local police.

Wanda Palmer, 51, was "attacked, hacked and left for dead" by her brother, Daniel Palmer III, 55, during an incident in Cottageville, West Virginia, which took place in June 2020, the Jackson County WV Sheriff's Department announced in a post shared on its Facebook account last Friday (July 15).

Daniel Palmer III was charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding, on Friday, more than two years after the attack took place, arrest records obtained by CNN confirmed.

Police said Wanda Palmer was found in an "upright position" on her couch when the attack took place and suffered injuries that appeared to have been caused by a hatchet or axe.

Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger told CNN that police initially thought Palmer was dead when they found her at the scene of the attack in 2020, but quickly realized she was still alive and breathing shallowly.

The department confirmed that it never located a suspected weapon in its investigation.

A witness told police that Wanda Palmer's brother, Daniel, was seen on her porch at around midnight on the same night that responding officers found her at the scene of the reported attack.

However, the sheriff said there were no phone records, surveillance footage or eyewitness accounts from outside the home at the time of the incident and the department never filed charges against any possible suspects.

Mellinger said he received a call from Palmer's care facility a couple of weeks ago confirming she was now able to speak to authorities about the incident.

Palmer was only able to provide yes-or-no answers, but gave enough testimony for authorities to arrest and charge her brother, Daniel, in relation to her attack.

Daniel Palmer was assessed with a bond of $500,000, the Jackson County WV Sheriff's Department confirmed, although noted that it was unclear how he pleaded in relation to the case.

Wanda Palmer is reported to be coherent but still unable to hold full-length conversations at the time of publication on Monday (July 18), according to CNN.