Wanda Palmer: Brother of woman who accused him of putting her in 2-year coma dies in custody
Update: Daniel Palmer who was identified by his sister, Wanda as having tried to kill her sending her into a two-year coma has died in custody, officials said. Daniel had denied attacking her, telling cops he had not been to his sister’s home in days.
Daniel was pronounced dead Thursday, July 21, at a Charleston hospital, a day after he had been taken there for a medical evaluation, West Virginia’s Department of Homeland Security, said in a news release. The cause of death was not revealed.
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CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA: Authorities charged a man on Friday, July 15, with the attempted murder of his sister who awakened from a two-year coma and identified her "mean" brother as her alleged attacker.
Daniel Palmer III, 55, of Cottageville in West Virginia, was charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding for the June 2020 attack after which his sister Wanda Palmer was left in a comatose state for two years. On June 10, 2020, neighbors found Wanda unconscious with critical head injuries at her Flatwoods Road residence. Responding officers found the victim slumped over on the couch and severely injured, per a criminal complaint filed in Jackson County Magistrate Court.
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"From an investigator's standpoint, this is about as rare as it gets. I think it's a true testament to the perseverance and the strength of the victim herself," Sheriff Ross Mellinger told Fox 11 after Palmer's arrest on Friday, July 15. "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," he added.
BREAKING:Jackson Co. deputies have arrested Daniel Palmer for the attempted murder of his sister, Wanda Palmer, 2 years ago. Wanda has been in a coma since the brutal attack nearly killed her. Sheriff tells me she was able to recently identify her attacker & arrest was made today pic.twitter.com/8yd4POSC1r
— Leslie Rubin (@LeslieRubinWCHS) July 15, 2022
The sheriff said investigators have not been able to recover the weapon as yet. Court records suggested the siblings had a "violent history" and identified Daniel as a suspect early on in the investigation. However, there wasn't enough evidence to charge him until he was identified by his own sister as her alleged perpetrator.
Investigators had reportedly conducted an interview with Daniel, in which he denied any involvement and said he hadn't visited his sister's home in days. However, a witness placed him in the front doorway of Wanda's residence the night she was assaulted. "We've been all over the state trying to eliminate suspects, develop leads, execute search warrants. This hasn't been a stale case for two years but without any real credible information leading up to this. We had some persons of interest, but it takes some time to eliminate others and narrow it down and that's kind of where we were at," Mellinger explained.
A deputy finally received a call from Wanda's Adult Protective Services worker on June 27, informing them that she had started to utter some words and appeared to respond appropriately when asked a question. Two deputies visited the nursing home facility in New Martinsville on July 12. One of the deputies noted how Wanda recalled living in her trailer near her mother's home and also remembered being hurt there.
"She made mention of her head," the deputy wrote in the criminal complaint, before noting how she identified her brother Daniel as the one who attacked her. "When asked why Daniel assaulted her, Wanda stated that 'he was mean,'" the complaint stated. The deputy also noted that Wanda appeared "oriented" to her situation and that her answers were "coherent" and "relevant." She even "asked for prayer," per the document.
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Friends and well-wishers in the neighborhood were shocked by the startling twist in the case. "For her to be able to wake up and give the name, thank God. That's all I can say, thank God, because she definitely deserves justice. Definitely," Myssi Powers, who has known Daniel and Wanda for many years, told Fox 11. "The only thing I can say is, he's not a good person. He was not a good person. I know, just listening to other people talk, that he had been mean to Wanda in the past," she added.
Daniel was in custody on Friday morning but it reportedly took hours to get him to cooperate and be arraigned by a magistrate. The magistrate physically came to the sheriff's office to do the arraignment because the suspect was so combative. His bond was set at $500K and he was taken to the South Central Regional Jail, Fox 11 reported.