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When Jackson County, West Virginia, sheriff’s deputies found Wanda Palmer on her couch in June 2020, she was slumped over and bleeding from head wounds.
“We thought for sure it was a homicide case,” Sheriff Ross Mellinger told The Washington Post.
But in the end, Palmer survived, although he fell into a coma. For two long years, while she lay unconscious, the case stalled. Investigators could not find enough evidence to raise a suspect.
But earlier this month, Palmer woke up and told deputies her brother nearly killed her, Mellinger said. Daniel Palmer is now in custody and charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding, according to the sheriff’s department.
“Just the fact that she survived is nothing short of a miracle,” Mellinger told The Post. “But to be able to go back … two years later and identify who her attacker was, it’s spectacular.”
It was not clear if Daniel Palmer has an attorney. According to a criminal complaint obtained by CNN, Palmer denies assaulting his sister, saying he was not at her house at the time of the attack.
Wanda and Daniel Palmer lived about a half-mile apart on the same property near Cottageville, a hamlet in Jackson County near the state’s northwest border, Mellinger said. He said Wanda lives alone in a mobile home. The criminal complaint noted that there was a history of violence between the siblings, CNN reported.
One morning in June 2020, someone showed up to mow Wanda’s lawn and found her inside after being attacked, Mellinger said. Her wounds appear to have been caused by a sharp weapon, such as a machete or hatchet, although investigators have not found a weapon, he said.
Other evidence was hard to come by. There was no electricity in Wanda’s home, so there were no surveillance cameras or cell phone records. Mellinger said Daniel was suspected early on because of the siblings’ history. A man told deputies he saw Daniel on his sister’s porch the night before, about 10 hours before Wanda was discovered, but that wasn’t enough to go on, Mellinger said.
Deputies even traveled around the state to pursue various leads, but in the end, “we had nothing,” Mellinger said.
Then, just before the Fourth of July holiday, Wanda’s employee contacted the sheriff’s department saying she had woken up. Deputies interviewed her shortly afterward, Mellinger said. According to a criminal complaint obtained by WCHS, Wanda said she remembers being hit on the head in her home and that her brother was the one who did it.
When asked why Daniel would hurt her, Wanda replied that he was “evil,” WCHS reported, citing the complaint.
Mellinger said he wasn’t sure if Wanda would make a full recovery from the attack. He described her awakening from a coma after more than two years as a miracle.
“From an investigative standpoint, it’s kind of the Holy Grail,” Mellinger said. “You never get a chance to talk to someone after they’re in a coma.”
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