Woman who woke from coma to tell police her brother attacked her dies 2 years later

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia woman who woke from a coma and identified her now-deceased brother as her attacker has died, authorities said.

Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger confirmed the death of Wanda Palmer, 53, of Ravenswood, WCHS-TV reported Tuesday. Palmer died July 12 at WVU Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston, according to her obituary from Casto Funeral Home of Ravenswood.

Palmer was found unconscious with severe head injuries in her home in June 2020 and remained in a coma in a nursing home for two years. Her brother, Daniel Palmer, had been identified as a suspect, but investigators did not have enough evidence to file charges, court documents said.

In June 2022, an officer received a call from a security detail who said Palmer had begun using loose words and responding to questions.

Two weeks later, in an interview with an officer, Palmer told them the person who injured her was her brother and that she identified him as Daniel, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WCHS-TV.

It was not clear whether Palmer had slipped back into a coma after identifying her brother or what her health status had been over the past two years. The Associated Press left a phone message with the sheriff’s office Wednesday seeking information.

Mellinger said at the time that this situation was “as rare as it can be.”

Daniel Palmer, 55, of Cottageville, was initially charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding. He was in poor health when he was arrested and was taken from jail to a hospital, where he died less than a week later.