A woman from West Virginia woke up from a two-year coma after being "attacked, hacked, and left for dead" and identified her brother as the assailant.
Wanda Palmer, 51, accused her brother of attacking her in June 2020 at her residence near Cottageville, West Virginia, CNN reported. Police say they arrived at the scene to find that Palmer had sustained severe injuries caused by what could have been an ax or hatchet.
Officers initially thought she was dead, Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger told the outlet. It was only when they noticed her shallow breathing that they realized she had survived.
An investigation was launched, but every lead came to a dead end and the weapon was never recovered. While one witness claimed to have seen Wanda's brother, Daniel Palmer, 55, on her porch the night before she was discovered, there was no surveillance footage, phone records or eyewitnesses to confirm he had been the attacker.
Multiple people were investigated but charges couldn't be filed. Then, several weeks ago, Wanda Palmer's care facility contacted Mellinger saying that she was able to speak to authorities. And while Wanda Palmer was only able to answer yes-or-no questions, police were able to obtain enough testimony to arrest Daniel Palmer, who was charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department announced Saturday in a statement.
CNN noted that Daniel Palmer was arraigned and assessed with a bond of $500,000. It's unclear how he pleaded. Wanda Palmer is coherent but can't hold full-length conversations.
"After two years of being hospitalized and in a coma resulting from being attacked, hacked, and left for dead, Wanda Palmer is now awake to see her assailant in custody," the sheriff's department said.
"From an investigator's standpoint, this is about as rare as it gets," Mellinger added. "I think it's a true testament to the perseverance and the strength of the victim herself."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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