A Woman Just Woke Up From A Two-Year Coma & Said Her Mystery Attacker Was A Family Member
Police say she had the missing piece of the puzzle.
Wanda Palmer. Right: Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger.
A U.S. woman who was brutally attacked in 2020 just woke up from a coma and identified her mystery attacker as a close family member, according to police in West Virginia.
This article contains graphic content that might not be suitable for some readers.
Wanda Palmer, 51, had been in a coma since June 2020, when authorities say she was "attacked, hacked and left for dead" on the couch at her home in Cottageville, West Virginia.
Police initially thought she was dead when they found her, but then they noticed her breathing and managed to save her life. She was hospitalized immediately and has been recovering ever since.
"I wouldn't have wagered a nickel for her life that morning. She was in that bad a shape," Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger told reporters, per WCHS-TV. "She was unconscious and quite honestly circling the drain, medically."
Police said at the time that a hatchet or axe was likely involved in the attack, but they never recovered the weapon and failed to identify a suspect in the case, CNN reports.
Then Palmer woke up.
The woman regained consciousness a few weeks ago and was able to speak single words, WCHS-TV reports. Officers showed up to interview her and after working through a bunch of yes-or-no questions, she identified her brother as the attacker.
On Friday, police arrested Daniel Palmer III, 55, on charges of attempted murder and malicious wounding.
"Wanda Palmer is now awake to see her assailant in custody — her brother, Daniel Palmer," the sheriff's office said in a statement on Facebook.
He appeared in court and his bond has been set at $500,000. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer on Sunday, the Associated Press reports.
Mellinger said the arrest is a testament to Wanda Palmer's "strength," and that this ending is "about as rare as it gets."