Woman miraculously awakens from 2 years in coma to name brother as assailant

Local news reports that Wanda Palmer "had been savagely beaten at her home in Cottageville in June of 2020" and fell into a deep coma. She was placed in a New Martinsville, West Virg. long term care center under the expectation of never waking back up.

Last week Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellenger got a call from the center saying not only was Palmer awake, but her communication skills were intact despite severe brain damage. She could effectively remember and explain what happened to her.

Local news channel WSAZ 3 has described Palmer's awakening as "miraculous." She named her brother, 55-year-old Daniel Palmer as her assailant.

According to Fox News, neighbors discovered Wanda's body in her mobile home on Flatwoods Road in Ravensville, West Virg., on June 10, 2020. She was unconscious, slumped over a couch, and covered in blood.

The sheriff said, "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."

Daniel was a person of interest during the initial investigation but couldn't be charged due to a lack of evidence.

The New York Post reports that Sheriff Mellenger said, "We had a little bit of an idea what happened, but the problem was with the nuts and bolts of the case we had nothing to go on. There was no eye witnesses, nobody lived in the home, no surveillance footage, no cell phone records. There was virtually nothing there to move forward on" and therefore police couldn't charge the brother.

That is until last week when Wanda woke and started to communicate with single words. She said the culprit was her "mean" brother who had a history of bothering her.

In a 2019 Facebook post Wanda wrote, "My brother Daniel why u trespassed on my mobile home n damage things which u have no right [to] for shame on u god I give u him to deal with."

"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 Mellenger said.

Danial Palmer has been charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding for attacking his sister with a machete.