West Virginia woman wakes from coma after two years, brother charged with attempted murder

Two years after a West Virginia woman was found in a pool of her own blood outside her house, bludgeoned to near-death, she woke from a coma and pointed the finger at her brother.

Wanda Palmer was discovered by lawn care workers on June 10, 2020, nearly dead in Cottageville, according to police.

Since then, she has been at a New Martinsville long term care center. Until she woke up.

“The keys to the whole thing lay with the victim herself and with her unable to communicate we were left with nothing,” Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellenger told WV Metro News. “Now low and behold two years later and boom, she’s awake and able to tell us exactly what happened.”

Wanda Palmer, left, and brother Daniel

Palmer identified her brother, Daniel Palmer, as her attacker, according to officials. He has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding.

Mellenger said investigators “had a little bit of an idea what happened” but not enough to make an arrest in the two years.

Police have still not publicly identified a motive or released any details on the attack, but Mellenger said he believes Palmer was bludgeoned over the head with a machete or a hatchet.