FAMILY TRAGEDY

Man Charged in Beating After Sister Woke From Coma Dies in Custody

The man allegedly beat his sister so badly she slipped into a coma, until she woke up last month and named him as her attacker.

A West Virginia man who was charged with brutally beating his sister after she awoke from a two-year coma and named him has died following his arrest, authorities said Friday. Daniel Palmer’s sister Wanda identified him as her attacker when she woke up last month. Daniel, 55, was charged with her attempted murder and malicious wounding last week and was characterized as “uncooperative while in custody and during booking procedures at the jail,” the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security was quoted as saying by NBC News. An evaluation by jail medical staff sent him to the hospital, where he died Thursday. The department said he did not kill himself, but didn’t offer any more details on the circumstances of his death. Daniel, who denied the allegations, was accused of beating Wanda with a hatchet or machete in her trailer on June 10, 2020, according to police. Officials worried she would die from her injuries, but she somehow regained consciousness with her memory and communication skills intact two years later.