Photo: Jackson County Sheriff's Office
A West Virginia man accused of brutally assaulting his sister has died in police custody. The 2020 attack left Wanda Palmer, 51, in a coma for two years. When Palmer woke up, she identified her brother, Daniel J. Palmer III, as the man who attacked her.
He was taken into custody on July 15 and charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding.
The West Virginia Department of Homeland Security said that Palmer was taken to the hospital on Wednesday (July 20) for a medical evaluation and was pronounced dead the next day. Officials did not say why he was hospitalized or provide information on his cause of death.
"Inmate Palmer was uncooperative while in custody and during booking procedures at the jail. On Wednesday, July 20th, 2022, Palmer was transported to CAMC General Hospital after an evaluation by jail medical staff," West Virginia Department of Homeland Security Deputy General Counsel Morgan Switzer said in a statement.
While Palmer had always been a suspect in the attack that left his sister in a coma, investigators lacked the evidence to file charges against him. After his sister woke up and identified him as the assailant, he was arrested and ordered held on a $500,000 bond. According to WCHS, Palmer refused to cooperate with officers, and a magistrate had to leave the courthouse and go to the sheriff's office so Palmer could be arraigned.