A man charged with trying to kill his sister – who recently woke from a two-year coma to name him as her attacker – has died.

Daniel J Palmer III died on Thursday at a hospital in Charleston, West Virginia, six days after he was charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding of his sister Wanda.

He had been taken to hospital on Wednesday, the day before his death, following an evaluation by prison medical staff.

The cause of his death was not released.

Wanda Palmer was beaten and left for dead in her home near Cottageville, West Virginia, in June 2020.

It is thought she was attacked with a machete or a hatchet.

According to local news reports at the time, she was so badly injured that police thought she was already dead.

Joe Biden coughs through White House meeting a day after COVID diagnosis

Trump’s former presidential adviser Steve Bannon found guilty of contempt of Congress for skipping Capitol riots hearing

Donald Trump watched Capitol riots on TV in White House dining room instead of intervening, investigation hears

But despite suffering from brain damage, she was eventually able to name her brother as her attacker.

Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger told the West Virginia Metro News: “The keys to the whole thing lay with the victim herself and, with her unable to communicate, we were left with nothing.

“Now low-and-behold, two years later and boom, she’s awake and able to tell us exactly what happened.”

Mr Mellinger said that Palmer “didn’t give us any fight or anything” when he was arrested, adding: “There was a little bit of surprise, but not entirely.”

A court document seen by NBC News said that Ms Palmer had been able to remember living in her trailer near her mother’s home and “indicated she recalled being hurt there”.

“She made mention of her head (the area of her body where she was injured),” it said.

“When asked who had wounded her she (said) her brother.

“She then identified her brother as Daniel.

“When asked why Daniel assaulted her, Wanda stated that he was mean.”

Daniel Palmer, 55, appeared in court after his arrest but had to be dragged out of the courtroom after becoming combative.

He had denied assaulting his sister.

According to the court papers, there had been a witness who saw him in the doorway of his sister’s trailer at midnight on the night she was attacked.

That had made him a person of interest, but it was not until Ms Palmer woke from her coma and named him as her attacker that police had enough to make the arrest.

Related posts:

FBI pursuing single suspect over death of police officer killed in Capitol riots Officers use search warrant to access ‘black box’ data from SUV in Tiger Woods crash Body of seven-year-old found in river – days after tubing accident killed three of his relatives ‘They were angels’: Loved ones of the missing desperate for answers after Miami Beach disaster UK courts helping serve Prince Andrew with legal papers over US sexual assault claims, documents reveal Waukesha parade victims named including three members of Dancing Grannies group Gabby Petito’s boyfriend died of a gunshot wound to the head, family lawyer says Twitter user numbers fall short as it reports $221m annual loss Elon Musk sells all of his seven homes after vow to ‘own no house’ ‘Torso killer’ charged with 1968 murder of woman at New York shopping mall Death row inmate allowed to ask for firing squad instead of ‘painful’ lethal injection Roe v Wade: Who are the US Supreme Court justices and what did they say about abortion?