From an investigator’s perspective, it is regrettable that we don’t get the chance to see the investigation through. We shift our attention to the case’s victim and wish her continued success. She still has a long way to go. “
Wanda Palmer was discovered “sitting on the couch with her head drooping over” two years ago, according to Mellinger, at her residence close to Cottageville, West Virginia.
He tells PEOPLE that “there was a lot of skull and brain trauma.” He claims that the tool used was probably a hatchet or machete.
Mellinger claims that a witness observed Palmer on his sister’s porch the night before police arrived at her house, but the case was difficult to investigate due to a lack of eyewitnesses, evidence, and security footage.
Early on, he was unquestionably a person of interest, but, as Mellinger explains, “we really didn’t have anything to move forward.” We had absolutely no evidence other than the observation of someone driving past at midnight on their way home from a shift and noticing him standing on the porch.
Following the vicious assault, Wanda Palmer, 51, was hospitalized for two years in a coma.
