Man dies in custody after sister awakened from coma to accuse him of attacking her

Daniel J. Palmer III had long been considered the key suspect in a brutal attack that left his sister comatose two years ago. But the case remained dormant — until she awakened last month. Able to speak only a word at a time after coming out of a coma, Wanda Palmer identified her brother — with whom she had a violent past — as her attacker. Daniel Palmer was arrested on July 15.

Less than a week later, he was dead, likely bringing a close to a highly unusual case in which the investigation was stalled by a lack of evidence.

For now, there are two mysteries: a detainee’s death, and an assault without a publicly disclosed motive. Daniel Palmer was pronounced dead Thursday at a Charleston hospital, a day after he was taken there following an evaluation by jail medical staff, the state Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Division of Corrections, said in a news release.

The statement didn’t indicate a cause of death and a spokeswoman for Department of Health and Human Resources, which oversees the state medical examiner’s office, said state law only allows the agency to release autopsy information to relatives and law enforcement.

2 pilots die after firefighting helicopter crash

Both pilots of a firefighting helicopter that crashed in Idaho have died, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday. Mary Cernicek with the Salmon-Challis National Forest said Thomas Hayes, 41, of Post Falls, Idaho, and Jared Bird, 36, of Anchorage, Alaska, died from injuries they sustained when their CH-47D Series “Chinook” crashed in the Salmon River about 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The pilots were employees of the Anchorage-based ROTAK Helicopter Services, which was contracted to help fight the Moose Fire burning about 21 miles north of Salmon. Emergency crews responding to the crash were able to extricate the men and transport them to medical facilities but they did not survive, she said.

R. Kelly’s manager guilty of gunfire threat

R. Kelly’s manager was convicted Friday in New York of making a phone threat that gunfire was about to occur at a crowded Manhattan theater preparing to show a documentary about the singer’s sexual abuse of women and girls.

The jury convicted Donnell Russell of threatening physical harm through interstate communication, but it exonerated him on a conspiracy count. Sentencing was set for Nov. 21.

Russell and his attorney declined comment as they left the courthouse. The December 2018 documentary premiere had a live panel discussion that was to include several women featured in the documentary. The phone threat of someone with a gun prompted an emergency call to police, who ordered an evacuation that forced the premiere to be canceled.

— The Associated Press