My wife's Galaxy S6 was dropped one too many times. the phone works, you can receive calls but the display is totally black. Is there any way to recover the photos to a Windows PC or another android phone? She didn't have them backed up.
Then more than just the screen broke. Probably the USB connector (in the phone) got a wire or two shaken loose, so the only hope is that your wife kept a backup of anything important (which it doesn't sound like).
I don't think it's usb. It requires confirmation on the phone when you connect it to new PC. Is touch still working? Is the phone charging normally when connected?