Ellen Greenberg may finally get justice after her controversial case was reopened over a decade after investigators originally classified her death as a suicide.
Shocking death of Ellen Greenberg ruled a suicide
The 27-year-old teacher was found lifeless on the kitchen floor of her Philadelphia apartment amidst a snowstorm on January 26, 2011.
Despite the unsettling circumstances—including over 20 stab wounds and a 10-inch knife still lodged in her chest—police swiftly labeled her death as self-inflicted.
Her parents, however, strongly believed otherwise. Insistent their daughter had been murdered, they embarked on a relentless crusade to seek justice. That included filing two civil lawsuits against city officials “conspiracy to cover-up Ellen’s murder.”
After the lawsuits, independent investigations, and an online petition that amassed over 166,000 signatures, new revelations have surfaced.
The very pathologist who performed Greenberg’s autopsy has reversed the original conclusion, admitting that the case warrants re-evaluation.
On Monday, the former medical examiner revisited the case and decided to retract the suicide ruling, resulting in the case being officially reopened.
This action followed a settlement between Greenberg’s family and the city of Philadelphia, which agreed to reassess the cause of death as part of resolving two civil lawsuits.
Mother of Ellen Greenberg issues warning to Philadelphia officials
After the ruling, Sandee Greenberg, Ellen’s mother, is cautiously optimistic over the development, but demands accountability from investigators.
“The truth will prevail, the truth will set you free, and we will be watching,” she told NewsNation’s Brian Entin. “I want to see the city make good on their promises because they haven’t in the past and they need to do a little cleaning of the house.”
While unable to discuss the terms of the settlement, Sandee hopes this renewed investigation will ultimately result in a significant correction to her daughter’s death certificate.
“There is no doubt about it,” she asserted, adamant that Ellen’s death should be classified as a homicide. “We have to hope that with all the eyes on them, they do the right thing and they will change the death certificate.”
She believes further developments are on the horizon, sharing, “There are other things in the works that hopefully will continue to prevail and more justice will be served.”
For the past five years, Sandee and her husband, Josh, have been engaged in a grueling legal battle with city officials.
Sandee attributed their recent victory to persistence. “I think the city didn’t expect to be dealing with Ellen’s parents. They didn’t expect us to persevere and not give up,” she stated.
Referring to the resistance they faced, she added, “We didn’t put up with their stalling tactics, their withholding information, and their untruths.”
Is the victim’s fiance a suspect?
Ellen was discovered by her fiancé, Sam Goldberg, who called 911 in a panic, exclaiming, “I just walked into my apartment; my fiancée’s on the floor with blood everywhere.”
He recounted how a knife was protruding from her chest, speculating that she somehow fell onto it, inflicting the fatal wound herself.
The following day, Dr. Marlon Osbourne conducted Ellen’s autopsy. His initial report noted numerous stab wounds and signs of bruising at various stages of healing. He determined the cause of death was homicide, stating Greenberg had been “stabbed by another person.”
However, despite these findings, Philadelphia investigators approached the scene with a predisposed belief that Ellen Greenberg had taken her own life.
They released the apartment without notifying the Crime Scene Unit, an oversight that allowed the crime scene to be professionally cleaned before any further investigation could take place.
Authorities maintained their suicide determination largely due to circumstantial details. It was reported that the door to Ellen’s apartment had been secured with a swing bar latch from the inside, and Goldberg, accompanied by a building security guard, had to force the door open to gain entry.
This narrative heavily influenced Osbourne, who later altered his initial assessment. During a deposition, he explained, “She’s the only one found in the apartment, with nothing disturbed, nothing out of place, no other way of getting in there. It doesn’t lend to the fact that someone else was there to do it. So that was discounted.”
With this reasoning, Osbourne amended the death certificate to reflect suicide instead of homicide.
Ellen Greenberg’s parents never stopped fighting
Due to Greenberg’s parents refusal to give up on justice for their daughter, independent experts revealed that Ellen had bruises on her body that indicated repeated abuse.
Goldberg’s story that he was accompanied by a security guard to force open the Ellen’s door was proven false, as was his insistence that he was on the phone with relatives while doing so, after call records did not corroborate his claim.
Due to the Greenberg’s relentless pursuit of justice, Osbourne has since acknowledged discrepancies in critical details, stating his revised conclusion stems from “new information” he has since learned.
“We’re very excited,” Sandee told CNN about the latest development. “I mean, never in my wildest dreams did I think anything like this was gonna happen.”
“We fought very long to get this,” Ellen’s father, Josh Greenburg commented to the outlet. “To get justice for our daughter. And we did.”
