The mysterious death of Ellen Greenberg

More than thirteen years ago, on January 26, 2011, 27-year-old elementary school teacher, Ellen Greenberg, was found by her fiance, 28-year-old Samuel Goldberg, deceased in the kitchen of their Manayunk, Pennsylvania apartment. She was slumped against the cabinets, her legs were splayed out in front of her & she had 20 stab wounds, many of which were to the back of her head & neck. A 10-inch knife remained lodged in Ellen’s chest.

The initial autopsy ruled a homicide, but with little evidence to support this, the case stalled & the pathologist went on to amend Ellen’s death certificate, changing her manner of death to suicide despite the extremely suspicious nature of her death.

Ellen Rae Greenberg, who went by Ellie to those close to her, was a gorgeous girl from New York City. She was born on June 23, 1983 & was the only child to parents Joshua & Sandra Greenberg, who both worked within the dental industry. Ellen was known for her dazzling smile, her kindness, compassion & nurturing way. Her kindness made her choice of careers as an elementary school teacher, a perfect fit & she was adored by her students. Ellen was a first grade teacher at Juniata Park Academy in Philadelphia where she had been working for three years. On the day that Ellen was found decreased, school grades were due to be handed in.

Ellen was a very bright young woman who had recently completed her master’s degree in education & was certified in reading specialty. When Ellen wasn’t busy teaching, she spent much of her free time with Sam, her fiance. Sam worked as a producer for NBC & the couple had been on a wonderful path of success. They dated three years before their engagement & planned to be married later that year in August. The couple lived at the Venice Loft Apartments in a two-bedroom unit on the 6th floor.

Ellen’s family indicated that she was extremely excited for the upcoming wedding which she had been eagerly preparing for, sending out save-the-dates & invitations. Ellen’s parents felt that Sam was a fine young man & had no issues with him; the couple was said to be very much in love & happy together.

The day of Ellen’s death, Wednesday, January 26, 2011, started as a typical day & Ellen headed to work at 7 am & spoke with her mom on the phone as she drove. The two discussed how to do their taxes & according to Sandra, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Because a massive snowstorm was in the forecast, Ellen’s school shut down early & before heading home, she filled her car’s tank with gas. Once home, she & Sam hung out together before Sam decided to head out for a workout at 4:45 pm at the gym within the building. It was only 30-45 minutes later, between 5:15-5:30 pm that Sam found Ellen in the kitchen, covered in stab wounds.

At 4:46 pm, Ellen used her laptop for the last time. A few minutes later, at 4:54 pm, Sam could be seen on surveillance, entering the on-site gym. By 5:30 pm, Sam left the gym & stopped in the lobby to check the mail & head back up to his 6th floor unit.

According to Sam, when he stopped at unit 603 where he & Ellen lived together, he tried to get inside. This was when he realized that the security swing bar lock, which is often seen on hotel room doors, had been secured from the inside which prevented him from fully opening the door. Sam began calling out to Ellen, letting her know that he was locked out, but she didn’t respond. He began to text & call her cell phone with a flurry of messages that were sent between 5:32 & 5:54 pm, including & as follows:

Hello

open the door

what r u doin

im getting pissed

hello

you better have an excuse

what the f**k

ahhh

u have no idea

It was clear that Sam was annoyed at having been locked out of the apartment, but continued to get no response from Ellen.

Shortly after 6 pm Sam headed down to the foyer of the building in search of a security guard who could let him in. However, the lone security guard on duty that evening, Phil Hanton, told him it was against company policy to break down doors. Hanton offered to call the police, but instead, just after 6:30 pm, Sam headed back upstairs.

From here, confusion arose regarding what happened next. It was believed that Sam went back upstairs with the security guard & kicked the door open with both men entering the apartment together, finding Ellen slumped in the kitchen, covered in blood. However, according to the security guard, he never went upstairs with Sam & instead, remained at his post on the first floor.

Sam said that he immediately called 911 although cell phone records contradicted this statement & proved that he had actually made two calls before dialing 911. One call was placed to his parents & one to his uncle, who was a prominent attorney. According to reports, Sam was on the phone with his uncle & cousin, James & Kamian Schwartzman, when he broke into the apartment & found Ellen. They said they could hear him hysterically screaming & instructed him to hang up & dial 911.

When Sam called 911 at 6:33 pm, he told the dispatcher that he had just walked in & that his fiance was on the floor with blood everywhere. He said that he couldn’t see where she was bleeding from & nothing was broken (likely meaning inside the apartment). He speculated that maybe she had hit her head; he said that her face looked purple & she wasn’t responsive.

The dispatcher asked if Ellen was flat on her back & Sam confirmed that she was. The dispatcher asked Sam if he was willing to do CPR until first responders arrived & he said, “I guess I have to.” This was when he said, “Oh my god! She stabbed herself!” He speculated that she had fallen on a knife which was sticking out of her heart & this was when the dispatcher told him not to do CPR & wait for paramedics to arrive. As the call was wrapping up, the dispatcher wanted to confirm that the knife was still in Ellen’s chest & Sam let out a small chuckle when he confirmed that he hadn’t taken it out.

When paramedics arrived, it was clear that there was nothing they could do to save Ellen at that point & she was sadly declared dead at 6:40 pm. Her body was later removed from the apartment in the early morning hours of January 27 between 2-3 am.

When police arrived, Ellen was found on the hardwood kitchen floor, located just inside the apartment entrance. She was supine with her head, neck & shoulders propped against corner cabinets between the sink & the stove. Her feet & arms were extended & her chin rested against her right shoulder. The positioning of Ellen’s body was not consistent with what Sam told the 911 dispatcher when he indicated that Ellen was lying on her back.

She was wearing a zip-up sweater over a t-shirt, gray sweatpants & Ugg boots. Her eyeglasses were located on the ground next to her. She held a clean, white towel in her left hand & wore a scrunchie on her right wrist & her right hand was clenched into a loose fist. Blood was mostly contained to the area of her body with one small spatter to the left of her body with two separate drops of blood spatter on the granite counter above her.

The knife that was found lodged in Ellen’s chest had been inserted through her multiple layers of clothing. The autopsy later revealed several superficial stab wounds on her upper chest, mid-chest & below her breasts. She was stabbed a total of twenty times over her chest & the back of her head & neck. According to reports, there were no defensive wounds on her body though this fact later became a controversial issue.

The two-bedroom apartment on the 6th floor was tidy & showed no sign of a struggle & nothing had been stolen, including their money, electronics or car keys. Everything was in its proper place. The only entry into the unit was through the front door which was said to have been locked from the inside. There was a sliding glass patio door, however, it was six floors above the ground level & no footprints were located in the snow.

The inside swing bar security lock to the front door was found broken with the screws loose on the door & had an appearance that the door had been forced open when the lock had been engaged which was consistent with what Sam told the dispatcher.

Review of the kitchen found two knives in the sink which were free of any blood or tissue. A knife block sat on the counter which had been turned over on its side with a spatula, fork & paring knife in it – no blood or tissue was found on any of these items.

The knife found lodged in Ellen’s chest is believed to have belonged to the same set of knives that were found in the sink which would have normally been stored in the knife block. It was clear that Ellen had been prepping fruit at the time of her death since freshly cut fruit sat on the counter as well as a strainer of freshly washed blueberries.

A medical examiner’s photo of Ellen Greenberg’s kitchen.

Xanax, Klonopin & Ambien prescription bottles were located in Ellen’s bedside table which had been prescribed by her psychiatrist, Dr. Berman. A small notebook was found in her purse with notes about her medications & how they affected her.

Neighbors within the building were interviewed, but no one had heard anything concerning at the time of Ellen’s death. Ellen’s building was equipped with security cameras, but unfortunately, they were only located in the foyer & none were in the hallway which led to the apartment unit. When police reviewed the footage from the foyer, they did not note anyone strange or unknown entering or leaving the complex.

Sam was reportedly cooperative with investigators who questioned him for three hours at the scene & later that night at police headquarters, all without an attorney present & he was then released.

Ellen’s parents were notified of their daughter’s death by Sam’s father, Richard Goldberg who called them that night.

Police doubted that this was a case of a break-in, so they broached the idea of Ellen’s death being a suicide, which is what they told Ellen’s parents. During their conversation, Ellen’s parents revealed that she had been dealing with issues of anxiety since the end of the previous year & had recently started seeing a psychiatrist & taking medication to treat her anxiety. Her mom stated that she was “struggling with something” & Ellen had been anxious, insecure & unsure of herself which were not her normal characteristics. She was feeling overwhelmed with her classroom work. Her parents were firm on the fact that their daughter had not been suicidal, only stressed. Her father Joshua emphasized that she didn’t have depression, she had anxiety; he described his daughter as anxious but still happy. Ellen had been very excited about her upcoming wedding & marriage to Sam.

There was no suicide note present & nothing that happened that would have prompted Ellen to make such a decision. It later emerged that review of search history from Ellen’s computer reportedly included the terms “suicide methods,” “quick suicide,” & “painless suicide” however, the original ME report stated that nothing was found on Ellen’s computer to lead them to believe she had committed suicide.

Ellen’s friends also spoke out against the idea that she would have committed suicide & a close friend said that there was no way. Her friend, Erica Hamilton went on to say that everything had been falling into place for Ellen & at no time did she ever think that her friend was depressed or so overly stressed that she would do anything to hurt herself, “She was happy, she was excited. Ellen was always looking for that happily-ever-after true love: She wanted to start a family; she loved kids; she was excited about getting married & she was excited about having this new job.”

The two were close friends who had grown up together & attended Penn State together & Erica said that Ellen was the type of girl who did not like to get dirty & disliked the sight of blood. She had last spoken to Ellen three days before her death & when she learned that her friend died of stab wounds, she immediately knew that there was no way that this could have been suicide. Had she chosen to end her life, the use of a knife would have been the last way.

When investigators spoke with Ellen’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ellen Berman, who she had seen on three occasions, she indicated that Ellen presented to her for treatment of severe anxiety. She was overwhelmed & feeling pressure at work as well as struggles with difficult students. She was questioning if she should quit or work through it.

Dr. Berman had been in the process of developing a treatment plan & had been in contact with Sandra who expressed concern about her daughter. There was never a mention of suicidal thoughts & Ellen had been hesitant about taking the prescribed medication. Dr. Berman had seen Ellen on January 12, 17 & 19. On January 17, Dr. Berman’s notes indicate, “She starts thinking about everything else – not suicidal.” On the 19th, one week before her death, she noted that Ellen was “way better.”’ Ellen had a fourth appointment with Dr. Berman scheduled for the day after she was found deceased.

Ellen was initially prescribed Zoloft & then switched to Xanax to treat her anxiety; when that didn’t seem to help, she was prescribed Ambien & Klonopin for sleep.

Because of the extent of stab wounds on Ellen’s body, had she tried to take her life in this manner, she would have died an incredibly painful death. Statistically speaking, suicide by stabbing accounts for only 1% of suicides in women & in most cases involve slashes to the wrist or throat. It was also odd that she had been stabbed through her clothing since in many such instances, a victim would typically lift their clothing before stabbing themselves. Additionally, many of the stab wounds were to the back of her head & neck which was also very uncharacteristic.

The day after Ellen’s death, on January 27, medical examiner, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, of the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office began the autopsy at 9 am. Ellen had been stabbed a total of twenty times; two times to the back of the head, two times to the back of the neck & ten times in the chest & torso. There was a 2.5 inch gash across her scalp at the back of her head & many puncture wounds to the back of her head, neck & chest. Some of the wounds were only 0.2 cm deep & were considered superficial. It was later speculated that these could have been “practice stabs” had this been a suicide. The stab wounds to the back of Ellen’s neck would have been very difficult to inflict upon herself. There was a final, 4.9 inch (or 12.5 cm) blade that was present in the wound to her chest at a depth of 3.94 inches (or 10 cm). There were injuries to her left lung, liver, aortic arch & cervical spine at C2-C3. Eleven bruises were found on Ellen’s arms & legs in various stages of healing.

Dr Osbourne determined Ellens’s cause of death was from multiple stab wounds & ruled Ellen’s death a homicide, citing, “multiple stab wounds by an unknown person.” When Dr. Osbourne informed police of his findings, they asked him to list the case as pending while they continued their investigation. Two days later, a police spokesperson was already publicly disputing Osbourne’s findings, saying that police were leaning toward suicide & looking into some “mental issues” that Ellen had been dealing with.

Investigators had left the crime scene late on January 26 without sealing it as such & the next day, on the 27th, Sam’s uncle, James Schwartzman, a prominent local attorney, contacted the apartment’s property manager, Melissa Ware, in regards to entering the unit to pick up a funeral suit for his nephew. When Melissa contacted the police, she was told that it was not an active crime scene & James entered the apartment & went on to also remove Ellen’s purse, cell phone & laptop. These items were later taken & analyzed by the FBI. It can be noted that James Schwartzman later went on to be appointed to the Court of Judicial Discipline by governor Tom Wolf. Before that, he had served on the disciplinary board for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Sam’s father, Richard, also called police on January 27, asking them how to go about cleaning the bloodied apartment. Police not only gave Sam’s family the go-ahead to have the unit cleaned, but also provided them with contact information for a crime scene clean-up crew. The apartment had been professionally cleaned & sanitized before the detectives or forensics secured a search warrant & returned on January 28.

Police procedure indicates that a scene of a violent death should be treated as a crime scene until an official ruling is made. A general rule is that every death scene should be treated as a homicide until it’s been proven otherwise.

With the initial ruling of a homicide, a murder investigation began, but it was very short-lived. Investigators were told stories about how family & friends had noted changes in Ellen’s normally bubbly personality & how her mood had changed in the month before her death. Ellen had even mentioned moving back in with her parents, an idea the Greenbergs were baffled by, while insisting that it had nothing to do with her relationship. Her psychiatrist insisted that Ellen had not been suicidal, but police questioned if perhaps, the combination of her medication may have caused her to take her own life.

Records indicate that Ellen was being treated for anxiety, but over the years, the family has hired multiple experts who determined that it was unlikely that her medications would have contributed to suicidal thoughts. At the time of Ellen’s death, the toxicology report indicated that she had only two of the four drugs prescribed to her in her system; zolpidem or Ambien, which is a sleep aid as well as clonazepam, or Klonopin, a benzodiazepine which is used to treat anxiety. According to the NIH, about 1 in 500 people experience suicidal thoughts or actions as a result of Klonopin. There were no recreational drugs or other prescription drugs detected.

Police requested a meeting with the medical examiner, Dr Osbourne, to discuss Ellen’s manner of death not long after he declared his findings consistent with homicide. Review of research indicates that this type of meeting is not customary & typically the ME’s office conducts an independent investigation & allows the victim’s body to tell the story of how they died. During this meeting, the lock on the apartment door was discussed & police told Dr. Osbourne that the door had been “deadbolted” which was not accurate. They also told him that Sam had been accompanied by the apartment’s security guard when the door was forced open. However, Phil Hanton verbally indicated that he had not accompanied Sam upstairs & video surveillance from the lobby proved that as Hanton had said, he had not accompanied Sam upstairs.

On February 18, 2011, the Philadelphia PD declared that Ellen’s death had been ruled a suicide & on April 4, 2011, the medical examiner, Dr. Osbourne, who had initially ruled Ellen’s death a homicide, formally amended her death certificate, changing her manner of death to suicide. This decision was also based on the fact that no sign of a burglary was seen in the apartment, there was no sign of a struggle & no DNA was located except for Ellen’s.

With the inclusion of a locked door with no signs of an intruder, the police spent less than one hour processing the scene before they concluded this was a self-inflicted death. By making the ME’s report consistent with their findings, the case was quickly closed.

Dr. Osbourne was asked if if he would have changed his homicide ruling to suicide had he known about the fact that Sam was alone when he entered the apartment rather than with the security guard who could have verified his statement. He said he likely would have changed the manner of death to undetermined rather than to suicide.

According to Thomas Brennan Jr, a veteran member of the Pennsylvania State Police & retired detective who trained with the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit, the best way to get away with a homicide is to have it ruled a suicide. Once that happens, it’s nearly impossible for a victim’s family to legally challenge a manner of death ruling by a medical examiner or coroner in Pennsylvania.

No one informed Ellen’s parents, Joshua & Sandra of this change & it wasn’t until a friend of theirs saw it announced on the news that they discovered this. This decision was obviously a major blow to Joshua & Sandra who refused to believe that their daughter, had she taken her life, would have done so in such a violent & painful manner. It’s impossible to ever know what someone is truly feeling or thinking, but the Greenbergs maintained that Ellen was stressed, not suicidal. According to her family, Ellen avoided pain at all costs & even changed her mind about getting her ears pierced a second time. Sandra & Joshua indicated that they had very little communication with detectives throughout the case.

When Sandra referred to the 20 stab wounds on Ellen’s body, she said of her only child, “She was brutally murdered, stabbed once, twice, twenty times. That is rage. She did not do that to herself.”

Joshua & Sandra went on to obtain their daughter’s autopsy reports & hire their own medical experts & private investigators to take a closer look. They hired pathologist Cyril Wecht, who disputed the single bullet theory in John F Kennedy’s assassination as well as Henry Lee, the forensic scientist who testified on behalf of the OJ Simpson defense. Both determined that Ellen’s death was consistent with a homicide.

The location of the stab wounds, specifically to the back of the head & neck, as well as the sheer volume of stab wounds, were not consistent with a suicide. Bloodstain patterns were also consistent with a homicide scene; blood spatter was present on the cabinet to the left of Ellen’s body as well as on the granite counter above her. The fact that Ellen was lacking defensive wounds did not prove that she had been the one to inflict the wounds found on her body. Experts believe she could have been surprised by the attack which is commonly referred to as a “blitz attack” in which she wouldn’t have had the time to react in order to defend herself. Often in the case of a blitz attack, there is no sign of a struggle.

The random act of Ellen filling her gas tank that day was also conflicting of the idea that she would have been suicidal as well as the fact that it appeared she had been in the middle of cutting & washing fruit at the time of her death.

There were also disputes in regards to whether or not Ellen’s cranial cavity had been punctured as with this injury, she would have likely lost all motor skills & been rendered unconscious. Point being, after this injury had been inflicted, she would have been unable to inflict additional wounds that were found on her body.

The medical examiner, Dr. Osbourne wanted a neuropathologist to examine Ellen’s spinal cord to determine if it had been damaged to the point that it would have rendered her unable to inflict the additional wounds found on her body, including the final wound to her chest where the knife remained. It was later discovered that the renowned neuropathologist, Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, who Dr. Osbourne recruited, had not come to the ME’s office. Instead, Osbourne walked a section of Ellen’s spinal cord to Lucy, through heavy snow for what was referred to as an informal “curbside exam.” She did not conduct a microscopic exam, but reportedly told him that the dura, or sheath that covered the spinal cord had been cut, but the spinal cord itself had not been, so there was no indication that Ellen had lost motor function.

The Greenberg’s lawyer was stunned by the lack of professionalism in utilizing this expert & viewed what happened as, the medical examiner “taking a pickle jar with Ellen’s spine & brain stem through the piled up snow, walking that across the street or a couple of streets… thrusting it into her hands & saying, give me a looksies.”

No report by Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams was created & a bill for her input has never been found. She later told The Inquirer in 2018 that she had no recollection of conducting the exam & because there is no report or bill, she concludes that she did not see the specimen, but there could be a remote possibility that it was shown to her. The fact that a non-existent exam ended up in an official police report was baffling to many.

Tom Brennan, retired state trooper of 24 years & former detective, who is a member of Philadelphia’s crime-solving organization the Vidocq Society, began to look into Ellen’s death which led him to forensic pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross. Ross examined the fragment of Ellen’s spinal cord which the ME’s office still had in their possession. In 2017, Ross concluded that Ellen’s cranial cavity had been punctured which would have likely rendered her unconscious, making it impossible for her to inflict additional injuries to herself.

Brennan reflected, “You could plainly see the nerves were severed. She would have lost her motor skills & been in excruciating pain. She would have most likely passed out or died.” He also noted bruising to Ellen’s wrists on the autopsy photos despite the fact that the police indicated that her body lacked defensive wounds.

When Brennan spoke with ME Dr. Osbourne, he asked why he changed Ellen’s manner of death from homicide to suicide & Dr. Osbourne responded, “I changed it at the insistence of the police because they said there was a lack of defensive wounds.” Brennan rebutted, “Since when do the police have anything to do with making a medical decision regarding the cause & manner of death?” Dr. Osbourne had no response to this question. Osbourne admitted that he’d never participated in a similar meeting with police & prosecutors to discuss changing the manner of death in any of his other cases. When the death certificate was changed, he effectively ended the homicide investigation with the stroke of his pen. Dr. Osbourne now works as associate medical examiner in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Brennan, who had been sent to lock-picking school by the state police, also reviewed the photos from the scene which showed the apartment’s internal security bar swing lock & found that it had only been partially dislodged with both sides of the latch still fastened to the door & the jamb with three screws still mounted in place, with one that was out or dislodged. Brennan concluded that damage to the latch wasn’t extensive enough for the apartment door to be broken open. Two separate crime scene experts that had been hired by the Greenbergs made similar findings after reviewing police photos of the latch.

Other experts went back to the shallow, superficial stab wounds found on Ellen’s chest which are rarely seen in homicides & are more common with someone who is working up the courage to inflict a more severe wound on their own body. But again, the volume of stab wounds as well as the fact that she had been stabbed through her clothing paired with the location of many of the wounds, are not consistent with suicide.

The multiple bruises found over Ellen’s body in various stages of healing were consistent with a repeated beating. Joshua & Sandra had no knowledge of any abuse their daughter was suffering from, but in retrospect, could explain her increase in anxiety & her desire to return home to live with her parents. The Greenbergs indicated that they later learned through a family friend that Ellen had actually been preparing to leave on the day that she died. Bruising to Ellen’s neck showed evidence of strangulation; there was also a mark at the front of her neck that was consistent with a fingernail mark.

Ellen’s parents filed a lawsuit in October 2021 to have her manner of death changed from suicide to homicide & during this time, new details emerged. A neuropathologist, Dr, Lyndsey Emery conducted an exam in 2019 & indicated that at least one of the stab wounds found on Ellen’s body had been inflicted postmortem & proved this point by the fact that no hemorrhaging present which would indicate that Ellen didn’t have a pulse at the time she was repeatedly stabbed which would prove homicide. One wound in the neck region between C2 & C3 lacked blood which meant that Ellen had no pulse at the time the wound was inflicted. After Dr. Emery did her exam, she didn’t write a report about it which would have been her usual practice & when she was deposed by the Greenberg’s attorneys in May 2021, she said she instead verbally communicated her findings to Philadelphia ME Sam Gulino.

The Greenbergs contacted BioMX Corporation, a company that reconstructs accidents & “criminal inquiries” for court cases & indicated that to believe that Ellen stabbed herself is to accept that she was able to inflict 11 of the 20 wounds to the back of her head & neck. When the 3D computer analysis tried to re-create how Ellen did this, it couldn’t & determined that the wounds were not consistent with self-infliction & instead were consistent with focalized stabbing by an assailant.

Ellen’s family spent the next thirteen years fighting for justice to change the ruling of her death from suicide, back to homicide or even undetermined manner of death. They indicated that the city of Philadelphia had been fighting them every step of the way.

In 2023, during a hearing for a civil lawsuit, the family’s attorney, Joseph Podraza, revealed that the state’s former Assistant District Attorney, Guy D’Andrea, had a previously unknown conversation with the city’s then-medical examiner, Dr Samuel Gulino & at that time, Gulino determined Ellen’s manner of death was a homicide.

Gulino allegedly told D’Andrea that Ellen’s body had been moved after she was stabbed to death. He indicated that her body had been in a “supine position for a period of time.” This would mean that she was flat on her back instead of being slumped & in a seated position against a kitchen cabinet as she had reportedly been found.

Attorney Podraza said that the medical examiner told D’Andrea that her body had likely been moved based on the way the blood on Ellen’s face had dried; the pattern was inconsistent with the way she was found. He said that there was no evidence that emergency responders had been the ones to move Ellen’s body. Ellen’s mother indicated that she knew that her daughter’s body had likely been moved after her death based on how the blood had coagulated. She was unaware of the fact that the medical examiner & the assistant DA had actually conversed about it.

In a 2-to-1 ruling, the Commonwealth Court found the Greenbergs lacked standing to bring their claim & indicated they “had no choice” but to rule against their fight to change Ellen’s death certificate due to procedural restrictions. The Greenbergs were stunned by the court’s ruling.

Despite their ruling, the court did raise questions about the authorities who initially investigated Ellen’s death & felt it was faulty on the part of the police as well as the medical examiner & the district attorney. It was pointed out that a neck wound had been found without any trace of blood which again reinforced the fact that Ellen was already deceased at the time the wound was inflicted. These wounds would not have been the last inflicted since the knife used was found lodged in her chest. Despite this fact, Ellen’s death certificate indicates manner of death as suicide even though two wounds had been inflicted after she was dead.

The case sits in the hands of the Chester County District Attorney due to conflicts of interest in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office as well as the State’s Attorney General’s Office.

The Greenbergs continue to mourn the loss of their beloved only child, Ellen & lie awake each night trying to reconstruct their own daughter’s death investigation.

The Greenberg’s are not pointing fingers at anyone & refer to whomever they believe murdered Ellen as an “unknown assailant.” Samuel Goldberg’s family has long declined to comment on the case & their family attorney indicates that they have “maintained a respectful silence on the terrible events of the day while law enforcement authorities have done their job & concluded correctly that Ellen’s death was a suicide.”

Even though the Commonwealth Court ruled against the Greenbergs, the court opinion was not unanimous & a third judge sided with the Greenbergs, believing that they had standing to reverse the death certificate from suicide back to homicide. Joshua & Sandra are focused on taking this to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. However, it is unknown if the court would take up the matter. If Joshua & Sandra Greenberg end up winning, it would be the first time a ME’s ruling in such a case was successfully challenged in Pennsylvania.

Joshua Greenberg said, “Our daughter did not commit suicide – we know that. She was murdered. The courts have blatantly said the investigation was faulty on the part of the police, on the part of the medical examiner, on the part of the district attorney. I want her name cleared. What I really want people to know is Ellen was our daughter, but she could be your daughter. She could be your mother, sister, friend. Think about what you would do.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Ellen’s family in their fight for justice & has raised nearly $58,000 of the $100,000 goal.

If you or someone you know is struggling, support & help is available 24/7. Text or call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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