Investigators are reviewing evidence from the crime scene of a 27-year-old Philadelphia teacher, which they say may have been staged as a suicide nearly a decade ago.
Ellen Greenberg was found on January 26, 2011 by her fiancé Sam Goldberg in her kitchen apartment with 20 stab wounds. Her death was initially ruled a homicide before coroner Marlon Osbourne ruled it a suicide.
Greenberg had 10 stab wounds to the neck and back of the head, and another 10 to the stomach, abdomen, and chest. A knife was still stuck in her heart.
The case has since been referred to Chester prosecutors for reconsideration as evidence suggests the crime scene was staged based on the position where her body was found and the angle of dry blood on her face.
“In all my years of experience and all the murders I’ve committed and suicides, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht told Fox News Digital as he claimed suicide was ‘highly unlikely’ .’
Police are reopening the case of 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg, who they say killed herself at her Philadelphia home on January 26, 2011
Ellen’s body had been found by her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, with whom she lived, and he said the door was locked from the inside. He urgently smashed the door down and said she had “stabbed” herself photogrammetrically to recreate each of Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds. Photogrammetry – a new technology not available at the time of Greenberg’s death – is able to create a 3D anatomical replica of a cadaver
At the time, police claimed that the door of Greenberg’s apartment was locked from the inside and there were no signs of a struggle.
Goldberg told investigators he got home in 2011, kicked the door, and found his fiancée dead with a knife to her chest.
In a startling 911 call, he told police Greenberg had stabbed himself.
‘Help!… My fiancé is covered in blood all over the floor.’
He later added, “I can’t see anything… nothing’s broken… Ellie! … I think she hit her head.”
‘Oh dear God! She stabbed herself… she fell on a knife… a knife sticks out of her heart.’
According to Fox News, the door had minimal damage and the dissimilarity that it was kicked in.
Greenberg’s family asked the Philadelphia Attorney’s Office to review the case again in 2019, and it was eventually turned over to the Pennsylvania Attorney General before the office dropped the case in July.
“Unfortunately, after four years of work, new expert testimony and information has been publicly claimed but withheld from our investigators, and new allegations of conflict of interest have been made against our firm,” the attorney general’s office said at the time.
Now the Chester District Attorney is delving into the unsolved case.
A startling 911 call revealed Goldberg’s request for help. He said he found his fiancee on the kitchen floor
The duo lived together in an apartment in Philadelphia. The apartment was further cleaned up by a crime scene team before investigators could walk through
Although her death is ruled a suicide, Greenberg’s parents are convinced otherwise.
Greenberg’s father, Joshua, believes “absolutely 100 percent” that his daughter was murdered.
“I’m not going away,” Joshua previously told the DailyMail. “I will get justice for my daughter.”
The family have since filed a lawsuit in 2021, citing new evidence that the 27-year-old suffered an inch-deep wound to the back of her head after her pulse stopped, private investigator Tom Brennan told Fox News.
Greenberg’s parents, Joshua and Sandee, further suggested that their daughter had defensive wounds on her body, which investigators initially failed to recognize.
Other evidence cited includes how the knife that was thrust into her chest was held in her left hand as she was right-handed.
She was also stabbed with another undiscovered knife.
The apartment was further cleaned up by a crime scene team before investigators could walk through.
Private investigator Brennan also suggested that coroner Osbourne had overlooked the trauma to Ellen that proved the strangulation.
Despite the evidence, Joshua said he never accused anyone of murdering his daughter.
Greenberg is pictured with her parents, Sandee and Joshua, before her death. Her family has gone to varying degrees to bring her to justice
Joshua Greenberg is still seeking justice for his daughter more than a decade later
On the day of her death, Greenberg had filled up her gas tank before coming home and left no suicide — casting even more doubt on the likelihood that her death was caused by suicide.
Greenberg family attorney Josh Podraza further claimed that a hard drive from the 27-year-old computer was examined by the FBI in 2011 and no searches related to suicide were found.
In addition, a photogrammetry was commissioned that recreated each of the 20 stab wounds.
Photogrammetry – a new technology not available at the time of Greenberg’s death – is able to create a 3D anatomical replica of a cadaver.
It showed the size, depth, and length of each stab wound, with the creators concluding that they couldn’t all have been self-inflicted — particularly those on Greenberg’s neck and head.
The Chester County Attorney’s Office told it could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
A photogrammetry recreating each of Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds was commissioned by the Greenberg family attorney. Photogrammetry – a new technology not available at the time of Greenberg’s death – is able to create a 3D anatomical replica of a cadaver
Photogrammetry showed the size, depth, and length of each stab wound, with the creators concluding that they could not all have been self-inflicted