Ellen Greenberg’s Death Ruled a Suicide — Again: Parents Horrified as Philadelphia Claims 20 Stab Wounds Were Self-Inflicted
The city of Philadelphia has once again ruled that Ellen Greenberg, the 27-year-old teacher found stabbed 20 times, killed herself — a decision her parents are calling a “monstrous betrayal” and “an insult to justice.”
The ruling, delivered in a 32-page medical report, reaffirms the city’s original 2011 conclusion that Ellen’s brutal death was a suicide, despite multiple forensic experts insisting her wounds were physically impossible to self-inflict.
For her devastated parents, Sandee and Josh Greenberg, this latest determination ends months of renewed hope — and reignites a 14-year battle that has turned their daughter’s name into a national cry for accountability.
A ‘Closed-Door Suicide’ No One Believes
Philadelphia’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsay Simon announced she is standing by the suicide finding, claiming Ellen could have inflicted all 20 stab wounds herself, including 10 to the back of her neck and head, and that there was no sign of struggle or defensive wounds.
Simon’s report also concluded that Ellen’s fiancé, TV producer Sam Goldberg, showed no evidence of abuse and that his DNA was not on the knife.
Attorney Joe Podraza, representing the Greenbergs, condemned the report as “tripe — a disgrace to the city and a betrayal of basic science.”
“It’s a cover-up masquerading as an investigation,” he said. “Ellen’s family wanted truth, not politics dressed up as pathology.”
The Day Everything Changed
On January 26, 2011, Ellen was found dead in the Manayunk apartment she shared with Goldberg — a knife still protruding from her chest.
Goldberg told police he had gone to the gym and returned to find the door locked from the inside. Surveillance cameras confirmed he came and went from the lobby. After sending a flurry of texts — “Hello,” “Open the door,” “I’m getting pissed,” “What the f***” — Goldberg called relatives, then allegedly forced his way inside around 6:30 p.m.
His 911 call was strange from the start. “She stabbed herself,” he told dispatchers. Seconds later, he changed it to “She fell on a knife.”
Police treated the death as suicide immediately. No homicide unit was called. No crime scene team collected fingerprints or blood evidence. By the next day, the apartment had been cleaned.
A City Review That Changed Nothing
This year’s “independent” review was supposed to bring closure. Instead, it has reopened wounds — literally and emotionally.
Simon’s report, presented as an “objective reassessment,” claims to have reviewed all forensic data, yet ignores key findings:
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3D reconstructions showing Ellen couldn’t physically stab herself that many times.
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Unexplained bruises in various stages of healing.
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A locked door that wasn’t truly secured.
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Missing surveillance footage from the apartment corridor.
“This wasn’t a review. It was a rewrite,” said Podraza. “They cherry-picked evidence to fit a pre-decided conclusion.”
Inside the Cover-Up
What happened behind closed doors in 2011 remains murky. Initially, the city’s own pathologist, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, ruled Ellen’s death a homicide. Days later, after what sources describe as a “private meeting” between city officials and law enforcement, that ruling was quietly changed to suicide.
For years, the Greenbergs fought in court. Then, in a stunning twist earlier this year, Osbourne reversed himself, admitting under oath that he was wrong — that Ellen did not kill herself.
His admission forced the city to promise a fresh review. But months of delays, court hearings, and public pressure led only to the same conclusion: suicide.
Forensic Experts Say the Evidence Doesn’t Add Up
Independent pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross reviewed the case and concluded Ellen’s injuries are impossible to reconcile with suicide. His findings include:
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A wound that severed the spinal column membrane, another that pierced the aorta, and one that would have rendered Ellen unconscious long before the final stab to her chest.
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Bruising on her arms, legs, and neck in various stages of healing — consistent with repeated physical assault, not self-harm.
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A stab wound that showed no internal bleeding, indicating it may have been inflicted after death.
“Once she lost consciousness, she couldn’t have inflicted the remaining wounds,” Dr. Ross concluded.
Even Dr. Lyndsey Emery, a pathologist within the city’s own medical examiner’s office, testified that there was no hemorrhage around the spinal wound — a finding consistent with postmortem injury.
A Troubled Relationship and a Family’s Fight
Ellen had been struggling with anxiety in the months before her death and had been prescribed Klonopin and Ambien, but her psychiatrist confirmed she was not suicidal and never disclosed domestic abuse.
Her mother, Sandee, has since said she believes her daughter was being abused and was looking for a way out. “I knew she was struggling with something, but I didn’t know what,” she said.
Goldberg, now remarried with two children in New York, has never joined the Greenbergs in contesting the suicide ruling. In a 2024 statement, he called the allegations against him “lies and distortions” and insisted Ellen’s death was “a tragic act of self-harm.”
Justice Delayed — and Denied
Earlier this year, after Osbourne’s reversal, Philadelphia agreed to conduct a swift reinvestigation. But months dragged by without answers. When the Greenbergs’ legal team pushed back, a city judge reprimanded officials for “obvious indifference.”
Finally, the city’s review concluded — reaffirming the same unbelievable finding.
For the Greenbergs, it was another heartbreak in a decade of unanswered questions. “We’ve been asking for the truth for 14 years,” the couple said. “We’ll never stop fighting until someone tells us what really happened to our daughter.”
The Case That Still Haunts Philadelphia
How could a young woman stab herself 20 times — including in places the human body can barely reach?
Why did a homicide ruling change after a closed-door meeting?
And why is the city still defending a theory that so many experts have discredited?
For Ellen’s family, these questions remain their life’s mission. They are now exploring federal and civil legal avenues to force a full investigation — one that finally acknowledges what so many already believe:
Ellen Greenberg did not die by suicide. She was murdered.
