The mysterious 2011 death of a cherished Philadelphia teacher, Ellen Greenberg, who was discovered with 20 stab wounds, has once again been declared a suicide. This recent ruling has sparked outrage from the family’s attorney, who dismissed the report as baseless. The latest review of the case, released on Friday, concluded that Greenberg, 27, likely ended her own life in her apartment on January 26, 2011.
Greenberg’s body bore multiple stab wounds, including ones to the back of her head and her heart. Despite the unusual distribution of injuries, Philadelphia’s Chief Medical Examiner Lindsay Simon maintained that Greenberg could have inflicted these wounds on herself. Simon characterized Greenberg as a young woman grappling with anxiety.
Simon’s report, released on Friday, concluded that the best classification for the manner of Greenberg’s death is suicide. The report’s conclusions were expressed with a reasonable degree of medical certainty. This ruling adds another layer of complexity to the case, which has seen Greenberg’s grieving parents file two lawsuits against the city and the medical examiner for allegedly mishandling the investigation.
Joseph Podraza, a partner at the law firm of Lamb McErlane, representing Greenberg’s parents, vehemently criticized the new report. He disputed several claims in the report, including the assertion that a stab wound in Greenberg’s spinal column was made during autopsy, a theory dismissed by every credible expert, including the city’s own neuropathologist. Podraza also criticized the report for ignoring unexplained bruises, missing surveillance footage, and a recreation that suggested Greenberg couldn’t have inflicted the wounds on herself.
Greenberg was discovered dead in her Philadelphia apartment by her fiancé, Sam Goldberg, during a snowstorm. The autopsy revealed that she had numerous bruises and had suffered 20 stab wounds, including to her neck, back, head, and heart, with a knife found lodged in her chest. Goldberg has never been identified as a suspect.
In the initial autopsy report, then-assistant coroner Marlon Osbourne classified Greenberg’s death as a homicide. However, this ruling was later changed to suicide after a meeting with Philadelphia police, sparking controversy. In 2023, an appellate court criticized the police investigation into the teacher’s death as deeply flawed, but upheld the suicide ruling.
Osbourne later reversed his decision again, declaring it “something other than suicide.“ Greenberg’s parents, Sandee and Josh Greenberg, disputed the suicide ruling and filed lawsuits, while also hiring two forensics experts to challenge the suicide ruling. In February, the Greenbergs settled their claims for an undisclosed sum and an agreement by the city to review their daughter’s case again.