Investigators are studying crime scene evidence of a 27-year-old Philadelphia teacher who they said was staged to appear as suicide nearly a decade ago.
Ellen Greenberg was found on January 26, 2011 in her kitchen apartment with 20 stab wounds by her fiancé Sam Goldberg. Her death was initially considered manslaughter before medical researcher Marlon Osbourne turned it into suicide.
Greenberg had 10 stab wounds to the neck and back of the head, with another 10 to her stomach, abdomen and chest. A knife was still being stabbed into her heart.
The case has since been turned over to the Chester District Attorney’s Office for reassessment, as evidence suggests the crime scene was staged based on the position her body was found in and the angle of dry blood across her face.
“In all my years of experience, and all the murders I’ve committed, and suicides, I’ve never seen anything like it,” forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht. Fox News Digital as he claimed suicide is “highly unlikely.”
Police are reopening the case of 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg, who they said committed suicide in her Philadelphia apartment on January 26, 2011.
Ellen’s body had been found by her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, who she lived with, and he said the door was locked from the inside. He urgently knocked the door shut, saying she had “put photogrammetry into herself,” mimicking each of Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds. Photogrammetry – a new technology unavailable at the time of Greenberg’s death – is able to create a 3D anatomical recreation of a corpse
At the time, police claimed the door to Greenberg’s apartment was locked from the inside and there were no signs of a struggle.
Goldberg told investigators he came home in 2011, kicked the door and found his fiancée dead with a knife to her chest.
In a chilling 911 call, he told police that Greenberg had stabbed himself.
“Help!… My fiancé is on the floor with blood all over.”
He later added, “I can’t see anything…nothing is broken…Ellie!…I think she hit her head.”
‘Oh my God! She stabbed herself… she fell on a knife… a knife sticks out of her heart.’
According to Fox News, the door showed minimal damage and was unlikely to have been kicked open.
Greenberg’s family urged the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to reassess the case in 2019, and it was eventually turned over to the Pennsylvania Attorney General before the office resigned from the case in July.
“Unfortunately, after four years of work, new testimony and information from experts have been made public but withheld from our investigators, and new allegations of conflict of interest have been leveled against our office,” the attorney general said at the time.
Now the Chester District Attorney is delving into the unsolved case.
A chilling 911 call revealed Goldberg’s plea for help. He said he found his fiancée on the kitchen floor
The duo lived together in an apartment in Philadelphia. The apartment was further cleaned by a crime scene team before investigators could walk through it
Despite her death being considered suicide, Greenberg’s parents are convinced otherwise.
Greenberg’s father, Joshua, believes “absolutely 100%” that his daughter was murdered.
“I’m not leaving,” Joshua previously told DailyMail. “I’m going to get justice for my daughter.”
The family has since filed a lawsuit in 2021 with new evidence that the 27-year-old suffered a deep inch wound to the back of her head after her heartbeat 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 that were not initially recognized by investigators.
Further cited evidence includes how the knife stabbed to her chest was held in her left hand when she was right-handed.
In addition, she was stabbed with another undiscovered knife.
The apartment was further cleaned by a crime scene team before investigators could walk through it.
Private investigator Brennan also suggested that coroner Osbourne missed the trauma on Ellen that turned out to be strangulation.
Despite the evidence, Joshua said he has never charged anyone with his daughter’s murder.
Greenberg is pictured with her parents Sandee and Joshua prior to her death. Her family has taken several measures 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 her gas tank before coming home and hadn’t committed suicide, further casting doubt on the likelihood that her death was caused by suicide.
The Greenberg family’s attorney Josh Podraza further claimed that a hard drive from the 27-year-old computer was examined by the FBI in 2011 and no suicide-related searches were found.
In addition, photogrammetry mimicking each of the 20 stab wounds was commissioned.
Photogrammetry – a new technology not available at the time of Greenberg’s death – is capable of creating a 3D anatomical recreation of a corpse.
It showed the size, depth and length of each stab wound, with the makers concluding that not all of them could have been self-inflicted – especially those on the back of Greenberg’s neck and head.
The Chester County District Attorney’s Office told DailyMail.com they cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.
A photogrammetry mimicking each of Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds was commissioned by the Greenberg family’s attorney. Photogrammetry – a new technology not available at the time of Greenberg’s death – is able to create a 3D anatomical recreation of a corpse
Photogrammetry showed the size, depth and length of each stab wound, with the creators concluding that not all could have been self-inflicted