The Chester County District Attorney’s Office has taken over the case of Ellen Greenberg’s family as they seek answers more than ten years after her death.
Greenberg was found dead inside her Manayunk apartment in January 2011.
Stabbing: Ellen Greenberg Murder Update
Ellen Greenberg, 27, was stabbed 20 times in the kitchen of her Philadelphia apartment on January 26, 2011. She used to share the apartment with her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg.
Her death was initially ruled suicide before being changed to homicide.
The medical examiner’s office then changed the cause of death back to suicide, but Greenberg’s parents, Sandee and Josh, were adamant about getting answers.
Greenberg could not have stabbed herself that many times, they claimed.
“I want my daughter’s name cleared because she could not have done that to herself,” Sandee Greenberg said on Good Day Philadelphia in 2021.
It’s been already more than a decade and police are still investigating the case. The case will be handled by the Chester County District Attorney’s Office from this August onwards.
Josh revealed to Dateline that he has never stopped grieving for his daughter. But he added that there is no time to cry in the corner. The Greenbergs’ only goal now is to clear their daughter’s name.
“My daughter did not kill herself,” Sandee told Dateline. “We’ve been mourning her death for years. We want to clear her name now. We want her to receive justice. And we want a resolution.”
Greenberg’s parents sued the medical examiner’s office and were granted a non-jury trial in order to have the cause of death changed back to homicide or marked as “undecided.”
Tom Brennan, a private investigator, appeared on Good Day Philadelphia with Greenberg’s parents. He stated that Ellen’s fiance’s uncle removed items from the apartment after the crime scene was cleared, including two laptop computers and a cell phone.
“That immediately negates that chain of evidence,” Brennan said. “This has a negative impact on the chain of evidence on those devices, so anything discovered on those devices can be challenged in court.”
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office promised to provide a forensic analysis of Ellen’s laptop, according to Brennan, but the family never received a report. They do not believe an investigation was ever carried out.
Furthermore, Joe Podraza, the Greenberg family’s lawyer, commissioned photogrammetry to recreate each of Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds.
A 3D anatomical recreation of a corpse can be created using photogrammetry.
It displayed the size, depth, and length of each stab wound, with the creators concluding that none of them could have been self-inflicted, particularly those to Greenberg’s neck and head.
‘We do not believe Ellen Greenberg committed suicide,’ said Podraza to DailyMail.com.
Along with the Greenbergs, more than 145,000 people have signed a petition on change.org called “Justice for Ellen Greenberg” requesting that the case be reopened.
Ellen Greenberg Was Stabbed More Than 20 Times To Death
Ellen Greenberg was stabbed ten times in the neck and back of her head, and another ten times in the stomach, abdomen, and chest. Her heart was still pierced by a knife when her body was discovered.
At the time, police claimed that Greenberg’s apartment door had been locked from the inside and that no signs of a struggle could be found.
The cause of death was later changed to suicide by Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne, and the case was closed.
Greenberg’s parents, however, are adamant that their daughter did not commit suicide, and they are fighting for the case to be reopened.
According to the investigation report, Ellen’s fiancé, Sam Goldberg, returned home from the gym on the evening of the incident, only to find him locked out of the apartment.
He was unable to use his keys because the apartment’s swing bar lock was engaged from the inside. He told police he banged on the door and tried to call Ellen but received no response.
Goldberg was eventually able to break open the door and found Ellen just inside the front door in the kitchen. She was discovered with her upper body pinned against the cabinets and her legs splayed out in front of her.
When Goldberg dialed 911, he was “instructed to start CPR until he noticed a knife in her chest, then was instructed to stop,” according to the report.
An autopsy report showed Ellen had 20 stab wounds, including 10 to her neck and head, as well as bruises in “various stages of resolution” on her arm, abdomen, and right leg.
Where And Who Is The Killer Of Ellen Greenberg Now?
The medical examiner still views Ellen Greenberg’s death as a suicide. Her parents, however, think that she was murdered.
The Greenberg family’s legal representative, Joe Podraza, has filed two lawsuits against the City of Philadelphia on their behalf for not conducting the investigation effectively.
In 2019, Ellen Greenberg’s family requested that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office reexamine the case.
However, District Attorney Larry Krasner forwarded the case to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, as he had previously represented the Greenbergs.
The determination of suicide was approved by the Attorney General’s Office. However, the AG’s Office returned the case to Philadelphia in July 2022.
The case was then sent to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office by the Philadelphia District Attorney.
This statement was released by the DA’s office for Chester County: “The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has accepted this referral to our office. An investigator and a prosecutor have been tasked with reviewing it.”
Tuesday evening, the city of Philadelphia issued the following statement: “We acknowledge and respect the great suffering that has been caused by this incident.”
“Nevertheless, the litigation is unaffected by the investigation or lack thereof by the Chester County District Attorney.”
More information on the case and the killer will be released soon.