Ellen Greenberg death: Family of Philly teacher who was stabbed 20 TIMES seeks to overturn 'suicide' ruling
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers. Discretion is advised.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: The family of a slain woman, who was stabbed 20 times to death, has been battling for over a decade to have the Philadelphia medical examiner’s ruling that her cause of death was a suicide overturned. On January 26, 2011, the body of Ellen Greenberg, 27, who was a teacher, was found covered in bruises at a blood-soaked crime scene.
Despite all the evidence suggesting Greenberg was stabbed 20 times, including 10 times from behind, starting from the back to her skull and her body was later moved, investigators found “no evidence of a struggle in the kitchen area or anywhere else in the apartment.” Initially, Dr Marlon Osbourne, a former pathologist at the Medical Examiner’s Office in Philadelphia, ruled her death a homicide based on her injuries but subsequently, revised the cause of death as a suicide after conferring with city police, claims a civil lawsuit from Greenberg's family. Nevertheless, the family's fight for justice continues after an appeal court heard arguments in a civil lawsuit this week. The lawsuit will decide whether they can move to trial.
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“We are cautiously optimistic that the panel will find the estate of Ellen Greenberg may proceed to trial on her mandamus and declaratory actions against the City (of Philadelphia) and Dr Osbourne so that the manner of her death may be changed from suicide to something else,” Joe Podraza, an attorney for Greenberg’s parents, told a three-member panel of the commonwealth court on Tuesday, November 15. “Only then can we begin to secure justice for Ellen. [The] judges were well-prepared and versed about the issues,” he added, according to the New York Post. “The judges also displayed the proper degree of sympathy over Ellen’s death and the terrible circumstances surrounding her death,” the lawyer further added.
Multiple investigators who also reviewed the case told Fox News Digital they disagree with Osbourne’s findings. “I was startled by the amount of questions that remained,” Guy D’Andrea, a former homicide prosecutor with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, said in September.
D’Andrea, who had performed a review of the case, said he believed “at a minimum” the cause of death should have been “undetermined.” “Reviewing the file and the crime scene photographs and the medical examiner’s photographs, I don’t know how you come to that conclusion (of suicide),” he said.
(Greenberg family's handout to Fox News Digital)
Greenberg’s fiancé Sam Goldberg reported to police that he came home to find her dead in the kitchen of their Philadelphia apartment, according to court documents.
D’Andrea claimed four key pieces of evidence caused him to doubt Osbourne's finding of suicide. A wound on top of her head and the fact that she was found seated upright but her blood was dropping sideways across her face, indicates her body had been moved, as per the New York Post. The finance claimed that he broke down the locked door, while crime scene photos show the latch still attached to both the door and the frame, D’Andrea said.
Attorney Joe Podraza said evidence shows at least two of the 20 stab wounds were inflicted after the victim's heart stopped beating. However, the city officials maintain an extensive investigation and found no evidence of homicide. Moreover, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office, the state attorney general, and the Chester County district attorney’s office have assigned an investigator and a prosecutor to conduct an outside investigation into Greenberg’s cause of death.