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It was a snowy evening in Philadelphia when Ellen Greenberg was found slumped against her kitchen cabinets with more than 20 stab wounds and a knife still plunged into her chest.
The first-grade teacher’s Jan. 26, 2011 death was ultimately ruled a suicide after investigators were unable to determine how anyone could have entered the locked apartment.
Yet, for more than a decade, Ellen’s parents Sandee Greenberg and Joshua Greenberg have insisted their daughter did not take her own life in a complex case that was once featured on Oxygen’s Accident, Suicide or Murder.
Their efforts to get officials to re-examine the 27-year-old’s death gained traction earlier this year when the original pathologist on the case signed a document stating that, according to CNN, he believed the “manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide.”
Her parents also agreed to settle two civil lawsuits against city officials in exchange for an independent review by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office of the original autopsy, in another move that has continued to keep the haunting case in the spotlight.
What happened to Ellen Greenberg?
In the final day of Ellen’s life, she was teaching first grade at the Juniata Academy Elementary School in Philadelphia, until the school day was cut short by an impending blizzard, that Ellen “didn’t like pain” and had even once been too squeamish to get her ears pierced. He also questioned why she would have gotten gas if she planned to take her own life.
Over the years, other medical experts, including noted pathologist Cyril Wecht, have also questioned the medical examiner’s findings.
Others have also come forward to dispute some of the initial findings from the crime scene. The manager of Ellen’s apartment building at the time Melissa Ware told CNN that it was possible the door locked itself due to its design. As she explained to the news outlet, she once had the latch swing closed by itself after closing the door with force.
The building’s security guard also claimed that he had not been with Ellen’s boyfriend when he entered the apartment, according to CNN.
Sam has insisted he had nothing to do with Ellen’s death and described efforts to call into question the events of the night in a statement to CNN as “the pathetic and despicable attempt to desecrate my reputation and her privacy by creating a narrative that embraces lies, distortions and falsehoods in order to avoid the truth.”
Where does Ellen Greenberg’s case stand now?
Then, in February of 2025, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, who is now working as a pathologist in Florida, agreed to alter his position to end a civil lawsuit brought by Ellen’s parents, writing that “it is my professional opinion Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide.”
The city also agreed to reopen and review her death. Yet, earlier this month a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge criticized the city for taking its time to conduct the new review, according to CBS News Philadelphia.
The city now has until October 14 to complete its re-evaluation.
