The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office has once again classified Ellen Greenberg’s death as a suicide, despite the 27-year-old schoolteacher having sustained 20 stab wounds to her back, neck and head when she was found dead in 2011.
The new review, led by Chief Medical Examiner Lindsay Simon, reaffirms the controversial suicide ruling that has been contested by Greenberg’s family for over a decade.
The first-grade teacher at Juniata Park Academy was discovered with a knife protruding from her chest in her locked apartment on January 26, 2011, Resist the Mainstream has reported.
Greenberg had returned home early from work that day due to a snowstorm that had blanketed the Philadelphia area.
Her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, reported finding her body after he forced open the apartment door when she did not respond to his knocks or attempts to contact her.
Goldberg has never been named as a suspect in the case and was never charged with any crime in connection to her death.
He has maintained that he discovered her after breaking through the locked door, finding the apartment secured from the inside.
The case has drawn intense scrutiny due to the unusual nature of the injuries and the lack of forced entry into the apartment.
The strangeness of the story resurfaced back in Aug. 2024 when Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) was rumored to be the frontrunner as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Resist the Mainstream previously outlined.
“Did you cover up the murder of Ellen Greenberg bc of your ties to her fiancé’s family?” prominent voices like Jack Posobiec asked of Shapiro last year.
The circumstances surrounding her death have fueled years of legal battles and public debate about whether the wounds could have been self-inflicted.
Medical examiners noted that Greenberg suffered stab wounds to her back, neck and head, in addition to the knife that remained lodged in her chest when she was discovered.
The location and number of wounds have been central to the family’s argument that the death could not have been suicide.
The Greenberg family’s attorney, Joseph Podraza Jr., immediately condemned the new ruling as fundamentally flawed and biased.
He stated in a public statement that the review represented “a deeply flawed attempt to justify a predetermined conclusion,” Fox News reported.
Podraza highlighted what he described as significant errors and omissions in the medical examiner’s findings.
He pointed to what he called false claims in the report, including an assertion about a stab wound in Greenberg’s spinal column allegedly being made during the autopsy.
According to the attorney, this theory has been rejected by every credible expert who has examined the case, including the city’s own neuropathologist.
He argued that the report ignored critical evidence that contradicts the suicide determination.
The family’s legal team has referenced extensive 3D photogrammetry evidence, which they claim proves Greenberg could not have self-inflicted all of the wounds found on her body.
This technology creates detailed three-dimensional reconstructions of crime scenes and injuries.
They also point to unexplained bruises on her body, missing surveillance footage from the apartment building, an intact lock on the apartment door and accounts describing a toxic relationship.
The family believes these elements paint a different picture than what officials have concluded.
The manner of death classification has changed multiple times since 2011, adding to the controversy surrounding the case.
Initially, Greenberg’s death was ruled a homicide by medical examiners when her body was first examined. However, Fox noted that Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Marlon Osbourne later changed the classification to suicide after meeting with Philadelphia Police investigators.
This reversal has been a central point of contention for the family throughout their legal fight.
The shift from homicide to suicide happened without the family’s knowledge initially and without clear explanation of what new evidence had emerged to warrant such a dramatic change.
This has fueled suspicions among the family and their supporters that the investigation was compromised.
The most recent review was conducted as part of a settlement agreement reached in February between Greenberg’s parents and the City of Philadelphia.
The family had been pursuing multiple lawsuits requesting that authorities reevaluate the manner of death.
Under the terms of the settlement, the family requested that the classification be changed to either homicide or undetermined.
They argued that the evidence did not support a suicide finding and that a fresh review would reveal the truth.
