The cause of death of Philadelphia school teacher Ellen Greenberg, who was found brutally stabbed in 2011, will be reinvestigated after a pathologist who previously ruled her death a suicide reversed course last week.
Greenberg was 27 when she was found dead on Jan. 26, 2011, with a kitchen knife lodged in her chest. She was discovered in the Philadelphia apartment she shared with her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg.
Goldberg had returned home from the gym that evening to discover he was locked out of the apartment because the swing bar lock was engaged from the inside. He eventually was able to force the door open, found Greenberg and called 911, according to the Philadelphia medical examiner’s investigation report.
She had 20 stab wounds, including 10 to her neck and head, according to her autopsy report.
Police said they observed no forced entry into the apartment, no defense wounds and no evidence of a struggle and said it appeared Greenberg died by suicide.
The ME’s office initially ruled her death a homicide and later reclassified her death as a suicide in March 2011 — a decision her family disagreed with.
Ellen’s parents, Joshua and Sandra Greenberg, had filed two civil lawsuits against the city. On Monday, they reached a settlement before jury selection that will lead to Greenberg's manner of death being re-investigated.
Marlon Osbourne, who performed Greenberg’s autopsy, said in a sworn verification statement filed Friday that he now believes “Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide,” NBC Philadelphia reported.
He said he changed his decision after he reviewed additional information in her police case file and after a consultation from Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, a pediatric neuropathologist, the station reported.
Attorneys representing the Greenbergs told NBC Philadelphia they were told the new review would be conducted expeditiously.
“Hopefully that will be a new investigation. All the information that we’ve acquired over the years will be presented. And I don’t see any reason they wouldn’t reach the same result that Dr. Osbourne gave,” said Joe Podraza, the Greenberg family attorney.
Sandra Greenberg told NBC Philadelphia after the settlement was reached: “I hope today we made Ellen proud of us, and we were certainly very proud of her as her parents. It’s monumental; for 14 years we’ve been dealing with this suicidal label.”
The city of Philadelphia Law Department confirmed that the settlement includes an independent review of the autopsy file and “an express waiver of any claims that might be brought as a result of that process.”
