Ellen Greenberg was 27 years old when her live-in fiance left her in their apartment to go to the complex’s gym. He came back less than an hour later to a door that was locked from the inside. After breaking down the door, he found Ellen sitting on the kitchen floor, bloody and dead from multiple stab wounds, a kitchen knife still lodged in her chest. The investigation led to two possible conclusions: Did Ellen kill herself or was she murdered?
Who was Ellen?
Ellen Rae Greenburg was born on June 23, 1983 to Sandee and Joshua Greenberg in New York, NY. Her parents and friends described her as vivacious, loving, warm, and social. She liked cooking and fashion. Her father called their only child a daddy’s girl, recalling that they often went to sports games together when she was growing up. Ellen graduated from Penn State University in Pennsylvania. Her love for children was well known, and she went on to be a first grade teacher at Juniata Park Academy in Manayunk, Pennsylvania.
Ellen met her fiance Sam Goldberg through a mutual friend, then went with him on a blind date. According to friends and family, she raved about him, claiming that they never had an “awkward dating stage.” Her mom described him as charming, and she was just happy that Ellen was happy. After three years of dating, Sam proposed at the end of a trip to California. She said yes to Sam after he popped the question at the beach.
Weeks leading up to her death
Starting in late December, early January of 2011, about a month before Ellen’s death, her parents and friends began to notice that she wasn’t the same Ellen. She had become increasingly anxious, which was unlike her. Whenever they questioned her about it, Ellen contributed it to work, saying that she was stressed about getting grades in on time, as well as planning for her wedding that was set to take place in August. It even got to the point where Ellen voiced to her parents that she wanted to quit her job and move back home with them.
As the anxiety continued to take a toll on Ellen and caused her to start losing sleep, her father insisted that she get professional help. She met with a psychiatrist 3 times, and they prescribed her Klonopin and Ambien. Klonopin is a long-acting benzodiazepine. It helps the user relax and treat the effects of panic attacks. Ellen was prescribed this to treat her anxiety. Ambien is often given to treat insomnia. After a short time of taking these as prescribed, Ellen expressed to her loved ones that she felt as though they were working, and she was feeling good. Notes from her psychiatrist that were later reviewed revealed that they were not concerned about Ellen being a suicide risk, and that she was excited about her engagement and upcoming wedding.
Day of ellen's death
On January 26, 2011, Ellen left work early due to a big snowstorm. Her fiance, Sam stated that he left the apartment to go to the gym inside of their complex at 4:45pm. When he came back to the door at 5:30pm, he used his key, but was unable to get in due to the hotel room-style latch that was locked on the inside. He banged on the door, but Ellen never unlocked the door. He then sent her several text messages:
- “Hello”
- “Open the door”
- “What r u doing”
- “I’m getting pissed”
- “Hello”
- “You better have an excuse”
- “What the fuck”
- “Ahhh”
- “U have no idea”
At this point, Sam went back downstairs to find the security guard to ask him if he could help him break into the apartment. He stated that he came back downstairs to ask him this several times. Sam says that the security guard was with him when he finally forced entry, but the security guard says that he refused, that he never left his post. The security guard also recalls that Sam told him several times that he was coming from the gym, but that he wasn’t wearing sneakers, he was wearing boots.
Sam reported that he broke down the door and found Ellen sitting on the floor against the cabinets, bleeding. Before calling 911, Sam called his parents and his uncle (an attorney). They arrived on scene just after EMS. Finally, at 6:33, AN HOUR AFTER HE INITIALLY COULDN’T GET INSIDE, Sam calls 911. The 911 call is described as Sam being calm, repeating “Oh my god, oh my god, my fiance, there’s blood” and that he had been at the gym. The dispatcher tells him that he needs to start CPR. Sam is then reported as saying “DO I HAVE TO?”
A few minutes in, Sam notices that there is a knife lodged in Ellen’s chest. Sam then said to the dispatcher, “she must have fallen on it.” When EMS arrived, they pronounced Ellen dead on scene. Her parents were called by Sam’s parents. Ellen’s mother remembers that they were snowed in at their home in Harrisburg, PA. She said “all I know is my world went dark, and I have no daughter.”
Initial "Investigation"
Police arrived on scene and very quickly determined that it was a suicide. This conclusion was based on the fact that the door was locked from the inside. Here’s a picture of the actual lock from Ellen’s apartment:
There are a ton of Youtube videos that show how to use hangers, rubber bands, credit cards,
etc. to lock this from the outside. Sam was reportedly cooperative and spoke with police on scene. Key fob records from the apartment complex confirmed his story about coming and going. Building camera footage did not show Ellen’s apartment hallway, but showed the entrance and exits of the building. Everyone seen on video was a resident.
The autopsy was performed the day after Ellen’s death. They found a total of 19 stab wounds and 1 large cut. There were ten wounds on the back of her neck and head, and ten on her abdomen and chest. There were also multiple bruises found on her thighs, knees, hips, arms, and wrists that were in various stages of healing. The only drugs found in her system were her prescribed medications in small amounts. Due to the significant degree of force required to make these injuries and the knife still being embedded in Ellen’s chest, the medical examiner ruled Ellen’s death a homicide.
Two days later, the police said that they believed the medical examiner rushed into their decision. It’s apparently VERY strange for police to challenge the medical examiner’s ruling. This caused people to think that they had an agenda. Police continued their argument for suicide stating that the only other entry point into the apartment was the sliding glass door. However, the snow outdoors showed no footprints and they lived on the sixth floor.
Here is a diagram of Ellen’s stab wounds:
In February of 2011, a neuropathologist REPORTEDLY examined Ellen’s spinal cord and determined that the damage from the stab wounds to her neck was not severe enough to render her paralyzed, and that it was possible that she could have continued stabbing herself. Also, Ellen’s DNA was the only one found on the knife. Approximately 3 months after her death, the medical examiner changed their ruling to suicide and closed their case.
Further investigation
Ellen’s parents were/are convinced that their daughter did not commit suicide. They launched their own investigation and reached out to a veteran police detective, Tom Brennan, as well as a pathologist who could help interpret crime scene findings. Brennan immersed himself in the case, immediately angry that the investigation was so inadequate. He believed that it was staged to look like a suicide. Brennan believes that Ellen was blitz attacked from behind and couldn’t defend herself, and that’s why there were no apparent defensive wounds found.
Guy D’Andrea, a former Philadelphia ADA reviewed the case and it caught his interest due to the controversy. His initial concern was regarding the lack of blood splatter at the scene. There was very little blood on the floor or around Ellen, indicating that someone may have cleaned up. They found that during the initial investigation, police had not performed a luminol test. There was nothing that was done to investigate whether there had been more blood that was cleaned up prior to 911 being called.
The initial responding police left without securing the scene or gathering evidence. Ellen was found with a clean, white kitchen towel in her left hand. There was a bowl of cut fruit on the counter and fruit in the sink. She was sitting on the kitchen floor, leaning against the cabinets. The most notable discrepancy noticed by D’Andrea and Brennan was that there was a line of coagulated blood running horizontally from her nostril to the back of her ear. This counteracts gravity and the position that Ellen was found in, making investigators believe that she had been moved after her death.
5-6 years after Ellen’s death, D’Andrea found that a portion of Ellen’s spinal cord was still at the medical examiner’s office. He called Brennan who got permission to have his forensic neuropathologist, Wayne Ross, examine it. The findings showed that the knife penetrated the cranial cavity and severed cranial nerves and the brain. This would’ve caused severe pain, nerve dysfunction, numbness, tingling, low or irregular heart rate, and respiratory depression. He also found evidence of strangulation: fingernail marks and multiple bruises around the neck that are consistent with manual strangulation.
Ross concluded his findings were consistent with homicide. Forensic Pathologist Cyrus Wecht noted that victims rarely stab themselves multiple times or through their clothing as Ellen did.
Brennan and Ellen’s parents contacted the neuropathologist who reportedly performed the initial examination on Ellen’s spinal cord, reporting that she would have been able to continue stabbing herself. No report was found, no bill for her work was found, and the pathologist has no memory or record of being commissioned to study her spinal cord.
Investigators zeroed in on Ellen’s computer where they stated that they later found searches on her browser history for “painless suicide,” “depression,” and “quick death.” D’Andrea points out that the initial investigation in 2011 makes no mention of her search history. More importantly, the day after Ellen’s death, Sam’s cousin and uncle came to the apartment to get him a suit for the funeral. When they left, they took Sam’s computer, Ellen’s personal and work laptops, and her cell phone.
According to the Suicide Prevention Research Center, in 2018, the most common means of suicide among females are firearm, poisoning, and suffocation. Even if Ellen was considering suicide, it’s extremely unlikely that this is the way she would have carried it out.
In March of 2019, the state officially closed the investigation, after the state’s attorney general denied Ellen’s parents request to reopen the case, saying that he found the evidence to support suicide.
In October of 2019, the Greenbergs filed a civil lawsuit against Philadelphia County Medical Examiner’s office and the Medical Examiner who conducted Ellen’s autopsy.
Sam Goldberg is now married with two children living in New York. There is very little information on him. While many people think that Sam is responsible for Ellen’s death, since the death is currently ruled as suicide, there has never been a formal investigation into him. Four days after Ellen’s death, her friends and family received her save the date cards for her August wedding. Did the finality of his nearing wedding set in and cause Sam to kill Ellen and stage it as a suicide? Did Ellen actually kill herself? The Greenbergs are continuing their investigation and won’t stop until they’re able to change Ellen’s manner of death to “undetermined” or “homicide.”
