The "suicide" case of a beloved Pennsylvania elementary school teacher found dead from 20 fatal stab wounds may be reopened after the state Supreme Court agreed to review her death investigation.
In January 2011, Samuel Goldberg, the fiancé of 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg told police he discovered his bride-to-be brutally maimed with a knife sticking out of her chest after he had to force his way inside their locked Philadelphia apartment when he returned home from the gym.
According to the investigation report reviewed by HNGN, Ellen died from 20 stab wounds to the head, neck and abdomen. Her body was found in the kitchen, where there were no signs of a struggle.
A medical examiner ruled Ellen died by suicide – a ruling that didn't sit well with her parents, Joshua and Sandee Greenberg – and for the past 13 years, drove them to appeal their daughter's manner of death.
A lower court ruled against them in September 2023, and lawyers for the Greenbergs appealed.
"We believe that if we are allowed to go to trial that a jury or a judge will decide that the evidence is so overwhelming that Ellen did not commit suicide, but instead a homicide that will bring someone or some people to justice," the family's attorney, Joseph Podraza said, according to WHP-TV. "We have proven psychologically all the wounds could not have been inflicted by Ellen."
A series of independent investigations, paid for by the Greenberg family, disagreed with the medical examiner's findings and determined Ellen likely died by homicide, citing evidence of strangulation and fresh bruises, in addition to the nearly two dozen stab wounds, according to documents reviewed by HNGN.
"We have a mission. We have a purpose," Ellen's dad, Joshua, said Monday, according to Penn Live. "Ellen didn't commit suicide. Ellen was the victim of a brutal homicide attack."
"I want to make her proud of us," her mom, Sandee, added. "I want to lay my head on the pillow at night, knowing I did everything."
It could take up to a year and a half for attorneys to argue their case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
