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 inside 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, where he found Ellen 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 of 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 prior to jury selection that will see Greenberg’s manner of death re-investigated.
Days before the settlement, Marlon Osbourne, who performed Greenberg’s autopsy, said in a sworn verification statement filed Friday Jan. 31 that he now believes “Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide,” NBC Philadelphia reported.
He explained that he changed his decision after reviewing additional information in her police case file and after a consult from Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, who is a pediatric neuropathologist, the station reported.
Attorneys representing the Greenbergs told NBC Philadelphia they were told the new review would be done 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,” Joe Podraza, the Greenberg family attorney, said.
“I hope today we made Ellen proud of us and we were certainly very proud of her as her parents,” Sandra Greenberg said after the settlement was reached to NBC Philadelphia. “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.”
