The dad and mom of 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg, a Philadelphia instructor whose 2011 demise was dominated a suicide after she was discovered with almost two dozen stab wounds and lined in bruises, appeared in court docket final week, the place a choose advised them the town’s suicide declaration was “puzzling.”
Greenberg was present in her kitchen with 20 stab wounds and a knife in her chest with a half-made fruit salad on the countertop throughout a blizzard Jan. 6, 2011. Her dad and mom, Dr. Josh and Sandee Greenberg, have been entangled in authorized battles with the federal government since their daughter’s demise, combating the dedication that it was a suicide.
Oral arguments have been heard Dec. 11 in a Philadelphia courtroom as a part of a 2022 lawsuit the Greenbergs filed that accuses native officers and the health worker’s workplace of overlaying up their daughter’s demise and taking part in a “hid conspiracy for the aim of disguising Ellen’s homicide as a suicide,” in line with authorized paperwork. This was the primary time the Greenbergs sat in a courtroom and listened to arguments of their daughter’s case.
“I really feel like we’re advocating for her,” Sandee stated in a press release to Fox Information Digital after the listening to. “We’re getting nearer to justice for Ellen. We’re very decided and never giving up.”
FIANCÉ OF TEACHER FOUND WITH 20 STAB WOUNDS SUGGESTS WHAT LED TO HER ‘SUICIDE’
Ellen Greenberg along with her dad and mom, Dr. Josh and Sandee Greenberg (Greenberg household)
On the time of her demise, Greenberg had despatched out save-the-date notices for her wedding ceremony with Sam Goldberg, who stated he returned residence from a health club, broke down the door and located his fiancée’s physique of their shared house in Manayunk, a quiet neighborhood in Philadelphia.
Within the hour earlier than Goldberg known as 911, he despatched Greenberg a collection of calls, emails and eerie textual content messages, in line with court docket information.
Between 5:32 p.m. and 5:54 pm, Goldberg’s final 9 texts to Greenberg included the next: “Hey,” “open the door,” “what r u doin,” “im getting pissed,” “whats up,” “you higher have an excuse,” “what the f***,” “ahhh,” and “u do not know.”
Goldberg known as 911 at 6:33 p.m., and Greenberg was pronounced lifeless by medics shortly thereafter.
ELLEN GREENBERG PROSECUTORS SAY THEY CAN’T PROVE CRIME IN ‘SUICIDE’ BY 20 STAB WOUNDS
Ellen Greenberg, left, in an undated household picture, with fiancé Sam Goldberg. (Greenberg household)
Outdoors investigators stated the injury proven to the lock on Greenberg’s house door is inconsistent with the report that it had been kicked in from the surface. (Tom Brennan)
A forensic pathologist with the town health worker’s workplace on the time, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, initially dominated Greenberg’s demise a murder, in line with court docket paperwork. Then he reversed course after assembly with police behind closed doorways and formally dominated it a suicide.
The Greenbergs have argued that officials involved in their daughter’s case “grossly botched” the investigation and conspired to cowl it up consequently. The Greenbergs additionally accused them of deliberately inflicting the couple emotional misery.
“I don’t suppose anybody disagrees the crime scene ought to have been dealt with in a different way,” Frequent Pleas Courtroom Choose Michael Erdos stated through the Dec. 11 listening to, Greenberg household lawyer Joe Podraza confirmed with Fox Information Digital. “The actual fact the demise certificates nonetheless lists the reason for demise as suicide is puzzling.”
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Ellen Greenberg labored as a instructor. (Ellen Greenberg’s household)
The Greenbergs and outdoors investigators have questioned why authorities allowed the crime scene to be professionally cleaned and sanitized earlier than detectives arrived with a search warrant, in line with court docket information.
“Simply as Dr. Osbourne was conducting his post-mortem … finally concluding Ellen’s demise was a murder, the premises the place Ellen was murdered have been totally cleaned,” paperwork state.
The Greenbergs have additionally questioned why Goldberg’s uncle, James Schwartzman, a outstanding Pennsylvania choose, was allowed to enter the apartment and take away numerous Ellen’s belongings, together with her laptop and cellphone.
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Throughout final week’s listening to, Erdos dismissed one of many defendants within the lawsuit towards metropolis officers concerned however withheld judgment on the opposite 4 defendants. Erdos requested Podraza to file briefs outlining how he intends to point out a jury that the remaining defendants immediately and deliberately, not simply recklessly, inflicted emotional misery upon the Greenbergs.
“It’s a steep climb however not an unimaginable climb. … You may have a combating likelihood,” Erdos stated through the listening to in reference to the Greenbergs’ lawsuit.
The defendant dismissed was Lyndsey Emery, a former pathologist with the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Workplace who was requested in 2019 to look at a piece of Greenberg’s preserved spinal column. The opposite 4 defendants named within the lawsuit embody Osbourne, the previous metropolis pathologist who carried out Greenberg’s post-mortem; former Chief Medical Examiner Sam Gulino; retired Murder Sgt. Tim Cooney; and Murder Det. John McNamee.
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Over time, forensic pathologists, crime scene specialists, former regulation enforcement officers and attorneys have expressed doubts about Greenberg’s suicide ruling. And Goldberg lately broke his silence on the demise of his bride-to-be, seemingly believing in any other case.
“When Ellen took her personal life, it left me bewildered. She was a beautiful and a sort one who had all the things to reside for. When she died, part of me died along with her,” Goldberg advised CNN in his first public assertion about Greenberg’s demise.
“Unimaginably, within the years which have handed, I’ve needed to endure the unimaginable passing of my future spouse and the pathetic and despicable makes an attempt to desecrate my fame and her privateness by making a narrative that embraces lies, distortions and falsehoods as a way to keep away from the reality. Psychological sickness could be very actual and has many victims.”
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Ellen Greenberg, left, in an undated household picture. (Greenberg household)
Greenberg’s 20 stab wounds included 10 from behind, no less than one in all which might have been inflicted after she was already lifeless, in line with court docket paperwork. She was additionally discovered lined in bruises in numerous phases of therapeutic, implying she had acquired them over the course of a while, in line with the post-mortem report.
“My daughter was being abused,” her father previously told Fox News Digital. “She had accidents on her physique in keeping with abuse.”
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Dr. Cyril Wecht, a famed forensic pathologist who carried out an unbiased assessment of the post-mortem, discovered the proof “strongly suspicious of murder.”
Wecht, who died in May, beforehand advised Fox Information Digital that after trying on the forensic proof, he believed the concept Greenberg might have died by suicide was “extremely, extremely unlikely.”
Greenberg’s dad and mom beforehand stated that whereas a psychiatrist, Dr. Ellen Berman, had identified the 27-year-old with anxiousness earlier than her demise, the psychiatrist additionally famous that Greenberg didn’t have suicidal ideas or emotions.
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The knife discovered piercing the chest of 27-year-old Philadelphia instructor Ellen Greenberg has by no means been fingerprinted, in line with the lawyer for her dad and mom, who’re suing officers over an alleged cover-up. (Fox Information)
Along with their newest lawsuit, the Greenbergs beforehand filed one other energetic lawsuit in 2019, aiming to have the designation of “suicide” on her demise certificates changed with “murder” or “undetermined.” That case is pending earlier than the Pennsylvania Supreme Courtroom.
Philadelphia Police didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark. They’ve beforehand declined to debate the case. Goldberg didn’t instantly reply for remark.
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A consultant for Schwartzman beforehand responded to the claims that he eliminated objects from the scene on his behalf, telling Fox Information Digital that police gave Schwartzman permission to go in and take Greenberg’s belongings, confirming he had eliminated her computer systems and cellphones.
Fox Information’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
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