Ellen Greenberg was a 27-year-old elementary school teacher living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She taught first grade, and all of her loved ones affectionately called her Ellie.
On January 26th, 2011, Ellen and her students wound up going home early that day since there was a huge blizzard about to hit the area.
On her way home to her apartment in Philadelphia, which she shared with her 28-year-old fiancé and TV producer Sam Goldberg, Ellen stopped to make sure she had gas in her car.
Ellen and Sam had been together for three years and seemed to have a great relationship. Their wedding was coming up, and Ellen had already picked out her dress. Four days before she sadly passed away, she also mailed out the save the dates for their wedding.
After she came home from work early due to the impending blizzard, Sam headed to the gym at 4:45 that evening.
Sam was only gone for half an hour, but when he got back, he was locked out and couldn’t get back in. He had keys; however, the swing lock of the apartment had been put in place from the inside.
Sam had to break in, and by the time he got back inside at 6:33 that night, he found Ellen dead. She had over 20 different stab wounds across her body, 10 of which were to the back of her neck.
There were no signs of a struggle. Their balcony had fresh snow on it, but no footprints pointed to an intruder. Ellen’s DNA was later found on the knife used on her and her clothing, but there was no other DNA.
Authorities ultimately ruled that Ellen took her own life, and that’s something her parents have been fighting for the last fourteen years.
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Ellen’s parents, Joshua and Sandra, have created a Facebook page dedicated to getting justice for Ellen, and on February 1st, they announced that the medical examiner who ruled that Ellen took her own life says he was wrong.
Marlon Osbourne is a pathologist who originally concluded that Ellen was murdered on January 27th, 2011, after performing an autopsy on her. But then he changed his decision and insisted Ellen took her own life on April 4th, 2011.
“Since issuing the amended death certificate, I have become aware of additional information I did not have at the time of issuing the amended death certificate, which may have impacted my opinion,” Marlon wrote in a statement shared by Joshua and Sandra.
“I am now aware that new information exists which draws into question, for example, whether Ellen’s fiancé was witnessed entering the apartment before placing the 911 call on January 26, 2011; whether the door was forced open as reported; whether Ellen’s body was moved by someone else inside the apartment with her at or near the time of her death; and the findings of Lindsey Emery, M.D. from her neuropathological evaluation of Ellen’s cervical segment sample.”
“…It is my professional opinion Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide.”
