Who Killed Ellen Greenberg?
A beloved teacher. A snowy night. Twenty stab wounds. And a ruling that defies logic.
On January 26, 2011, a blizzard swept through Philadelphia, blanketing the city in snow. Schools closed early. Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old first-grade teacher, left work around 1:30 PM and headed home to the apartment she shared with her fiancé, Sam Goldberg. She stopped for gas, texted her mom, and seemed—by all accounts—completely fine.
Later that day, Sam returned from the gym and found the front door locked from the inside with the swing bar latch engaged. After nearly an hour of unanswered calls and a string of text messages growing in urgency and anger, he broke in.
What he found has haunted Ellen’s family—and baffled experts—for the last 14 years.
Ellen was slumped in the kitchen, a 10-inch knife embedded in her chest. She had been stabbed 20 times, including 10 wounds to the back of her neck and head, and was covered in bruises at various stages of healing. The fruit she had been cutting was still on the counter. Her makeup bag was laid out in the bathroom. There was no suicide note. No signs of forced entry. And no one else, they said, in the apartment.
Despite the violent nature of her wounds and an initial autopsy ruling of homicide, just six weeks later, Ellen’s cause of death was inexplicably changed to suicide.
That ruling has never made sense—not to her parents, not to the medical experts they’ve consulted, and not to the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve heard Ellen’s story since.
The Investigation That Raised More Questions Than It Answered
The investigation into Ellen’s death was riddled with contradictions and questionable decisions:
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The crime scene was cleaned—before police obtained a full search warrant.
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Sam’s uncle, a prominent judge, entered the apartment the next day and removed laptops and personal items.
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The door latch theory—used to suggest no one could have entered or exited—has been challenged by experts who say it may have been staged.
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The knife was never fingerprinted.
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And most haunting of all: there were no defensive wounds, leading some experts to suggest Ellen may have been incapacitated before the stabbing.
Private investigators and world-renowned forensic experts have since weighed in, including Dr. Cyril Wecht and Dr. Henry Lee, both of whom concluded the scene was consistent with homicide. A 3D wound trajectory analysis even found that some of the stab wounds could not have been self-inflicted given normal human range of motion.
Still, authorities refused to budge. Until now.
A Family’s Relentless Fight
Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandee Greenberg, have fought tirelessly for over a decade to change their daughter’s death certificate and reopen the case. They’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private experts and legal counsel. They’ve launched petitions, shared her story with the media, and taken the case to court—not for money, but for the truth.
In early 2025, a major shift occurred. The very pathologist who originally changed Ellen’s manner of death from homicide to suicide—Dr. Marlon Osbourne—issued a sworn affidavit stating he no longer believes Ellen died by suicide. He cited new expert analyses and serious doubts about key aspects of the case.
This landmark reversal has prompted the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office to reopen the investigation into Ellen’s death. It’s the first glimmer of hope the Greenbergs have had in years that the truth may finally come to light.
Why This Case Matters
Ellen Greenberg’s story is not just about a mysterious death. It’s about what happens when the system closes the book too soon. It’s about a family’s refusal to be silenced. And it’s about demanding accountability in the face of official decisions that make no sense.
Whether you’re a seasoned true crime follower or someone who’s just hearing about Ellen for the first time, this case sticks with you. It raises serious questions about how we investigate suspicious deaths—and whether victims and their families can ever truly find justice when the system resists correction.
In This Episode of Crime Clueless
In our episode “Who Killed Ellen Greenberg?” we dive deep into:
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The full timeline of the day Ellen died
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The chilling 911 call and Sam Goldberg’s version of events
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The forensic evidence that defies the suicide ruling
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The bruises, the back wounds, and the fruit bowl that was never touched again
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The experts who risked their reputations to challenge the ruling
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The parents who have become investigators, advocates, and the voice their daughter no longer has
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And the new developments in 2025 that might finally turn the tide
What You Can Do
Justice delayed doesn’t have to mean justice denied. Here’s how you can help keep Ellen’s case alive:
✔️ Listen to the full episode and share it with friends, family, or on social media
✔️ Sign the petition: Change.org/JusticeForEllen
✔️ Use your voice: Tag posts with #JusticeForEllen to help spread awareness
✔️ Follow Ellen’s story on Facebook: Justice for Ellen Greenberg
✔️ Contact your representatives to support policies that promote transparency and accountability in suspicious death rulings
Ellen Greenberg should be alive today.
She should be teaching. Laughing. Planning a wedding. Building a life.
Instead, her story is a cautionary tale of what happens when systems fail—and what it takes to fight back.
🎧 Listen to “Who Killed Ellen Greenberg?” now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Let’s make sure Ellen’s story is heard. And never forgotten.
Have thoughts on this story or other cases you’d like to see highlighted? Share them with us in the comments or connect with us on social media. Together, we can ensure that stories like this one are never forgotten.
Don’t forget to follow us on social media, share your thoughts, and let us know what you’d like to hear about in future episodes. If you have any true crime stories of your own, send them our way crimeclueless@gmail.com to be featured on a future episode! And as always, remember: refuse to be clueless, careless, or caught off guard. Not today, murderers.
See you in the next episode of Crime Clueless!
Resources:
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Farr, S. (2025, February 3). Philadelphia settles Ellen Greenberg civil suits and agrees to review her autopsy. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved from Inquirer
Holden, J., & Gardiner, T. (2025, February 3). Philadelphia medical examiner to reopen Ellen Greenberg case after settlement with parents. CBS Philadelphia. Retrieved from CBS News
Harmon, L. (2025, February 4). Medical examiner reverses ruling in Ellen Greenberg case. Court TV. Retrieved from Court TV
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Wikipedia contributors. (2025, July). Death of Ellen Greenberg. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved July XX, 2025, from Wikipedia
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Crime Timelines. (n.d.). Ellen Greenberg investigation files – crime scene timeline and notes. Retrieved from https://crimetimelines.com/ellen-greenberg-investigation-files/
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Lamb McErlane, P.C. (2022, March 8). A civil suit reveals new details in the case of Ellen Greenberg [PDF document]. Retrieved from firm archives.
National Research Council. (2009). Strengthening forensic science in the United States: A path forward. The National Academies Press.
Ni Annaidh, A., Cassidy, M., Curtis, M., Destrade, M. D., & Gilchrist, M. (2020). A combined experimental and numerical study of stab‑penetration forces [Preprint]. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2008.13757
Ross, W. K. (n.d.). Report on examination of Ellen Greenberg’s spinal cord tissue [Forensic neuropathology report]. Retrieved from DocumentCloud.
Snook, B., Cullen, R. M., Gendreau, P., & Goggin, C. (2008). Taking stock of criminal profiling. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(2), 125–154.
