Officials Confirm Teacher’s Stabbing Death as Suicide Despite Family’s Concerns

A medical examiner has determined that a first-grade teacher found deceased by her fiancé with 20 stab wounds, died by suicide.

Ellen Greenberg was discovered in her Philadelphia, Pennsylvania apartment with stab wounds all over her body, including on her neck, head, and back. The knife was found lodged in her chest, piercing her heart, on January 26, 2011.

Initially, Ellen’s death was classified as a homicide by Assistant Philadelphia medical examiner Marlon Osbourne.

However, after a meeting with the Philadelphia Police Department two weeks later, the manner of death was changed to suicide, closing the criminal investigation.

In addition to the 20 stab wounds from a 10-inch blade, Ellen also had 11 bruises on her body.

Her fiancé, Sam Goldberg, was not considered a suspect in her death. He claimed the door was locked from the inside and that he tried contacting her by text and phone after returning from the gym in their apartment.

Unable to enter, he went to the doorman to ask for a key, but was informed that company policy prohibited him from opening the door. Goldberg claims he returned and kicked the door down himself.

Police informed Osbourne that the doorman observed Goldberg kicking the door, a fact that influenced Osbourne’s judgment, although no one was present when Goldberg entered.

Ellen’s parents, Joshua and Sandee Greenberg, have continuously contested the ruling, asserting that their daughter was murdered.

“Ellen stabbing herself 20 times before dying is bulls**t. She died from a very vicious, very painful knife attack,” her father expressed to the Daily Mail.

After 14 years of waiting for the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office to review and reassess the case, chief medical examiner Lindsay Simon reaffirmed on Friday (October 11) that Ellen’s death was self-inflicted.

This conclusion was made before a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court hearing scheduled for today, where judge Linda Carpenter has previously expressed frustration over the lengthy reexamination process.

Despite the ruling, multiple experts, including Osbourne, disagree with Simon’s conclusion. Osbourne has signed a statement affirming his initial decision.

Ellen’s parents enlisted renowned experts to reexamine the case, including forensic neuropathologist Dr. Wayne Ross, who believed her death was staged and found evidence of strangulation, and forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht.

Wecht concluded that Ellen’s wounds were not self-inflicted.

The Greenbergs have spent substantial sums seeking to have the cause of death reversed and their daughter’s death reinvestigated.

“Sandee and I both believe Ellen was going to go home that day,” Joshua shared with the publication.

“She had taken off the engagement ring, packed up her makeup, which was very valuable to her, and she was planning to leave.

“And I think things didn’t work out well, and she never made it home.”

Goldberg, who has since moved on and started a family, has not publicly commented on his fiancée’s death.

Efforts to reach Sam Goldberg and the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office for comment have been made.

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