Family respond to shocking update in case of woman whose death was ruled suicide despite being stabbed 20 times
Joe Yates
Featured Image Credit: Change.org/Justice for Ellen Facebook page
The family of a woman who's brutal death was ruled as a suicide, despite her having multiple stab wounds across her body, have spoken out following a shocking update.
On January 26, 2011, first-grade teacher Ellen Greenberg was discovered dead in her apartment in Philadelphia, US with a 10-inch blade plunged through her chest directly into her heart, having suffered as many as 20 puncture wounds.
Despite 10 of the stab wounds being located on the back of her head and her neck, with the other 10 found on her midriff, the 27-year-old's death was ruled as self-inflicted by Assistant Philadelphia Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne.
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Her fiancé at the time, Sam Goldberg, had told cops that after kicking down the door to her apartment, he found her covered in blood and attempted CPR while speaking to a 911 dispatcher.
Eight years later in 2019, the parents of Ellen, Joshua and Sandee Greenberg, filed a lawsuit against the Medical Examiner's office and Osborne himself - which was rejected by the Commonwealth Court last September.
But after appealing their verdict, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this week has allowed the hearing to go ahead as a 'matter of statewide importance'.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Joshua said: "Ellen stabbing herself 20 times before dying is bulls**t. She died from a very vicious, very painful knife attack."
He and wife Sandee are hopeful the cause of death on their daughter's death certificate will be changed once again - after Osbourne had originally ruled Ellen's death as a homicide before changing it to suicide.
Sandee said: "We're smiling, we're very optimistic... I hope we're making our daughter proud. There's been a lot of frustration, but we haven't given up."
The couple have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting for the cause of death to be reversed, and for their daughter's death to be reinvestigated.
In response to the appeal, judges explained their reasoning for allowing the lawsuit to go ahead, stating that they were 'acutely aware of the deeply flawed investigation'.
Joshua continued: "Sandee and I both believe Ellen was going to go home that day.
"She had taken off the engagement ring, had 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 has a family of his own, has not spoken publicly about his fiancé's death and was never labeled as a suspect.