PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The Greenbergs hired their own investigators and forensics experts, and two years ago, filed a lawsuit in pursuit of those answers. And now, 10 years after their daughter was found in her Philadelphia apartment with 20 stab wounds and a knife in her chest, the Greenbergs are one significant step closer to finding out what happened to their daughter. A judge several weeks ago paved the way for them to bring their case to a civil trial, where they will argue to have the medical examiner change the ruling on Ellen’s death, to classify it as a homicide or, at least, as “undetermined.” They said they will be bringing some new evidence to light that their investigation has uncovered. That includes a video from their daughter’s apartment building and a deposition from a medical examiner who said one of Ellen’s most significant stab wounds happened post-mortem. It’s evidence, the Greenbergs said, that should change the death ruling, which they hope will trigger an investigation to find out what happened to their daughter.
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Walter Cohen and retired Dauphin County detective Tom Brennan told PennLive in 2019 that they helped the Greenberg’s launch their investigation and hired their own forensics and medical experts to look into Ellen’s death. They came up with some interesting findings. One finding was that the Philadelphia medical examiner in charge of Ellen Greenberg’s case had based the suicide ruling upon a report that came from a consultant named Dr. Lucy Rorke, but the Greenbergs said no one has seen or been able to produce the report. Rorke had been cited by the medical examiner as saying Ellen’s spinal cord had no defects, but when PennLive reached the now-retired Lucy Rorke-Adams two years ago, she confirmed that she had no records or recollection of ever examining Ellen Greenberg."
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STORY: "Murder or suicide? Parent's 10-year search for answers in daughter's death heads to trial," by Reporter Steve Marroni, published by PennLive (Patriot News) on November 22, 2021.
GIST: A decade ago, Josh and Sandee Greenberg lost their daughter.
At first, the Lower Paxton Township couple were in mourning over what authorities said was a suicide.
Days later, though, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office changed its ruling to a homicide, sending the distraught parents reeling in a whole new direction — someone had killed their 27-year-old Ellen.
But soon, the ruling on the death of the upbeat Philadelphia first-grade teacher changed yet again. Now the medical examiner again decided her death was a suicide.
The Greenbergs have since been on a decade-long search for answers. Their plight has caught national attention, and was featured in Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and The Washington Post.
“We have a mission and a purpose,” Josh Greenberg told PennLive Tuesday. “We want justice for our daughter.”
In trying to get answers, the couple said they have run into nothing but roadblocks from the authorities who investigated Ellen’s death in Philadelphia.
“It’s like they’re the Keystone Cops trying to cover everything up, and we’re Dick Tracy trying to get the facts,” he said.
The Greenbergs hired their own investigators and forensics experts, and two years ago, filed a lawsuit in pursuit of those answers.
And now, 10 years after their daughter was found in her Philadelphia apartment with 20 stab wounds and a knife in her chest, the Greenbergs are one significant step closer to finding out what happened to their daughter. A judge several weeks ago paved the way for them to bring their case to a civil trial, where they will argue to have the medical examiner change the ruling on Ellen’s death, to classify it as a homicide or, at least, as “undetermined.”
They said they will be bringing some new evidence to light that their investigation has uncovered.
That includes a video from their daughter’s apartment building and a deposition from a medical examiner who said one of Ellen’s most significant stab wounds happened post-mortem.
It’s evidence, the Greenbergs said, that should change the death ruling, which they hope will trigger an investigation to find out what happened to their daughter.
Ellen Greenberg:
If you Google Ellen Greenberg’s name, you’ll find a lot of news stories and Podcasts about her death and the mystery behind it.
That’s not what Sandee Greenberg wants the world to remember about their daughter. She wants her daughter to be remembered for the way she lived, but you have to dig a little deeper to find that.
The Greenbergs told PennLive two and a half years ago that Ellen was upbeat, positive and loved life.
“She was a really fun, adorable, very loving, bubbly young woman with a bright future ahead of her,” her mother said.
She was competitive, too, and played softball and golf. When she attended Penn State, she worked as a “Lionizer,” introducing football players and their families to campus life. She even helped out on the field now and then.
After college, she started working as a teacher at the Juniata Park Academy in in Philadelphia.
And she was engaged to be married.
Everything seemed to be going well – until it wasn’t.
And then the Greenbergs’ lives changed forever as a nor’easter struck the East Coast on cold January day in 2011.
The Locked-Door Mystery:
When their bubbly, upbeat daughter started to become anxious and sad and wanted to leave her Philadelphia life to come home, they recommended she see a psychiatrist. What she was going through was very out of character for her.
Her parents said she did seek help and was prescribed Klonopin and Ambien, which seemed to be helping her.
Then on Jan. 26, 2011, a snowstorm blanketed Philadelphia. Schools closed, so Ellen came home early, her parents said.
She was alone in her locked apartment.
Eventually, Ellen’s fiancé returned from the gym and was unable to get into the apartment because the door was locked, investigators said. The only other entrance was a small balcony, where the new-fallen was undisturbed by footprints.
The fiancé got a building employee and returned to break through the locked door, investigators said. He found Ellen inside, sitting on the floor with 20 stab wounds, including 10 to the back of her neck, police said at the time. A knife was plunged into her chest.
At first, the medical examiner’s office called it a suicide.
But several days later -- moments before he was to deliver his daughter’ eulogy in Harrisburg -- Josh Greenberg learned the medical examiner’s office had changed her death, classifying it as a homicide.
Three weeks later, the medical examiner reversed himself again. Her death was once more considered a suicide.
That never sat well with the Greenbergs. It’s something they don’t believe their daughter would have done.
And the evidence didn’t seem to support it, so they started to look into it, hiring their own experts.
A new investigation"
Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Walter Cohen and retired Dauphin County detective Tom Brennan told PennLive in 2019 that they helped the Greenberg’s launch their investigation and hired their own forensics and medical experts to look into Ellen’s death.
They came up with some interesting findings.
One finding was that the Philadelphia medical examiner in charge of Ellen Greenberg’s case had based the suicide ruling upon a report that came from a consultant named Dr. Lucy Rorke, but the Greenbergs said no one has seen or been able to produce the report. Rorke had been cited by the medical examiner as saying Ellen’s spinal cord had no defects, but when PennLive reached the now-retired Lucy Rorke-Adams two years ago, she confirmed that she had no records or recollection of ever examining Ellen Greenberg.
And the Greenbergs and their investigators question the stab wounds. They said 10 of those stab wounds were to the back of Ellen’s neck, a difficult feat to accomplish and something rarely seen when someone stabs themselves, they say.
Some of the injuries were to the cervical spinal cord at C2 and C3, which Greenberg’s investigators and experts say would have incapacitated her, making her unable to stab herself further, let alone plunge a knife into her chest.
And they said there was also evidence of strangulation and multiple bruises of varying degrees from fresh to old, showing a pattern of repeated beatings.
Their experts also said the bloodstain patterns are consistent with a homicide rather than a suicide.
What it all comes down to, the Greenbergs say, is a homicide – or at least enough evidence to warrant another examination.
But since filing the lawsuit, they have learned of a few new pieces of evidence, which they plan to present at trial.
The New Evidence:
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office conducted a follow-up investigation in 2018 and upheld the ruling of suicide after finding on Ellen Greenberg’s laptop that she had searched “methods of committing suicide,” “quick death” and “depression.”
The Greenbergs say their own computer forensics experts found that these were likely “phantom searches,” which showed up as she searched for information about medication she was taking.
Additionally, Philadelphia investigators previously said that when Ellen’s fiancé broke down the door to their apartment, he did so in the company of an apartment building worker.
The Greenbergs now say they have surveillance video from the apartment that shows the fiancé taking the elevator alone.
Also, in an April deposition that was part of their lawsuit, another doctor with the medical examiner’s office examined Ellen’s spinal cord again and found the wound to her spinal cord came after her death, the Greenbergs said.
“It would be very hard for a suicide victim to have a post-mortem wound,” Josh Greenberg said.
It was enough for a Philadelphia judge to send the case to a civil trial, they said.
Their goal at trial is to get the medical examiner to change the ruling on Ellen’s death from a suicide to either homicide or undetermined, possibly launching an investigation to find out what happened to their daughter more than a decade ago.
A trial date has not yet been set.
But according to the Washington Post, the city’s attorney, Ellen Berkowitz, said in court documents that the Greenbergs have no legal claim to overturn the manner of death.
She argues the medical examiner made an informed determination based on years of professional experience and that the Greenbergs’ team has misinterpreted statements by personnel in the medical examiner’s office to fit a narrative suggesting homicide, reports indicate.
“They essentially ask this court to sit as a sur-medical examiner, to overrule the determination of the medical professional vested by state law and the Philadelphia code with the sole responsibility and discretion to determine the cause and manner of death,” Berkowitz wrote in an August court filing, the Washington Post reports.
What happens next?:
A trial is coming up soon, but it’s likely not the end of the story.
“We think she was murdered, and that means there is a murderer or are murderers possibly out there,” Josh Greenberg said.
What they are looking for are answers.
“We don’t understand why we are being blocked from getting justice for our daughter,” he added.
It’s still difficult for them to talk about their daughter, but they are continuing the fight and garnering support on their Justice for Ellen Facebook page.
But the Greenbergs said they will remain persistent because they have a mission and a purpose.
They want to find out what happened to their daughter."
