Philadelphia medical examiner reaffirms its finding that Ellen Greenberg’s death was a suicide

By Brandon Griggs, CNN
(CNN) — In 2011, schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead on the kitchen floor of her Philadelphia apartment with some 20 knife wounds and numerous bruises. A city medical examiner ruled her death a suicide – a finding rejected by the 27-year-old’s parents, who were convinced she’d been murdered.
Their fourteen-year quest for the truth prompted multiple lawsuits, numerous headlines, an online petition with 167,000 signatures and a new Hulu documentary series, “Death in Apartment 603.” Earlier this year the pathologist who performed her autopsy reversed his findings, saying he no longer believed Greenberg killed herself.
But on Monday the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office, after reviewing the evidence in the case, issued a report reaffirming its earlier finding. In a 32-page document, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsay Simon concluded, “the manner of Ellen Greenberg’s death is best classified as ‘suicide.’”
In her report, Simon wrote that at the time of her death on January 26, 2011, Greenberg was suffering from anxiety over her work as a schoolteacher – specifically, over grades she was giving her students. “She had an increase in energy to act on her anxious thoughts,” Simon wrote.
At least one of the many knife wounds on Greenberg’s body was to the back of her neck. While Simon found that the pattern of wounds was “admittedly unusual,” she added that “the fact remains that Ellen would be capable of inflicting these injuries herself.” Simon described many of Greenberg’s injuries as consistent with “hesitation wounds” – tentative, self-inflicted injuries that can precede a fatal wound.
Greenberg’s body was found by her live-in fiancé Sam Goldberg, who called 911 and later found himself a subject of scrutiny over her death. The medical examiner determined that he and Greenberg were not in an abusive relationship and that Goldberg’s DNA was not detected on the knife used to inflict Greenberg’s injuries.
“His self-reported timeline of events is corroborated by phone logs, text messages, surveillance footage, keycard swipes and police interviews,” Simon wrote. She added that authorities found no defensive wounds on Greenberg’s body and no signs of a struggle in the apartment.
Simon stated she reached her conclusion after reviewing the autopsy, police documents, photographs and testimony from experts – including those hired by the Greenbergs – plus the Hulu docuseries.
But an attorney for Greenberg’s parents, who had filed two lawsuits against the city of Philadelphia, scoffed at the medical examiner’s new report, calling it “a deeply flawed attempt to justify a predetermined conclusion.”
“By ignoring key evidence that contradicts suicide — the extensive 3D photogrammetry proving Ellen could not self-inflict all of the wounds, unexplained bruises, missing surveillance footage, an intact lock, accounts of a toxic relationship, etc. — Simon builds a flimsy case on distorted portrayals of Ellen’s mental health, propped up by cynical distortions of Ellen’s managed anxiety, a condition widely experienced daily by over 40 million Americans,” said William Trask in a statement.
“This report is an embarrassment to the City and an insult to Ellen and her family,” added Trask, who represents Josh and Sandee Greenberg. “Ellen’s family just wanted the truth. It is clear the truth will not come from Philadelphia’s law enforcement machinery. Though Ellen’s city turned its back on her, we will continue through other avenues to get justice for her murder, by any means necessary.”
CNN has reached out to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office for comment.
The medical examiner’s office had agreed in February of this year to re-examine the Greenberg case as part of a settlement in a suit by Josh and Sandee Greenberg against various city officials. The Greenbergs were also to receive a monetary payment as part of the settlement, although Philadelphia city officials did not admit liability.
The Greenbergs had filed a separate lawsuit against Dr. Marlon Osbourne, the pathologist who conducted the 2011 autopsy and initially classified their daughter’s death as a homicide before changing his ruling to suicide.
That suit was also settled in February after Osbourne re-examined evidence in the case and signed a document stating, “it is my professional opinion Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide.”