I remember the first photo I saw of Ellen Greenberg with her brilliant smile and big, beautiful brown eyes.
She looked so full of life staring into the camera. But when I looked deeper into her eyes it seemed she was looking back at me, trying to say something: ‘Please help me. Help my parents.’
And that’s what I set out to do.
Ellen was a vivacious and adored first-grade teacher and an only child, loved by her parents with all their hearts.
In January 2011, she was diligently planning her wedding to Sam Goldberg, the man she thought was ‘Mr. Right.’
Ellen had just sent out save-the-date cards to a host of family and friends, all thrilled for a 27-year-old with the world ahead of her. Then she was found brutally stabbed to death in her apartment.
On the evening of Jan. 26, 2011, during a freezing blizzard that blanketed eastern Pennsylvania, Ellen died a horrific and bloody death in the posh apartment she shared with Sam in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia.
She had at least 20 slashes or stab wounds all over her body – some on her back, the back of her neck, and head – and a 10-inch knife was found plunged into her chest, very close to her heart.
Multiple pieces of evidence bring me to conclude that Ellen’s death was a homicide – not a suicide
Ellen had been stabbed 20 times mainly to the back of her head and neck but her death was ruled a suicide
Equally disturbing is that there were textbook signs of strangulation, including bruises and what looked like fingernail scratches on her neck.
Initially, Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne ruled her death a homicide. But a few days later – after a closed-door meeting with officials from the Philadelphia Police Department, the medical examiner’s office, and the local district attorney’s office – Osbourne changed his ruling from homicide to suicide.
It was an unbelievable conclusion given the extent of Ellen’s injuries, which included a large gash to the back of her head.
Ellen’s parents, Sandee and Josh Greenberg, were stunned at the time and still refuse to accept that their beautiful daughter died by suicide.
A growing number of experts agree with them, and nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition demanding the case be re-examined.
We simply ask for a full, fair, and independent investigation, not by local Philly authorities who’ve already bungled the case, and not by the state attorney general, nor anyone connected to former AG and current governor Josh Shapiro, who has turned a blind eye to Ellen’s parents over and over again.
Sandee and Josh have spent their life savings and recently sold their beloved home to fund their pursuit of justice for their daughter.
How, they ask, could death by 20 stab wounds equal suicide? Simply put, it can’t.
After learning of Ellen’s case, I launched my own investigation – traveling to Pennsylvania to meet with Ellen’s parents and visit her grave and synagogue.
I interviewed witnesses, researched a treasure trove of documents, and painstakingly poured over autopsy reports. Most importantly, I gathered a team of experts to help uncover the truth of what happened to Ellen.
The results are published in my book titled just that: What Happened to Ellen? An American Miscarriage of Justice.
Every penny from my book goes to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I have no financial motivation behind writing it, I just want to get to the truth.
After all the work, I am more convinced than ever that Ellen was murdered, and that for the last 14 years, authorities have done their best to cover it up.
Why? I don’t know…yet.
But multiple pieces of evidence bring me to conclude it was a homicide.
Ellen was a vivacious and adored first-grade teacher who was planning the wedding of her dreams
This 10-inch kitchen knife was found sticking out of Ellen’s chest, very close to her heart
Former prosecutor Nancy Grace has been investigating the Ellen Greenberg case for years
The evidence
First, we must examine the 20 stab wounds in detail.
Only a world-class gymnast could have contorted themselves to self-inflict so many horrendous injuries all over their body, and that’s before plunging a 10-inch knife into their own chest.
Ellen wasn’t a gymnast. She was a teacher.
What’s also extremely disturbing is that at least one of the stab wounds appears to have been inflicted after her death.
Dr. Lyndsey Emery of the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office testified in May 2021 that a stab wound to Ellen’s spinal column did not bleed.
Why? Because Ellen’s heart was no longer pumping blood, Emery said.
But astoundingly, this was not the final stab wound.
Remember the 10-inch knife that was found protruding from her chest? This means that Ellen would have had to have stabbed herself deep in the chest after she had already killed herself.
Dr. Emery later tried to backtrack on her stunning ruling about the postmortem wound, but no amount of backtracking can change what she found.
Through investigation, we also learned another stab wound was so deep it sliced Ellen’s dura, the thick protective sheath surrounding the spine.
No human could have self-inflicted these 20 wounds – so many, so painful, and so impossible to reach.
Next, there is the ‘wrong-way blood.’
Ellen’s body was discovered sitting up, slumped against her kitchen cabinets, with her legs splayed in front of her on the floor.
Yet a trail of dried blood was found running horizontally across her face, seemingly defying the laws of gravity.
If Ellen had collapsed and died as she was found, in an upright position, the blood would have trickled and dried vertically.
The dried blood running sideways shows her body was moved after it dried.
It was also what she was said to have been doing moments before her death that made the ruling even more inconceivable: Are we seriously supposed to believe she abruptly died by suicide after filling her car with a tank of gas and while making a fruit salad in her kitchen? All the while dreaming of a big wedding to ‘Mr. Right’?
None of this fits…because it isn’t suicide. We can’t make it fit.
At the time of her death, Ellen was planning her wedding to TV producer Sam Goldberg (pictured together)
Ellen and her fiance Sam Goldberg. The initial 911 call was made by Ellen’s fiancé, who told police he had been working out in the apartment building’s gym when she died
My life of seeking justice
I have devoted my life to seeking justice for crime victims ever since my fiancé, Keith, was murdered at age 23 when we were both college students.
I met Keith during my freshman year at Valdosta State University – he was there on a baseball scholarship.
In August 1979, he was shot and killed by a former co-worker who had just been fired from the construction company Keith worked for.
After his murder, I no longer wanted to teach Shakespearean English literature, so I went to Mercer University School of Law and obtained my law degree.
I then got an advanced degree in Constitutional and Criminal Law from New York University, and from there I spent 10 years prosecuting violent felonies in inner-city Atlanta.
When the elected district attorney, who had been like a grandfather to me, retired, I took a position at Court TV with the late, great attorney Johnnie Cochran.
We launched the show Cochran and Grace, before I moved into trial coverage and then to HLN and the primetime program Nancy Grace.
I now host Crime Stories With Nancy Grace on Dr. Phil’s new network, Merit Street Media.
Same message, different jury.
I often side with the state, including law enforcement. That said, the police botched Ellen’s case from the get-go when officers on the scene decided she had died by suicide before an autopsy was even carried out.
The initial 911 call was made by Ellen’s fiancé, who told police he had been working out in the apartment building’s gym when she died. He explained that he tried for about an hour to get into the apartment, which was locked from the inside. He told the dispatcher that after he forced his way in, he found Ellen slumped against the kitchen cabinets with ‘blood everywhere.’
Seeing that nothing had been stolen and the apartment was intact, police went with the suicide theory on the spot.
Sam has always stood by those findings. In 2024, 13 years after her death, Sam broke his silence and criticized ‘pathetic and despicable attempts to desecrate my reputation and her privacy by creating a narrative that embraces lies’ regarding the cause of Ellen’s death.
After that first lack of investigation by police, the mistakes snowballed.
Josh and Sandee Greenberg with Ellen. The Greenbergs have fought for years to get the truth about what happened to their daughter
The scene inside the kitchen where Ellen was found dead back on January 26 2011
Scene photo showing the door which Ellen’s fiance said was locked from the inside meaning he had to break it down
A flurry of missteps
The day after Ellen’s death, and before her autopsy was completed, the apartment building manager asked Philadelphia P.D. if Ellen and Sam’s unit could be cleaned.
Police said the home could be professionally sanitized, and even recommended a crime scene cleanup service.
Less than 24 hours after that fateful call, Osbourne ruled Ellen had not died by suicide, but instead had been stabbed by another person. It was already too late; the crime scene was destroyed, with the professional cleaners ensuring any forensic evidence was gone forever.
No delicate hair, fiber, touch DNA, fingerprints, or blood spatter evidence would ever be obtained.
Within a few days, the secret, closed-door meeting with representatives from Philadelphia P.D. and the district attorney’s office took place and Osbourne’s ruling suddenly changed.
This stinks to high heaven.
I have learned the female representative from the DA’s office present at the meeting has received some sort of immunity from prosecution. Why would she need it?
In all my years as a prosecutor and crime investigator, handling and covering thousands of cases, I have never seen such a miscarriage of justice.
Ellen and her father Josh Greenberg. In the weeks before her murder, Ellen called her parents and told them she wanted to move out of the apartment she shared with Sam, quit her teaching job, and move back in with them
Ellen and her mom Sandee. Ellen’s parents want a new, complete, and independent investigation into what really happened to her
The testimonials don’t add up to the ruling
As to Ellen’s state of mind at the time of her murder, those close to Ellen say she described her relationship with Sam as wonderful and that she was deeply in love and wanted to marry him.
In the months leading up to her wedding, she began obsessively dieting.
She was nervous about meeting the standards of Sam’s extremely wealthy Main Line-area family, and worried she wouldn’t blend in, even though her father was a very successful periodontist.
She tried to change her look and bought expensive designer clothes she really couldn’t afford.
In the weeks before her murder, Ellen called her parents and told them she wanted to move out of the apartment she shared with Sam, quit her teaching job, and move back in with them.
Josh and Sandee were stunned.
Ellen blamed the job she had previously claimed to love, saying there was too much pressure to get good grades for her students.
So why not just quit the job? Why move out of the apartment and back home? None of it made sense, and Ellen had never fully explained her decision to her parents.
I learned that, during that time, she also approached her longtime friend Debbie and asked to move in with her in the middle of the school year.
Ultimately, Ellen stayed in the job and the shared apartment where she would eventually take her final breath.
During my investigation, I also learned Ellen’s therapist didn’t believe she was suicidal.
I don’t know who did it or why, but I do know the physical evidence points to one thing and one thing only, Ellen was murdered.
Any speculation about the identity or motive of her killer is premature and could even hinder a real investigation.
Ellen’s parents Josh and Sandee Greenberg appear on Dr Phil alongside Nancy Grace to speak about their daughter’s case
I firmly believe that, through a new investigation by the medical examiner’s office, Ellen’s death will finally be ruled a homicide. After that, a criminal investigation must be opened
The findings of this investigation are revealed in the new book: ‘What Happened to Ellen? An American Miscarriage of Justice’
What comes next?
There are still so many questions that need to be answered.
For instance, who else was in the building that day?
Were there delivery people or repairmen or visitors? Could a stalker have slipped in? I don’t know.
That is why I call for a new, complete, and independent investigation into what really happened to Ellen.
And she might finally be about to get one.
This January, I was on the set in my studio working on Crime Stories, when I got a text from Sandee.
In a statement filed on Friday, Jan. 31, Osbourne had pulled a 180, again, and said that after reviewing additional information, he now believes her death was something other than suicide.
When I heard the news, I prayed. I thanked God that there is at least a chance now for Ellen’s family to get justice – a long shot, but a chance.
A couple of days later, on the eve of a civil trial brought by Ellen’s parents, Philadelphia city officials settled the lawsuit and agreed to reinvestigate her death.
I firmly believe that, through a new investigation by the medical examiner’s office, Ellen’s death will finally be ruled a homicide.
After that, a criminal investigation must be opened.
Even though 14 years have passed, I do believe there will be enough evidence to investigate this case and successfully prosecute her killer.
But it is my belief that the Philadelphia DA’s office cannot handle the case because of ties to the past administration that oversaw this travesty, nor can the Pennsylvania AG be involved because of the same issue.
An independent body, such as the feds, must take over.
When I think of what Sandee and Josh have endured for 14 years, it’s excruciating.
They are weary, but determined to go on.
They deserve justice, and so does Ellen.
