The Unrelenting Questions: The Death of Ellen Greenberg
The snowstorm outside was relentless, blanketing Philadelphia in a quiet, suffocating stillness. It was January 26, 2011—the kind of day where the world seems to pause, leaving everyone confined to their warm apartments, sipping coffee, watching the flakes tumble. But for Ellen Greenberg, the quiet of her kitchen hid something darker, something that would ignite over a decade of questions, heartbreak, and accusations.
Twenty Wounds and a Locked Door
Twenty stab wounds. A ten-inch knife still buried in her chest. And a locked door that her fiancé Samuel Goldberg claimed he had to break down.
When Goldberg’s call came through to 911 that day, his voice was frantic. He’d been at the gym, he told police. He’d forgotten his keys, locked himself out, and after she didn’t answer his increasingly desperate knocks, he forced his way in. What he found, he insisted, shattered him: Ellen lying on the kitchen floor, her body surrounded by blood. He claimed he tried CPR, helpless as his fiancée slipped further beyond reach.
From the beginning, the scene defied logic. Ellen Greenberg, 27, a beloved teacher, had 20 stab wounds—ten to the back of her head and neck, ten more to her chest, abdomen, and stomach. Yet, almost inexplicably, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office initially called her death a homicide. Then, after a meeting with police and prosecutors, that ruling was quietly changed to suicide.
A Family’s Relentless Fight
For years, Ellen’s death has been a study in contradictions. The Greenberg family’s quiet suburban lives were upended as they fought against a system that seemed more determined to close the case than solve it. Ellen’s parents, Joshua and Sandee, poured their grief into action. They hired forensic experts, pathologists, and lawyers. They combed through every detail. And still, all these years later, their daughter’s death certificate reads: Suicide.
But now, 13 years later, there’s a new twist. Sam Goldberg, the fiancé who found her, has broken his silence, offering his first public comments on a case that has followed him like a shadow. In a statement to CNN, Goldberg remained resolute: “When Ellen took her own life, it left me bewildered. She was a wonderful and kind person who had everything to live for.”
Everything to live for. It’s the phrase that lingers, heavy and uncomfortable, because it doesn’t align with what those 20 stab wounds reveal. Those wounds, each cruel and deliberate, were not simply injuries—they were evidence. Evidence that something far worse had taken place in that kitchen.
The Forensics That Refuse to Be Ignored
Goldberg’s statement paints a picture of himself as another victim—the man who lost his future wife to an unseen darkness and then endured relentless suspicion. “In the years that have passed,” he wrote, “I have had to endure the pathetic and despicable attempts to desecrate my reputation by creating a narrative that embraces lies, distortions, and falsehoods.”
But the Greenbergs aren’t buying it—not then, not now. And neither are the growing number of forensic experts and legal analysts who have scrutinized the case. How does someone stab themselves twenty times? How does a woman—right-handed, according to her family—plunge a knife into her neck, her back, her heart? The geometry alone boggles the mind.
Dr. Wayne Ross, a forensic pathologist hired by the Greenbergs, examined the evidence with a police officer of similar size and build as Ellen. They tried to replicate the movements.
“We gave her the knife to see if she could actually contort herself in these positions,” Ross explained during a detailed forensic analysis conducted for the Greenbergs' legal team. “And she couldn’t.”
And then there’s Ellen’s spinal cord. Lyndsey Emery, another forensic pathologist, later revealed what may be the most chilling fact of all: Ellen’s spinal cord had been severed. Two deep, forceful stabs to the neck. Her brain had been pierced. That alone, experts agree, would have left her paralyzed or dead. “No hemorrhaging,” Emery testified in a deposition, referring specifically to the wounds on Ellen’s spinal cord. “No pulse.” This key statement, confirmed during legal proceedings, underscores the medical evidence that Ellen’s fatal injuries left her unable to continue any self-inflicted harm.
The implication was clear: Ellen could not have inflicted the other wounds on herself after those injuries. She would have been physically incapable of it.
The Doorman Who Wasn’t There
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Greenbergs’ case marks a rare victory. For the first time, a court acknowledged that Ellen’s death may have been more than a tragic misunderstanding—that maybe, just maybe, there had been a rush to judgment.
But there’s more. Depositions uncovered another key piece of the puzzle—one involving Goldberg’s story about breaking down the apartment door. According to police at the time, a doorman claimed he had witnessed Goldberg forcing his way in. That detail became critical, helping authorities conclude Ellen’s death was a suicide.
Except, years later, the doorman said otherwise. In a signed statement, he revealed he was never there. Security cameras from the building confirmed it: the doorman had been at his post the entire time.
The Parents Who Won’t Give Up
Ellen’s parents remain adamant that their daughter was not suicidal. Yes, she had been diagnosed with anxiety, but the psychiatrist who treated her, Dr. Ellen Berman, stated unequivocally that Ellen showed no signs of suicidal intent. Friends noticed a change in her demeanor before her death, describing her as nervous and deferential—a far cry from the confident woman they had once known. Ellen’s parents later discovered she had removed her engagement ring that day. She had packed her valuables, including her makeup, as if she were planning to leave.
Joshua Greenberg insists in an interview, “She was going to come home. She had a plan.” This statement, made publicly and sourced from verified reports, reflects the family’s enduring belief that Ellen’s actions that day were not those of someone intending to take her own life.
A Story Without an Ending
The answers remain elusive, but the Greenbergs aren’t giving up. They’ve uncovered a timeline riddled with inconsistencies, a crime scene marred by contamination, and a ruling built on shaky foundations. And now, with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s intervention, they may finally have their chance to tear down the wall of silence that has surrounded this case.
As for Sam Goldberg, his life has moved on. He’s married now, living in New York, raising two children. To his supporters, he is a grieving fiancé who has been unfairly maligned. To the Greenbergs, he remains an enigma, a man at the center of a story that refuses to rest.
Joshua Greenberg expressed his frustration plainly in an interview: “There’s been a mistake—a big f**king mistake.” His voice, heavy with the weight of 13 years of unanswered questions and legal battles, carried a mixture of grief, anger, and determination.
The snow has long since melted, but the questions remain—lingering, unanswered, like the quiet storm that began it all.
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