Bride-to-be Ellen Greenberg Found Dead With 20 Stab Wounds - Police Ruled Her Death a Suicide
On January 26, 2011, Samuel Goldberg returns to his Manayunk apartment and finds his fiancé, Ellen Greenberg deceased and slumped on the kitchen floor. A 10 inch kitchen knife protruded from Ellen’s chest along with 19 other stab wounds that ended her life. Police claimed that the decedent committed suicide, but others think there’s more to her tragic death.
From an outsider’s perspective, Ellen Greenberg and her soon-to-be fiancé Samuel Goldberg were living a joyful life in their Venice Lofts (now Apex) apartments on Flat Rock Road in Philadelphia. Ellen’s Juniata Park elementary school released early because of the recent noreaster pummeling the city with heavy snow. Ellen returned to her cozy apartment to make dinner and complete her wedding preparations.
Around 4:30pm, Samuel leaves the apartment for his routine workout kissing his beautiful fiancé on the cheek on his way out. This would be the last time he would ever see her alive again. Around 6pm Samuel returns to discover his apartment locked from the inside. This is unusual and Samuel sends the following text as he becomes more and more frustrated.
“Hello”
“open the door”
“what r u doin”
“im getting pissed”
“hello”
“you better have an excuse”
“what the fuck”
“ahhh”
“u have no idea”
Although Ellen suffered from 20 stab wounds (actually 19, plus one large gash on her scalp) police initially ruled her death a suicide. Samuel stayed at the scene and fully cooperated with detectives showing no unusual signs of guilt. The apartment door was also locked when he returned home to the apartment, at least according to him. Furthermore, the apartment CCTV showed no unusual activity or suspicious non-residents entering the complex. Also, the balcony of the couple’s apartment showed no signs of entry, because of the lack of footprints that would have indented the heavy snow.
The autopsy performed on Ellen Greenberg’s body by the State Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide. In an unusual move the Police Department overruled the medical examiner’s ruling and continue to maintain a suicide conclusion. A computer reconstruction was created so that the public can get a better idea of the location of the many knife wounds.
Initially, the Greenberg family was informed that detectives found no searches on Ellen’s computer relating to a suicide motive. However, after the family hired their own detective and investigative team, the State claimed that there were computer searches performed.
Further reading
Ellen Greenberg’s autopsy
Justice for Ellen Facebook page
Computer searches from Ellen’s computer
