• Date and Time of Incident: January 26, 2011, shortly after 6:40 PM.
• Location: Venice Loft apartments, 4601 Flat Rock Road, Philadelphia.
• Discovery of the Body: The woman was found by her fiancé, who reported finding her bloody and unresponsive on the kitchen floor.
• Condition of the Victim: She was found with a knife in her chest and was not breathing.
• Initial Response: Paramedics and EMTs determined she was deceased and left the scene.
• Police Investigation: Officer Jamie Budd arrived at 7:34 PM, requested the medical examiner, and contacted lead investigator Steve Olszewski.
• Scene Details: The bar lock on the front door was broken, consistent with the fiancé’s description. The apartment was tidy, with no signs of struggle or burglary.
• Medications: Alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), and zolpidem (Ambien) were found in the bedside drawer, along with a small notebook detailing medication effects.
• Family Statements: The decedent’s parents mentioned a sudden onset of out-of-character anxiety.
• Investigation: Upon discovering the body, police found no evidence indicating an intruder. The six-story apartment could only be accessed through the front door or an exterior balcony, and the fresh layer of snow outside was undisturbed. There were no signs of a robbery; valuables were visible and untouched. Greenberg’s parents told the police they had no reason to suspect her fiancé.

The Official Report:

The location of death is in the kitchen of the decedents apartment located at the Venice Loft Apartments, 4601 Flat Rock Rd unit 603, Philadelphia, PA 19127. It is a two bedroom apartment on the 6th floor of the building, shared by the decedent with her fiancé, Samuel GOLDBERG.

Items

The apartment is well kept, clean. The inside lock to the front door, a common latch/solid bar door guard, is broken with the screws on the door loose, obviously forced in when in a lock ed position.

Throughout the entire apartment, there is no evidence of a struggle.

• Furniture and items appear in place, nothing is obviously missing or disturbed.
• There are numerous valuables present, money, keys, 3 laptop computers; one in the kitchen on the island (appears to be GOLDBERG’S), one in the master bedroom suite on the floor (appears to be the decedents, as evidenced by wedding material and one on an additional bedroom desk (appears to be the decedents work computer, as evidenced by numerous teaching materials).

The decedent is a teacher. There is no note found or anything indicative of suicide on the computers or in the rest of the apartment. The only way to exit the apartment with the front doorway locked is through a rear slider leading to a patio. The patio is 6 stories high. There is snow present with no tracks or footprints, completely undisturbed. The ambient temperature is inside the apartment reads 69 Deg F on a thermostat. The incident occurred during a winter snowstorm.

• Prescription medication are recovered from a bed stand located in the master bedroom, Prescriber, Dr Ellen Berman Rx: alprazolam, clonazepam and zolpidem.
• A paper booklet is in the decedents pocketbook that’s on a chair at the living room island, resembles a journal of her medications and her state of mind while taking, last dated 1/16..
• The decedents cell phone is in the master bathroom.

Review of Ellen’s calls and messages log reveals:

• last outgoing call was to a number “redacted”
  
• last missed call was to a programmed, on 1/26/11 at 14:33 duration 30 seconds
• Additional missed calls from a programmed Sam Goldberg on 01/26/11 between 5:30 PM – 5:42 PM (17:30-17:42) and programmed Venice Lofts
• last outgoing text to a programmed 01/26/11 at 15:47 
• last incoming texts and an email from a programmed Sam Goldberg on 1/26/11 between 5:32 PM – 5:54 PM (17:32-17:54)
• 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

The Location and Position of the Body:

The decedent is on the hardwood kitchen floor, located just inside the door entrance. The decedent is found supine with her head and some of her upper body/ shoulders resting against the lower half of the white kitchen cabinets next to the range.

• Her body, starting with the head is facing north and the legs west.
  
• She is clad in a zipper up dark colored shirt over top a t-shirt, grey sweatpants, underwear, and light brown UGG boots.
  A pair of eyeglasses are on the floor to the right of the decedent.
• A white towel is grasped in her left hand.
• A hair tie or scrunchie is on her right wrist.
• There are no personal effects on the body.

Injuries

Upon further examination of the body, the decedent has a knife embedded in her left chest, through her clothing.

There are multiple stab wounds examined at the scene; at the chest where the knife is located, a few superficial grouped nearby, one to the left upper chest near the clavicle, 2 more at the mid chest between and just below the breasts. There are defects to the shirts consistent with the underlying wounds.

• There are no defense injuries to the hands, wrists or forearms.
• The right hand is closed in a loose fist.
• Postmortem findings at arrival at 20:27 and 21:55 are the same.
• The body is mostly flaccid. The hands appear to be slightly stiff.
• The body is cool to the touch at the extremities and warm to the touch at the torso, front and back.
• Lividity is inconspicuous.

Findings are consistent with current position of the body.

Blood:

• Blood is present on the head, in the hair and neck.
  The right hand has blood on it.
• On the front side of her shirts, along her pants on the front side and on the top of both of her boots is blood.
• The right boot has blood on the sole.
• The blood around her his generally confined to the area of the body, on the floor underneath and on the face of the cabinets behind her.
• One small blood spatter is on the cabinet to the left of the body.
• Two separate drops of blood spatter are on the granite counter top above her

Two kitchen knives are in the sink adjacent to the body. They are free of any blood or tissue. The sink underneath is dry and also bears no evidence of blood or tissue. A knife block is on the counter between the sink and range. It is turned over to the side. The three utensils are a spatula, fork and pearing knife, all that bears no evidence of blood or tissue. The knife in her body is consistent with the knife set found in the sink and in the block.

Interviews

Police at the scene provided the information described in the background section. Uniformed police briefly canvassed the hall. At the time, no neighbors reported any loud noises or arguments.

Investigators reviewed Goldberg’s key fob records and security videos and it matched Goldberg Statements. The Apartment Complex Surveillance videos also showed no signs of unauthorized access of entrances by anyone around the time of Ellen’s death.

A man who lived down the hall from Greenberg said he didn’t hear any commotion the night Ellen Greenberg was found dead.

Investigators looked at Ellen’s laptop computers and found nothing indicative of suicide, the investigation report said. She didn’t leave behind a note.

The psychiatrist, who had been treating her for anxiety, reported that she was happy in her relationship and had denied any abuse. Initially, police suspected the death might be a suicide, particularly because there were no defensive wounds on Greenberg’s body, suggesting she had not fought off an attacker.

Autopsy:

Original Autopsy Findings: However, the following day on January 27, 2011, Dr. Marlon Osbourne reached a different conclusion. In a report dated January 27, he classified the death as a homicide.

Dr. Marlon Osbourne’s findings from the autopsy on January 27, 2011, provide critical details about the cause of death and the nature of the injuries sustained by the decedent:

• Multiple Stab Wounds: The decedent had numerous stab wounds to the chest, abdomen, and back of the neck.
• Critical Injuries: The stab wounds affected vital areas, including the aortic arch, left lung, and cervical spine (c-spine). This indicates severe trauma to essential organs and structures.
• Blade Details: A 12.5 cm (4.9 in) blade was embedded in the wound to the chest, with a depth of 10 cm (3.94 in). This suggests that the weapon used was quite substantial and the wounds were deep.
• Bruising: The presence of multiple bruises at different stages of resolution suggests a pattern of physical altercations or abuse occurring over time.

Osbourne weighed all his observations and reached a manner of death: homicide. With the ME’s ruling, Ellen’s death became the concern of the Philadelphia Homicide Unit.

Jan. 29, 2011 Police Released a statement:

On Jan. 29, 2011, a police spokesperson said that despite the homicide ruling, authorities were “leaning” toward suicide in Ellen’s case and looking into “mental issues” she might have had.

Lt. Raymond Evers emphasized that the case is still wide open, but he said he wanted to assure residents of Greenberg’s Manayunk neighborhood that there wasn’t “a maniac on the loose.”

March 2011 Change the Manner of Death:

Three months later in March 2011, following meetings with investigators, Dr. Osbourne made an unprecedented decision to change his original ruling. He reversed his earlier classification of the death as a homicide and concluded that Ellen’s death was actually a suicide. interference in a sensitive homicide investigation. Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandra Greenberg, were astounded by the sudden change. It made no sense to them that Ellen would have inflicted 20 stab wounds on herself.

Greenberg Family Outrage: The deceased’s parents, Joshua and Sandra Greenberg, are deeply troubled by the sudden and suspicious change in the ruling and the apparent mishandling of evidence.

Crime timeline Notes: Here are the key issues and implications:

Premature Cleaning of the Crime Scene:

• Initial Miscommunication: The property manager, unsure if the apartment was a crime scene, contacted law enforcement, who misinformed her that it was not a crime scene and directed her to a crime scene clean-up crew.
• Cleaning Prior to Investigation: By the time the correct ruling of homicide was made, the apartment had been professionally cleaned, leading to the loss of critical evidence. The absence of the victim’s personal belongings—purse, cell phone, and laptop—complicated the investigation further.

Pressure to Change the Manner of Death:

• Change in Ruling: Less than a month after Dr. Osbourne’s initial homicide ruling, he was pressured to change his conclusion to suicide, based on information that the fiancé was accompanied by the building’s doorman into the apartment.
• Altered Findings: Dr. Osbourne’s alteration of the ruling to suicide, despite the initial findings, raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation and whether external influences may have affected the outcome.

Police Statement: Spokespeople for the police department and DA’s office said the fiancé was accompanied into the apartment by the building’s doorman. The apartment door had been locked until broken in by Goldberg. He had remained on scene and was cooperative. There were no signs of an intruder. And the lack of defensive wounds also factored heavily in police’s determination.

Crime timeline Notes: But according to the affidavit by a doorman, he did not accompanied fiancé upstairs Declaration of Philip Hanton – Doorman

The homicide Detective John McNamee, and other assigned detectives believed the information they developed strengthened the case that Ellen had killed herself.

• She was anxious.
• She was found in a locked apartment with no evidence of a struggle.
• No other person’s DNA was on the knife.
• She had no marks on her body that indicated she fought with an attacker.

Detectives believed the shallow punctures on her body were “test or hesitation” wounds made as Ellen considered stabbing herself to death.

The outside Neuropathologist was hired to review:

In an effort to resolve the dispute over manner of death, McNamee suggested hiring an outside Neuropathologist to review a portion of Ellen’s spinal cord to determine if it was damaged by any of the wounds to the back of her neck.

Lucy Rorke-Adams, a renowned neuropathologist who retired from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2015, to conduct the exam. But instead of having her come to the ME’s Office, Osbourne said he walked a section of Ellen’s spinal cord over to Rorke-Adams at CHOP in “very heavy snow” for an informal “curbside exam.” she didn’t do a microscopic exam but was still able to tell him the dura, or the sheath covering the spinal cord, was cut, but not the spinal cord itself, and there was no indication Ellen lost motor function.

The involvement of Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, a respected neuropathologist, in Ellen Greenberg’s case adds another layer to already unprofessional investigation.

1. Informal “Curbside Exam”: The decision to have Dr. Rorke-Adams perform an informal examination outside of a formal setting is notable. Typically, formal neuropathological exams are conducted in a controlled environment with detailed analysis, including microscopic examination. The informal nature of this exam, especially in adverse weather conditions, might raise questions about the thoroughness of the analysis.
2. Findings: Dr. Rorke-Adams’ assessment indicated that while the dura (the protective sheath covering the spinal cord) was cut, the spinal cord itself was not severed. This would align with the possibility that Ellen might have lost sensation in the area affected by the injury,but no indication of losing motor function.
   
3. Implications: The finding that the spinal cord sheath was damaged but not the cord itself suggests that Ellen might have been able to stab herself despite the injury. This supports the idea that she could have been incapacitated enough to continue the act of stabbing herself.
4. Lack of Motor Function Loss: The report that there was no indication of motor function loss is significant. If Ellen had not lost motor function, it could imply that the injury was not severe enough to prevent her from moving or performing actions, though it could still have impacted her sensation or control.
   

No report by Rorke-Adams was created and a bill for her work has never been found. Statement to Enquirer from neuropatholigst Lucy Rorke-Adams

March 7, 2011 Reversed Manner of Death:

After initially ruling Ellen’s death a homicide, on March 7, 2011 the ME’s Office reversed itself and changed the manner of Ellen’s death to suicide, siding with police investigators.

“We couldn’t prove anything else,” McNamee said. “We were just letting things go where it went, and that’s where it went.”

April 1, 2011 Laptop Forensics

Grace provided a search history from Ellen’s computer  between Dec. 18, 2010, and Jan. 10, 2011, that was recovered by law enforcement’s Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL) and turned over to police on April 1, 2011. It included the search terms _suicide methods, quick suicide,_ and _painless suicide._ He provided some of Ellen’s text messages, as well.