Parents Of Woman Who Died Of 20 Stab Wounds Sue Medical Examiner Over Suicide Ruling

The parents of a Pennsylvania woman who died of 20 stab wounds a decade ago are suing the medical examiner’s office for declaring her death a suicide.

The parents of elementary school teacher Ellen Greenberg have been granted a non-jury trial in their lawsuit against the coroner’s office over her 2011 death, CBS Philly reported.

Greenberg, 27, had returned home to her Philadelphia apartment early due to a snowstorm on Jan. 26, 2011, The Washington Post reported.

The first-grade teacher’s fiancé, Sam Goldberg, found himself locked out when he returned home from the gym that afternoon. He broke down the door and found Greenberg’s body in the kitchen of the apartment with a knife in her chest, according to the police report.

Police said Greenberg was found with stabbing wounds to her chest, neck, head and torso, according to the New York Post.

According to the police report, Greenberg was alone in the sixth-floor apartment, and the door had been blocked by a swing bar from the inside. The knife matched the set in her knife block, which was tipped over, the report said.

The teacher’s death was initially suspected by police to be a suicide due to the lack of forced entry, defensive wounds or DNA on her body that wasn’t hers, according to the Washington Post report.

Medical examiner Marlon Osbourne initially determined her death to be a homicide but amended the ruling to suicide more than a month later, the lawsuit of Greenberg’s parents said.

“It makes no sense,” the Greenbergs’ attorney, Joseph Podraza, told Washington Post.

Greenberg’s family is now taking action to get to the bottom of her death, the lawyer said. They hired a team of experts, who found that a knife in her apartment was overturned, possibly suggesting that there may have been a struggle.

A gash on the back of her head could be from a wound that rendered her unconscious and unable to defend herself, the lawsuit suggested.

The Greenberg family also questioned why Ellen filled up her gas tank before she returned home that day. There was no note indicating that the teacher had planned to take her life, according to the suit.

In response to the lawsuit, an attorney for the city argued that the medical examiner’s office made the ruling based on years of experience. The lawyer also noted that the death certificate does not prevent local authorities from investigating Greenberg’s death as a homicide.

“The medical examiner’s determination is binding on no one. … If a prosecuting authority were convinced that Ellen Greenberg was murdered, there is no statute of limitations on homicide and they could pursue it,” the city argued in court filings.