Hey everyone, welcome back to Beyond the Silence
Whispers Across America. I'm Sammy and today
we're diving into the tangled, heartbreaking
story of Ellen Greenberg. It's a story of a young
woman who deserved far more than a shrug from
the system. A story about how quickly evidence
can vanish when assumptions are made too early.
And a story about parents who refuse to stop
fighting for the truth. Now, if you haven't heard
her name before, let me sketch this out for you.
A 27 -year -old first grade teacher, passionate
about her students, making a life in Philadelphia,
newly engaged to Sam Goldberg. Ellen grew up
in New York, earned her degree from Penn State,
then her teaching credentials from Temple and
Chestnut Hill. By all accounts, she was exactly
the kind of person you'd want teaching your kids.
Compassionate, bright, full of empathy. Her story.
Well, there are cases where you can feel the
ripples spreading outward. How one single event
shatters dozens of lives. Ellen's is one of those.
Every family I've ever spoken to in these situations
lives with this constant wound when answers are
still missing. That's what keeps me coming back
to cases like Ellen's. And maybe that's what
brought you here too. Alright, let's drop you
into January 26, 2011. Philadelphia is blanketed
by a nor 'easter. Snow comes heavy, schools dismiss
early, and Ellen heads back to her apartment
in Manayunk. It's a normal day, or at least it
should have been. She settles in, grades some
papers, and waits for her fiancé, Sam Goldberg,
who leaves for a workout at the building's gym.
Around 6 .30 p .m., Sam comes back. He finds
the apartment door locked with the inside swing
latch engaged. He texts and calls Ellen. No response.
He sends increasingly frustrated messages like,
Hello? Open the door. When she doesn't answer,
he forces the door open. What he finds is the
kind of image that scars you for life. Ellen
is collapsed in the kitchen, a knife still lodged
in her chest, blood around her. The 911 call
that follows has haunted people for years. Sam
immediately says she stabbed herself, and at
one point she fell on a knife. The dispatcher
tells him to start CPR, and he hesitates, asking,
I have to, right? Panic can make people act strangely,
but even from that very first call, the phrasing
raises questions that never really went away.
The investigation begins and derails almost instantly.
Police arrive and almost immediately lean toward
suicide. No full crime scene unit work up. The
very next day, the apartment is professionally
cleaned. Bloodstains scrubbed, surfaces sanitized,
and crucially, the chain of evidence broken.
To make matters worse, Ellen's fiancé's uncle,
Judge James Schwartzman. A well -connected figure
walks into the apartment and removes laptops,
phones, credit cards. Devices gone before they
were even examined. That's a hole in the record
that you can't patch later. The autopsy should
have been the turning point. Dr. Marlon Osborne,
the assistant medical examiner, finds 20 stab
wounds. Eight to the chest, one to the scalp,
and ten to the back and neck. He documents 11
bruises, arms, abdomen, legs, at different stages
of healing. He rules the case a homicide. But
then, within days, that ruling flips to suicide.
No clear explanation. Later, Dr. Osborne admits
that police pressured him, arguing that the locked
door made homicide impossible. For Ellen's parents,
it's like a rug ripped out from under them. They
learn about the change not from investigators
but from news reports. The family refuses to
accept it. They called in many independent experts.
Dr. Cyril Wicht says the case is strongly suspicious
of homicide. Dr. Henry Lee concludes the wound
patterns and blood evidence fit homicide, not
suicide. Dr. Lindsay Emery, a neuropathologist,
finds evidence one wound to Ellen's spinal column
happened after she was already dead. Physiologically
impossible if she had done it to herself. Dr.
Wayne Ross says the bruises look consistent with
repeated blunt trauma, not accidents. Piece by
piece, their analysis paints a picture that clashes
with the official narrative. And let's not forget
the locked door argument, the backbone of the
suicide ruling. Police said the swing latch was
on. Nobody else could have entered. But the building
manager later admits those latches sometimes
swung closed on their own. Security footage shows
Sam alone when he forced entry. No guard with
him, as he claimed. The very foundation of suicide
by locked door starts to crumble. Even Dr. Osborne
later says that if he had known the latch evidence
was shaky, he would never have ruled suicide.
For years, Ellen's parents fight tooth and nail.
They file lawsuits, petition the courts, push
for reclassification. In 2019, they sue the city
of Philadelphia, arguing that the medical examiner's
ruling must be changed. The city resists, insisting
the ruling is final. The case drags on. But in
2025, movement finally comes. The Greenbergs
reach a $650 ,000 settlement with the city, and
as part of that, the case will be re -examined.
Even bigger, Dr. Osborne, the very medical examiner
who once changed the ruling, signs a sworn statement
saying he now believes Ellen's death should never
have been ruled suicide. However, the Chester
County District Attorney's Office, which had
been brought in to avoid conflicts of interest,
announced that the case would be placed on inactive
status. They said the evidence available today
doesn't meet the burden of proof for homicide,
and in recent developments, the case continues
to spark debate. In October 2025, the Philadelphia
Medical Examiner's Office reaffirmed that Ellen's
death is officially ruled a suicide, citing no
evidence of forced entry and stating she could
have inflicted the wounds herself. Her family
strongly disputes this conclusion, calling the
report deeply flawed and pointing out missing
surveillance, unexplained bruises, and forensic
inconsistencies. While the case was reopened
earlier in 2025 as part of a settlement with
the city, the fight for clarity and justice is
far from over. Ellen's story remains a stark
reminder of how contested evidence and official
rulings can leave families searching for answers
for years. Meanwhile, this case doesn't just
live in courtrooms. It explodes online. A Hulu
doc series, Death in Apartment 603. Podcasts,
YouTube investigations, FOIA document dumps.
It all fuels public pressure. Over 160 ,000 people
signed petitions demanding justice for Ellen.
Advocacy in the digital age keeps the case alive
in a way the system might have buried. And so
here we are, 14. Years later. Ellen's parents,
Josh and Sandy Greenberg, have spent every ounce
of energy making sure their daughter isn't forgotten
or mislabeled. They've won some moral victories,
but the official record hasn't changed. And as
the years pass, the questions only grow louder.
How could a young woman with 20 stab wounds,
10 to her chest, 10 to the back of her head,
be labeled a suicide? How could evidence so contested
leave a family without closure? Ellen's story
has become more than a case file. It's a symbol
of how justice can stall, how answers can be
buried, and how persistence from ordinary people
can keep the truth alive. That's it for today's
episode. The questions remain and the search
continues, because every lost soul deserves answers,
and every story deserves to be heard. What are
your thoughts? What do you believe happened?
Share your voice because sometimes the smallest
detail can spark the biggest breakthrough. I'm
Sammy and this is Beyond the Silence, Whispers
Across America. Thank you for listening. Stay
safe and I'll see you next time.