Ellen Greenberg: Former Philadelphia ADA allowed to testify 13 years after teacher's death
PHILADELPHIA - The 13-year-old case of Ellen Greenberg's death may be heading back to court as the parents of a young Philadelphia teacher continue to search for answers surrounding the loss of their beloved daughter.
At the age of 27, Ellen was found fatally stabbed 20 times inside her Manayunk apartment in January 2011, just days after sending out save the dates for her upcoming wedding.
On Thursday, her mom, Sandra, confirmed to FOX 29 that a former Philadelphia prosecutor was granted permission to testify as part of the family's ongoing fight against the city.
"We are pleased and so should every parent in America," Sandra said. "Ellen’s death is so obviously a murder. This case is riddled with delay tactics!"
Ellen Greenberg case: Chester County DA to take over investigation of teacher's stabbing death, lawyer says
School teacher Ellen Greenberg was found stabbed to death in her Manayunk apartment more than ten years ago. Now, after her family fought the ruling that her death was a suicide, the Chester County District Attorney's Office will be investigating the case.
Greenberg family lawsuit
The family filed a lawsuit against the medical examiner's office in 2021 in a push for investigators to reevaluate the case.
Officials initially ruled Ellen's death a suicide before changing it to homicide, then switching it back to suicide days later.
However, her parents contended that Ellen could not have stabbed herself that many times and pushed to have the case reopened.
"I want my daughter's name cleared, because there's no way that she could have done that to herself," Sandee told Good Day Philadelphia back in 2021.
They were granted a non-jury trial to try to get the cause of death changed to "undecided" or homicide.
On Tuesday, a court ruled that the former ADA Guy D'Andrea could be deposed on or before May 6.
Ellen's items moved
During that same Good Day Philadelphia interview, the Greenbergs and private investigator Tom Brennan said Ellen's fiancé's uncle removed items from the apartment after it was no longer a crime scene, including Ellen's two laptops and cell phone.
"Right then and there, that negates that chain of evidence," Brennan said. "That adversely impacts the chain of evidence on those devices so that anything that's discovered on those devices can be challenged in court."
Brennan claims the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office promised to provide a forensic analysis of Ellen's laptop, but they never provided the report. The Greenbergs believe the analysis was never done.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office called allegations of new evidence "unfounded" and said they won't reopen the case until "legitimate new evidence is brought forward."
"Ellen’s death is nothing short of a tragedy, and our heart goes out to her family and friends. Her death is unimaginable and admittedly hard to accept, but all of the evidence thoroughly reviewed by our office and the findings of the medical examiner show this was a suicide. Allegations of new evidence have been unfounded. While it is heartbreaking to everyone that our investigation didn’t find the resolution her family wanted in this bizarre and perplexing case, there is nothing more for our office to do until and if legitimate new evidence is brought forward. At this time, no such information has been shared with our office not withstanding our request for interested parties to provide any relevant information."
Public support
The Greenbergs aren't the only ones who pushed for the case to be reopened. A Change.org petition called "Justice for Ellen Greenberg" gathered over 160,000 signatures and urged the case to be revisited, claiming "top forensic pathologists all agree the case is highly suspicious of murder."
Chester County takeover
More than 10 years after her death, the Chester County District Attorney's Office took over Ellen's case in August 2022.