Family of Ellen Greenberg still searching for answers 10 years after her death
PHILADELPHIA - The parents of a young school teacher who was found stabbed to death inside her Manayunk apartment a decade ago have filed a lawsuit against the medical examiners office and are pushing for investigators to reevaluate the case.
Just days after 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg sent out save the date invitations to her upcoming wedding, her fiancé found her stabbed 20 times inside their 6th floor apartment.
Audio from the 911 call that Greenberg's fiancé made on Jan. 26 was recently shared on the nationally popular podcast CrimeJunkies.
MORE LOCAL HEADLINES
- Uber driver shoots 2 during attempted robbery in Mayfair, police say
- Police identify woman, boy killed in violent multi-car crash in Olney
- 1991 homicide victim known as 'Tiger Lady' identified as Pennsylvania teenager
"I went downstairs to go workout, I came back up, the door was latched, my fiancé is inside and she wasn't answering so after about half an hour I decided to break it down and I see her now just on the floor with blood, she's not responding,"
Police initially treated Greenberg's death as a suicide, then changed it to a homicide. Days later, the medical examiner's office switched the matter of death back to a suicide. But Greenberg's parents, Sandee and Josh, contend that Ellen could not have stabbed herself that many times and are pushing 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 Greenberg said on Good Day Philadelphia.
Ellen Greenberg was found stabbed to death 20 times in her Manayunk apartment in Jan. 2011.
The couple is suing the medical examiner's office and they were granted a non-jury trial to try to get the cause of death changed to "undecided" or homicide, according to Josh Greenberg. The Greenberg's hope the change would force investigators to reopen the case.
During an interview on Good Day Philadelphia, 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."
The Greenbergs aren't the only ones pushing for the case to be reopened. A Change.org petition called "Justice for Ellen Greenberg" has over 115,000 signatures at this writing and urges the case to be revisited, claiming "top forensic pathologists all agree the case is highly suspicious of murder."
___
DOWNLOAD: FOX 29 NEWS APP | FOX 29 WEATHER AUTHORITY APP
SUBSCRIBE: Good Day Digest Newsletter | FOX 29 Philly on YouTube