Going West: True Crime - Ellen Greenberg // 271

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

In January of 2011, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher was discovered dead on her kitchen floor with over 20 stab wounds. Despite the fact that ten of the stab wounds were made from behind her, police ruled her death a suicide. But as of August 2022, the DA has reopened her case. This is the mysterious death of Ellen Greenberg. PETITION https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-ellen-rae-greenberg-justiceforellen?signed=true BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/cold-case-spotlight/parents-ellen-greenberg-believe-new-evidence-submitted-philadelphia-attorney-general-n1286606?fbclid=IwAR3ywjj2yzvTWk2mr9LSRsCKIl6G5gDT2NrYDBpKmZsBrk0YrszuDHBs0NU 2. The News Pocket: https://thenewspocket.com/where-is-samuel-goldberg-now/ 3. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64780765/ellen-rae-greenberg 4. Change.org Petition: https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-ellen-rae-greenberg-justiceforellen?signed=true 5. Nancy Grace: https://nation.foxnews.com/watch/31691c3728887edfc62176a63cafc30a/ 6. Justice for Ellen: https://www.facebook.com/JusticeForEllen2019 7. Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11173629/Friend-woman-suicide-reinvestigated-missed-call-died.html 8. Autopsy: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5759528-Autopsy-RPT 9. Whyy: https://whyy.org/articles/neighbor-greenbergs-voice-stood-out-in-a-crowd/ 10. Sam's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-goldberg-724534b/ 11. Police report: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5759550-Me-Inv-RPT.html 12. True Crime Society: https://truecrimesocietyblog.com/2022/10/11/ellen-rae-greenberg-murder-or-suicide/ 13. Crime Scoop: https://www.crimescoop.org/news/ten-years-ago-ellen-greenberg-was-fatally-stabbed-20-times-10-times-in-the-back-of-the-neck-why-is-her-horrific-death-still-being-called-a-suicide 14. Investigation Discovery: https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/news/da-reopens-case-of-teacher-found-with-20-stab-wounds-whose-death-was-ruled-a-suicide 15. CBS 21: https://local21news.com/news/local/new-evidence-brought-forward-in-controversial-suicide-case Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, big shout out and thank you to Kate, Taylor, Julie, Lauren, Ashley, Irene, Jessica, and Kenny. Woo! For recommending today's case, this has been on our list for a really long time, and we're finally covering it thankfully, and I'm so sorry if anybody else recommended this as well. These are the only names that I have in our email. But thank you everybody. I mean, this case is just bananas. Yeah, this is one of those cases that is super controversial, and it's also very, very suspicious. So make sure that you share this story.

Yes, absolutely do that. And if you want to see photos from today's case and every other case that we cover, head on over to our Instagram at GoingWestPodcast, or Twitter is at GoingWestPod, and we're also on Facebook. All right guys, without further delay, this is episode 271 of Going West,

so let's get into it. Was it murder or suicide? That's the question of grieving family is still trying to get answered. A newly engaged woman excited for her future is found dead in her apartment with multiple stab wounds, but officials ruled it a suicide. Could that even be possible? The greekal battle over the controversial death of Ellen Greenberg has spilled into appeals court.

Greenberg is the Philadelphia teacher found dead of multiple stab wounds more than a decade ago. I think this is a vicious homicide. This cannot be suicide. She was found dead in her manny uncle apartment back in 2011. Her death was rolled to homicide at the time before being switched to a suicide. Her parents have been fighting that ruling ever since. She did not kill herself. You don't stab yourself when you're dead. That's just a basic medical proposition that nobody disputes. Ellen Ray Greenberg was born on June 23, 1983 in New York City, New York. She was the only daughter of Sandy and Josh Greenberg who both worked in the dental field.

She's remembered by her parents as incredibly kind and nurturing, and her dad described her as very athletic, but also a girly girl. The family eventually relocated from New York to Harrisburg, which is the capital of Pennsylvania, and after graduating high school, Ellen went on to attend Penn State, majoring in communications.

Ellen loved kids, and was really excited to have children of her own, but in the meantime, she put her nurturing personality to good use with a job teaching elementary school. She considered a career in speech pathology as well, but she settled on returning to school instead. She attended Temple University in Philadelphia for her master's degree in education and

landed a job as a first grade teacher. Ellen worked at Juniana Park Academy in North Philadelphia, and in fact was one of four founding teachers who had been there since the beginning, four years prior to her death. A neighbor of Ellen's remembers her as Gregorious and social with a large circle of friends and for her distinctive voice. She said, quote, she had a voice that was very raspy for a female, which is funny because her personality was so sweet and she was so bubbly. But anyway, so Ellen was said to have had unconditional devotion to her job and her students.

She absolutely loved everybody that she worked with, she loved what she did, and she loved the kids that she got to teach. When she was 24, she started dating 25-year-old Pennsylvania native Sam Goldberg, who worked as a television producer for NBC. After dating for a little while, they moved into a luxury six-floor apartment on Flat Rock Road in the Maniaanc neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia, a building that sat just a block from the school kill river. In the summer of 2010, Sam proposed to Ellen with a sizable diamond ring and the couple began planning their wedding together. Toward the end of that year, under the pressure of leading a classroom full of first graders and planning a wedding for August of 2011, Ellen started to complain to her parents about

severe anxiety. She even called them to ask if she could move home to Harrisburg with them for a bit to regroup, considering taking a leave from school. Ellen explained that the school district had changed some regulations that were making things harder on its teachers. She was also having trouble with a few difficult students, and she was struggling with how to best handle them. Now her parents were surprised, but they were sympathetic, and encouraged her to try to

finish out the school year. Ellen started seeing a psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Burman to navigate her anxiety, and it seemed to lift her spirits. Dr. Burman diagnosed her with anxiety and also in adjustment disorder, meaning that she was struggling to cope with a major life change or a stressful life event. Dr. Burman explained to Ellen's parents that she did not believe that Ellen was struggling with depression, though. She also prescribed Ellen medication, one to help her sleep, and one to help Ellen manage her anxiety during the day.

Ellen described herself to Dr. Burman as anxious, insecure, and unsure of herself, and explained that these feelings had not been the norm until recently. Sandy was very active in her daughter's treatment, and she was also in touch with Dr. Burman to keep tabs on her daughter's progress. Ellen met with the psychiatrist three times on January 12th, January 17th, and also January 19th of 2011, and she also had another session scheduled for January 27th the day after she died. Her best friend, Allison, remembered that she was not herself during this time. The girls had been best friends since they were 10 years old, and it also been roommates

at Penn State. They even got engaged at the same time. There were bridesmaids in each other's weddings and it had gone out dress shopping just days before Ellen's death. Allison remembered, quote, I could tell she was not herself. Even when I picked her up to go dress shopping, she just left to shuffled.

She was always fully put together, but her hair wasn't done, and she just wasn't herself. When we were in the fitting room, she even started crying a little. And just like, I'm so sorry, I know I'm not myself, but I'll get it together. And I mean, that's really sad.

Everyone's allowed to have their time where they're not feeling like themselves, they're not put together. Absolutely. Everybody is allowed to feel like this. So I understand, or I understand why Allison is saying that she didn't feel like herself, even Ellen apparently said that,

but it's like, that's okay. You know, like, yeah, I feel like that multiple times a year. And we are mentioning this part of the story because of what ultimately happens here because it could be relevant, but I also just wanna put it out there that maybe it's not,

and maybe this is totally unrelated. So Allison apparently didn't want to press her on the issue of, you know, kind of what was going on with her. And Ellen didn't want to make the day about herself. So Allison said later that she knew Ellen had been struggling with anxiety and had tried to support her through it, saying, quote, I knew something wasn't right other than school. My father-in-law worked with her, and he said there was nothing for her to be stressed out about. They loved her there.

So while she had been under an increased amount of pressure from work and also wedding planning, there were no avert signs leading up to her death that anything else was wrong. She seemed to be managing her struggles well for the time being with talk therapy and medication. And just days before her death, she sent out the Save the Dates for her wedding. On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 27-year-old Ellen set out to drive the 20 minutes or so that it took her to get to school. That morning was a bleak one, a harbinger of things to come,

as a brutal nor Easter storm blew through the region. In two days, Philadelphia got close to 15 inches of snow. On her way to work, Ellen called her mom and had what Sandy called a pleasant chat, keeping it light and discussing their upcoming taxes, and the snowfall that was ahead of them. She checked in with a few friends throughout the day as well, and around lunchtime, the school released the students early to prepare for the incoming storm, and Ellen waited

with them to make sure that they all made it home safely, which is really sweet that just seems kind of goes to show you how good of a teacher she really was. Absolutely. So after the last student was finally picked up, Ellen made her way home, stopping for gas, and then arriving at the apartment around 1.30 pm. Around 1 pm, likely on her drive, Ellen called Allison, but her friend didn't pick up the phone. When Allison called her back, Ellen didn't answer either.

Sam and Ellen were home together for what Sam described as an uneventful afternoon. A few hours after she left school at 4.45pm, Sam headed to the gym inside the apartment complex and left Ellen in their apartment making dinner. Sam returned to the apartment between 5.15 and and 530 pm, but found that the swing lock on the back of the door had been pulled, making it impossible for him to get in. He claims that he called out to Ellen, but received no response. So he went downstairs to the lobby and asked the door man on duty that night, whose name is Phil Hanton, to help him get in. But the doorman explained that it was against building policy, and that he would have to

break the lock himself as well as be responsible for the repairs. Between 5.32 and 5.54pm, Sam sent 9 text messages to Ellen, getting rapidly more angry. They read, Hello, open the door, what are you doing? I'm getting pissed. Hello, you better have an excuse. What the fuck? Ah, you have no idea. Sam also tried calling her numerous times and even emailed her, but she never responded.

Between 607 pm and 610 pm, the building in which they lived, which is called the Venice Lofts, also attempted to call her to know a veil. Sam finally broke the swing lock and was able to enter the apartment only to find Ellen collapsed on the floor in a pool of her own blood. At 6.33 pm, he called 911. He then I were originally going to kind of act this part out but I think it is way more beneficial to hear the call and to hear Sam's tone and the things that he says. So here we go. I need a murder.

I just walked through my part of life. The object on the floor with blood everywhere. What is the address? 46-01 flat rock road. Please come. Hello, 40- No. 01 flat rock road.

Is it the house or a part? Oh no. Hold on. No. Oh, one. Black rock road. Is it the house or a park? Oh, no. Oh, no. What a park. Is it a apartment? What a park. I'm for...

Please, Harry, please. She's bleeding from. I don't know. I can't tell. She's... No, sir. Do you have to calm yourself down in order to get you some help? I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm looking at her right now. I can't see anything. She doesn't know there's nothing broken. She's bleeped. Ellie, you don't know where she's bleeding from. Ellie, it's coming from. I think she hit her head. I think she hit her head. I think. But it's up everywhere. She might have fallen. Do you know what happened?

She may have slept in the blood on the table. Her face is a little purple. OK, hold on for rescue for her. Stay on the phone. I'm going to see if I can find a firm 842. Yeah, just no. It was 4601 flat rock road, please, Harry. 46-01, flat rock?

Yes. That's all. I just went downstairs to go work out. I came back up the door and the last. Mike's fiance is inside. She wasn't answering. So after about half an hour, I decided to break it down. I see her now, just on the floor, but blood. She's not responding. Okay. She breathes.

I see. Look at her chest. I need you to calm down. I need you to look at her chest. I don't think she... I really don't think she is. Listen to me. Someone's on the way. Look at her chest. Is she flat on her back? She's on her back. Do I play her back? Look at her chest and tell me if it's going up and down, up and down. I don't see her moving. Okay, do you know how to do CPR? I don't. Okay, I can tell you what to do, okay, and so they get there.

I want you to keep her safe. Oh, God. Hello. Yeah, hi, okay. Well, then the do CPR with me over the phone so they can get here. I have to, right? Okay, so get her flat on her back, bear her chest. Okay, you want to rip her shirt off? river shirt all okay you'll down by her side oh my god

Ellie please okay I'm trying not to try not her shirt won't come off it's a zipper she stabbed herself where she's so at the night. Well, no, her next picking out. How what? There's a nice picking out of her hutter. Oh, she's there. So I guess I don't know where she's going. I don't know. Okay, well don't touch it. Okay. I just put it in the letter. Now, I mean, what do I do? I mean, you can't, it's a nice that her chest is going to be kind of hard for you to do CPR at this time. Oh, no. Oh, my goodness, okay. Police with operator. 377. Is someone calling her? Yes, they are. You say 4601 flat, right?

Yes. Okay, someone's on the way. In the nicest still inside. Where's her? What? The nicest still inside of her? Yeah, if I didn't take it out. Look at her chest or where are you, or is it? It looks like it's right. It looks like it's right in her heart. Okay, someone's on the way out there. Oh my God, oh my God. How old is she? She's 27. 27.

And there's no sign of life at all? No, no, please don't be. What? Benchoranda her arm. It's a mischievous sign of pain. She's... Ellie! She's to her arm, it's only if she responds to pain. She's... Ellie! She's not...

She's not her arm, her hands are still warm. I don't know if that means, but it's blood, I mean... I know, but you can't, and the knife is still inside of her. How far? Can you see how far it went in? It looks pretty deep. Okay. It looks...

Three of us to long nights. Don't touch anything. Don't touch anything. I'm not touching anything. I can't believe this. No way. It was just you there with her. We're the only ones here. And she ran in the door.

You said, late-sit shut. No, no. I went downstairs to work out. And when I came back up, the door was latched. It wasn't like it was locked on the inside. And I'm yelling. And I saw this drum going and I'm broken into no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Okay, 46-0 Waffle at rock and this is the house, right? It's an apartment. Firework or apartment. Shit. That's awful. Oh my god. Oh my god.

All right. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Sorry about the music. There towards the end, I got that from Gavin Fishes YouTube. I tried to find the audio without that, but I could not find one in a downloadable form.

But anyway, at 6.40 pm, police arrived, but Ellen was pronounced dead at the scene. It was a gruesome sight. Ellen had been stabbed 20 times, 10 on her front side, and 10 on her backside, including in the back of her neck and head. So before we get a little bit more into the details of the crime, I kind of want to talk about that call because of course something that really stands out to me is as soon as Sam brings up the knife.

The very first thing he says when he sees it is oh my god, she stabbed herself. And then the dispatcher says where and he says she fell on a knife. Well no, her knife is sticking out. The dispatcher says, her what? Sam says there's a knife sticking out of her heart. Dispatcher says, oh she stabbed herself and Sam says, I guess, I guess so or she fell on it, I don't know. So the fact that he's immediately going to, she stabbed herself or she fell on the knife

is wild to me and you know what part of what is so wild about it is the way he says it It almost sounds like he is acting like oh my god. I just had a crazy revelation So you know what I'm just gonna play that part again really quick so we can all hear it again just a small clip Sure it won't come off at the zipper Oh my god, she stabbed herself. Where? She's so at a night. Well, no, her night's sticking out.

How what? There's a night sticking out of her heart. Oh, she stabbed herself? I guess so. I don't know where she's going. I don't know. Okay, well, don't touch it. I gotta say, the dispatcher sounds equally as casual about it, but that's okay.

We're really focused on Sam here. I just feel like the way that he said that is so bizarre. It just doesn't feel to me like he's overly concerned. Like this is your fiance laying on the floor in a pool of blood dying, And you just almost, and there's even a part where it sounds like he laughs. Yes, okay. I think it sounds like that too. Let me play that part of the clip. You guys tell us what you think. The knife is still inside.

When is there what? The knife is still inside of her. Yeah, but I didn't take it out. Look at her chest or what, I already did. It's like it looks like it's chest. It looks like it's right. It looks like it's right in her heart. Yeah, and that last part, I didn't take it out. Like, it's almost like a joke.

Unless I'm totally mishearing that, but that is what I'm hearing. I mean, there's, it almost seems like there's two ways you could read that, because I do agree with you. It does kind of sound like almost like a, like a giggle. But also, it could be a sound like almost like a like a giggle, but also it could be a stutter from being in shock, but the whole rest of that call, it doesn't seem to me like he's in very much shock, but also, you know, people grieve in their own ways, and we've talked about this in many episodes, but it just does sound so bizarre.

The tone is just so weird, and that's why we want to make sure we play the clip instead of just reading the transcript because the way that he sounds and the way that he kind of yells her name, and oh no, oh no, I'm not saying that you couldn't have that reaction and I'm not trying to make fun of somebody who's grieving or like saying, oh goodness. Right, like maybe that's part of his normal dialogue and vocabulary, but it's just the way that it sounds, like it makes me want to scoff. Like it just sounds so phony and I just can't help

but feel that way from hearing the call totally alone, not knowing anything else about this case. And I'm sure, I do, but you know what I mean. Right, right, and I'm sure that, and this is where the controversy comes in, right? Because some people are going to agree with us in our opinion and say, yeah, it sounds totally phony and fake. And other people are going to say, well, you know, I don't know about that. To me, it sounds genuine.

So I mean, it's just, it's honestly so hard to tell. I know, and this, of course, this is on the phone. We can't see as facial expressions. So again, I'm not trying to make fun of somebody or pick apart somebody's grief, but it's just hard not to do that hearing this particular phone call because it just sounds so odd. And then again, just the whole, oh my God, she stabbed herself.

Like, how is that your first, the first place you go? I get it if that special lock is on the door and, and you're kind of surmising in your head in that moment. Well, nobody else is here. And how could somebody else have gotten in if that lock is there? So I'm coming to this conclusion immediately, but he's stating it like it's factual. And it's just really interesting. And again, this was an extremely brutal scene.

There were multiple stab wounds over 20, as we mentioned, so I gave a lot of blood. That's a lot of blood. And that's what I'm saying, I guess, is that immediately walking in, my first thought would not be, oh, she stabbed herself. If there was that much blood and that many stab wounds, right. So pausing on the 911 call or possibly ending, we'll see if we want to bring it up again later. So on the counter, there was chopped fruit and these seem to be the remnants of the fruit salad that Ellen had been making. The knife lodged in her chest cavity was

a cut co-brand steak knife that was 12.5 centimeters long. So that's basically about five inches long? Yeah, that's like your average steak knife that we've all used before. So just imagine your normal steak knife that you probably have in your kitchen drawer right now. So this was believed to be the knife that she was used or that she was using to chop fruit. And this is what was used to stab her. So aside from the broken swing lock that Sam had burst through to get into the apartment, there was no sign of forced entry.

Police noted that there was a mound of freshly fallen snow on the patio with no tracks or signs of a break-in. Ellen's computer, still sitting on the coffee table, was open to wedding planning websites. Proving that, you know, along with making this fruit salad, she had recently been trying to plan the wedding. The police report stated that there was no note found or anything indicative of suicide on the computers or in the rest of the apartment. The report also states that there were no signs of a struggle. Ellen had no defensive wounds and no hesitation wounds.

And the no hesitation wounds is interesting too, because, you know, I know this can be hard to talk about, stabbing yourself. This is a very sensitive topic, but it just has to be discussed because of the nature of the episode. But the fact that there's no hesitation in the wounds is really interesting, thinking that this had been done by her,

because that seems hard to believe. Meaning that it was very aggressive and very deliberate. Yes, but it did look like her body had been moved based on the pattern of the blood on the floor. There were blood spatters on the counter and the cabinets in addition to the blood on the floor. The next morning, an autopsy was performed on Ellen's body, as her parents spread the sad news to friends and family and wedding guests that their beloved and only daughter was

sadly gone. In addition to the 20 stab wounds and the knife that was found in her body, she had 11 bruises, some newer and some older. There were also marks on her neck to indicate that she had been strangled. According to the Toxicology Report performed by Lisa A. Mundi, trace amounts of Zolpedem, more commonly known as Ambien, were present in her system at the time of her death. And this had been prescribed by her doctor, Dr. Burman to help her sleep. Present in more than trace amounts was Klanazepam,

better known as Kalanapin, which had been prescribed her for anxiety. In Ellen's nightstand, please observe the notebook in which she was keeping track of her doses and how the medicine was making her feel. Now while this was not surprising to anyone given that she had been prescribed these medications, it was possible that someone had tricked her into taking them in order to sedate her, which may have explained why she did not appear to have tried to fight back.

Ellen's was the only DNA found on her clothing and also on the knife that killed her, but strangely, Ellen was left-handed and the knife was placed in her right hand. Based on the sizes and depths of the gashes, it's also possible that there was another knife used to stab her, although that knife was never found. So obviously that's alarming. Yeah. Not to mention the fact that the knife was in a right hand and she was left-handed. Also the fact that there were marks around her neck that she had

been strangled right the ligature marks I mean how how does that happen I don't know like this is all this all just looks really wrong this looks really off suspicious for sure so police contacted doctor Ellen Burman who was shocked and obviously sat in by the death of her new patient. When asked if Ellen had shown any indication that she was having suicidal thoughts or ideations, Dr. Burman said, without hesitation, no. Police also questioned Ellen's relationship with Sam, her fiance, and asked Dr. Berman how she spoke of him. According to the police report, said quote, when asked about her fiance, the deceitant

had nothing but good things to say about him. She mentioned they were getting married, and he was wonderful. Dr. Berman even noted a smile when she spoke of him. Dr. Berman recalls asking about abuse that a sedent denied any verbal or physical confrontations. Now given the curious nature of the incident, questions arose immediately. And because Sam was the only one present aside from Ellen, the spotlight obviously fell on him, and suspicions rose from her confused and very shocked family and friends. Phil Hanton, who again was the doorman who was attempting to help Sam get a hold of Ellen,

noted to police that Sam had been wearing Timberland work boots instead of running shoes when remember he was supposedly at the gym. Right, that doesn't make any sense. It just doesn't. I mean, I suppose unless he was, you know, strictly doing like weight training or just like lifting weights and wasn't like on the treadmill, but still going to the gym and those kind of shoes does feel a bit odd. Yeah, I feel like if anything,

that's not a running shoe, like a converse or a van or something like that, but Timberlain's, they stand out a little bit as not a typical workout show. Yeah, it's just not super common. So statistically, it's very, it's also very uncommon for people to kill themselves this way, especially women. And in fact, self-induced stabbing accounts for only one to three percent of suicides.

So obviously it is done. It's just not done very often. Right, it's very rare. Especially when we're talking about Ellen's case where there's all these other factors that don't make sense and they don't line up. And also, the medical examiner maintained the initial resolution that her death was a homicide, but claimed later that he amended it at the insistence of police, which many point to his assign of obvious police corruption and

the influence of Sam's family. Yeah, and that's kind of a decent part of this story, so we're going to get into why Heath is bringing this up in his family in general here in a minute. Now the officers who responded to the scene of Ellen's death took down a detailed account of the state of Ellen's apartment and noted that there were some suspicious searches in Ellen's laptops and noted that there were some suspicious searches in Ellen's laptops browser history. So in December of 2010, about a month before Ellen's death, she or someone using her computer searched suffocation, suicide methods, sex fantasy death, zoeloft, prozac,

sex fantasy death, zooloft, pro-zac, searcher-learn, searcher-learn weight gain, depression, bath death, electrocuted to death, trying to Twitter in the bath,

quick suicide, euthanasia, and painless suicide. So obviously, these are very alarming searches to be finding on her laptop. Definitely, because some of them could possibly go along with causing your own suicide, but other ones like sex fantasy death, suicide methods, suffocation, some of them are really

big flags. Right. And these searches were published to support the theory that Alan took her own life, but they were never substantiated as factual, and they have not been confirmed or denied by law enforcement. So immediate criticism came from those who knew Ellen and even many people who didn't. Her psychiatrist and her parents who had intimate knowledge of her journey with anxiety at the time claim that she was not suicidal. I know a lot of you are probably thinking some people are and they don't

necessarily say it, but this is just what they're saying. The private investigator working with the Greenbergs after the death was ruled a suicide agreed, saying, quote, I've been in this business since 1966 and I've never seen anything like it. Tom Brennan worked with the Philadelphia State Police for 25 years and has been working on Ellen's case for 9 years. Tom added that he didn't actually think the door had been broken down, like the door to her apartment.

Because basically the swing lock, that Sam had basically said that he broke in order to get into the apartment. Though it did have loose screws, it was still hanging in its place on the wall, which he believes would not have been the case had Sam actually forced his way through the front door. Another strange thing about Sam's behavior on the evening that Ellen died is that he contacted his own family before he even alerted Ellen's. According to Ellen's parents, he is believed to have called his uncle, his cousin, and his parents regarding Ellen's death, which I would understand maybe if he wants to call

his parents because he's worried those are his closest people. I get that. Sure. That makes sense. Yeah, but also your uncle and your cousin before Ellen's parents. That just seems like a lot of people to call first. But more strangely. So Ellen's parents heard about their daughter's death from Sam's father Richard, not the police or Sam himself.

And also this really raised eyebrows because Sam's uncle was judge James C. Schwartzman and he's a prominent member of the Pennsylvania Judicial System. He currently sits as the President Judge of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial System and is also chair of the ethics and professional responsibility group. And this is somebody that Sam called, first, like right after Ellen would have died. Now the cousin, whom Sam called next, is James' son, so this judge's son.

According to one account of the evening, James arrived at the scene before Ellen's parents were even notified of her death. That's very strange. I agree. Some think he may have called his uncle before he called the police even as his uncle reportedly arrived on the scene

just one minute after Sam's call with the police concluded, which is very weird, because I think the first person you should call out of anybody if you find your fiance completely bloodied with Tens of wounds is the police is 911. Yeah, and if they're not your first I mean they better be your second not your fourth call like this was right so Many people have speculated that Sam was safeguarding himself with protection within the legal system,

and that Judge James C. Schwartzman is to thank for the abrupt change of the cause of death from homicide to suicide. Sandy says that she and her husband were not even notified that the cause of death had been changed. When asked why it had been changed, Sandy responded, quote, honestly, I don't know. And we were never really, we never got phone calls from the Philadelphia police or the medical examiner's office that this was changed, which is not very personal. But a lot of it is just a big blur to me.

I mean, this sucks because the initial reports from the medical examiner says that this is clearly a homicide. I mean, I don't see how you could, how you could in a million years change this to a suicide. It's just insane. It's just really disappointing and also hard not to be suspicious of this for lack of a better word other than suspicious. That Sam likely called his uncle who is a judge and a person of power before calling the police and then only to find that the ruling goes from homicide to suicide like it's hard not to question

that to question that and for your ears not to perk up and say that's a little weird. I mean they didn't even give a reason why they changed the ruling. And that, that to me, says so much. But anyway, so the Juniata Park Academy, the school at which Ellen taught, reeled from the news of Ellen's passing. Her fellow teachers were devastated at the loss of one of their own, and her class had lost their guiding light. The teacher who took over Ellen's classroom remarked that despite Ellen saying her

class this year was challenging for her, and that she was thinking about leaving the school, she had kept meticulous notes and schedules, and that her students loved her dearly, and were all on track in their lessons. The school staffed a team of counselors for the students and faculty to ensure that everyone was able to handle the transition. The Philadelphia School District spokesman announced that the school was deeply saddened by her death.

They said, quote, colleagues describe Ellen as a dedicated teacher who loved her profession and inspired her students to do their best. But that begs the question, where is Sam now? Ellen's parents said that he kept in touch with them for a little over a year after her death, but eventually the communication stopped. He's now married and he lives in New York with his two children.

According to his LinkedIn page, he left NBC in 2018 and is now working as a producer for the tour coverage of the Professional Golfers Association of America Live. One article aired out his dirty laundry and they published his criminal record, which included mostly traffic stops, but also the more serious charges of providing alcohol to minors and an eviction from when he resided in Arizona. The landlord who evicted him later leveled nine different charges against him in civil court.

Ellen's parents continued to push for answers in their daughter's tragic and sudden death. Her mom said, sadly, quote, we want to see justice prevail. She would never hurt herself and she would never hurt anyone else. She was a kind, loving ray of sunshine. In 2020, Sandy and Josh went on crime stories with Nancy Grace, hoping to bring awareness to the case. Local Philadelphia reporter Brian Shean joined the discussion panel and weighed in on his perception from reporting on

Ellen's death. He said, quote, You look at the sequence of events. You know, when I first heard the case, I thought, you know, I didn't know all the details. So I thought a 27 year old woman who commits suicide. You're hearing her parents don't believe it. You think, okay, she was an only child. Her parents can't understand or wrap their minds around the fact that their daughter

would tragically take her own life. Then you just take a look at the fact that there were 20 stab wounds. Then, as we've discussed where the stab wounds were, the sequence of events in terms of filling up her gas tank, coming home, making a salad, and then erratically, allegedly, starting to stab herself 20 times to kill herself with no warning signs.

The Greenbergs hired a lawyer hoping for assistance in reopening Ellen's case. Their attorney, Joseph Pedraza Jr., filed a civil lawsuit against the medical examiner's office in an attempt to get Ellen's cause of death changed. The attorney general's response was sympathetic, but unpromising. They said, quote, our hearts go out to the Greenberg family on the anniversary of Ellen's traumatic death. At the urging of the family and following a conflict referral from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office in 2018, our office reviewed the case and conducted an extensive

investigation that did not uncover evidence to change the medical examiner's findings of suicide. There's no statute of limitations on homicide, however, and if any new evidence is brought forward, we believe that it should be reviewed by the proper authorities. At this time, no such information has been shared with our office. But in January of 2020, a judge ruled that the case could go forward. Proceedings were held up because of the pandemic, but started moving forward again in 2021. In August of 2022, the District Attorney's Office has signed an investigator

and a prosecutor to the case. Ellen's case was officially reopened. prosecutor to the case. Ellen's case was officially reopened. Ellen's family obviously was elated, but aware of the work ahead of them. Tom Brennan, who is the Greenberg's private investigator, said, quote, our next step is to get the cause of death changed. Then we can go about the who done it. Tom believes that the most damning evidence is the knife itself. So after the autopsy, the medical examiner ruled that Ellen's death had been a murder, as we said. And this was mostly due to the fact

that the kitchen knife found to be the cause of her death was still lodged in her chest, and was so deep that the force necessary would have been nearly impossible to self-inflict. But three months later, the medical examiner changed the ruling to suicide. Tom Brennan claims that this was police corruption because of the influence of Sam's family as we've been discussing. Because it also basically police didn't search the phones and the laptops belonging to Ellen and Sam

until days after her death. Yeah, meaning that somebody else, I.E. Sam, could have possibly typed those searches into Google. Well, also, the day after Ellen's death, the apartment was thoroughly cleaned, which eliminated any possible evidence. And Tom himself asked one of the doctors in the medical examiner's office why the cause of death

was changed to which the doctor responded that it was at the insistence of police. Again, like we said, but why are the police insisting that the medical examiner, whose job it is to determine the manner and the cause of death, why are the police getting involved in that? Right, that makes no sense. Like, that's not their area of expertise. That's the medical examiner's area of expertise. Exactly.

And that's why this is so suspicious again, I have no better word, but that's what it is. That's what it is. That's what it is. Yeah, it is. So in 2019, Dr. Lindsay Emory, another doctor with the medical examiner's office, came forward in favor of a homicide ruling. Her reasoning was that one of Ellen's stab wounds had actually been sustained after

her death. Which you guys heard in the intro of this episode, how the hell? Yeah. And Dr. Emory closely examined the wounds and the trajectory of the knife and found evidence that one of the blows to her spinal cord in the back of her neck had not hemorrhaged, which was evidence that she had already died when she sustained the stabbing. The knife was then found in her chest, meaning that that particular stab would have also been administered after

her death. The Greenberg's lawyer explained, quote, According to Dr. Emory, the preserved wound Emory examined in 2019 was administered when Ellen had no pulse. She was already dead. We remain dumbfounded about how a person could self-inflict at least two separate stab wounds when they're dead. Josh Greenberg added, quote, If they're post-mortem, that means that they were done after death.

And Ellen could not have done them. But the Attorney General's Office has disputed this claim. Sandy agreed, saying quote, The authorities trying to make us believe that our daughter committed suicide when she didn't is just reprehensible to me. We just want Ellen's name cleared. She did not do this to herself and she deserves justice. They try to close our doors, but we always find another way in. We're never giving up.

Still morning the sudden loss 12 years later, Ellen's best friend Allison actually named her daughter after Ellen. Close to 200,000 people have now signed the Change.org petition, urging the governor to reopen Ellen's case, and over 37,000 people have liked Ellen's Memorial Facebook page. If you would like to get involved and help support Ellen's family, you can sign the petition at change.org, which we will link in this episode, Heathen I signed it, and like the Justice for Ellen Facebook page for updates. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Friday we'll have an

all-new case for you guys to dive into. Like I said earlier, we were suggested this case by so many people. This is a case that I have known about for so many years, but we didn't or I didn't at least get to officially dive into it and learn all the details until this past week. And oh my god, it's just so much more obvious to me that this is a homicide than I had thought before. And it makes me so sad that we don't have answers that her family doesn't have answers

when it all feels so obvious. Yeah, I think when you do actually dive into this case, you just become so much more frustrated than you were before. And learning just everything about Sam and his family and it's just unbelievable. Yeah, we love to hear what you guys think though. So please comment on our social media posts on the post of this case.

And let us know what you think, what your theories are. We're on Instagram at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod. We have a regular Facebook group going West True Crime, and then we have a discussion group, which is going West Discussion Group. That's where we like to discuss cases,

but you can comment anywhere, and we love to get talking about this with you guys. And please don't forget to share and also sign that petition. All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5%

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