Ellen Greenberg’s parents, Sandee and Josh Greenberg, just came out to say that Philadelphia city officials are still trying to clean up a massive mess from a botched investigation years ago. They claim that’s exactly why no one will actually admit their daughter was murdered.
This case, if you don’t know, has been a major point of contention for over a decade now, all centering on how a young woman who died from more than 20 stab wounds—including ten to the back of her head and neck—could have possibly committed suicide. Well, a medical examiner recently reaffirmed the suicide ruling, and the Greenbergs told TMZ Live that the decision is absolutely fueled by deep-seated corruption within the city.
The Greenbergs weren’t surprised by the new ruling, though; to them, it’s just the same answer they’ve been getting from city officials for years. They see it as a desperate attempt by Philadelphia to simply get them to stop digging for the truth. If you’ve been following this at all, you know that’s not going to happen. Sandee and Josh promise they’ve got people in place to keep up the good fight long after the two of them are gone.
This obviously wasn’t a suicide.
According to the Greenbergs, this is all about an initial mistake. The Philadelphia Police Department messed up the initial investigation into Ellen’s death back in 2011, and now, no one in the city wants to admit they screwed up. The family only went over what the facts were, but also said the official finding is “bogus.”
This whole situation is awful for anyone seeking justice, and it’s been going on since 2011, when Ellen died. The Philadelphia medical examiner initially ruled the death a suicide, despite the truly strange wounds. To be fair, her fiancé, Sam Goldberg, found her with a knife in her chest and told the 911 operator on the call that she “stabbed herself” or “fell on a knife” after he broke into their locked apartment on a snowy day.
The sheer number of wounds (20 stab wounds, many on her backside) made the initial ruling a homicide, which was then incredibly changed back to suicide weeks later after police objections. The case has drawn comparisons to other controversial death investigations featured in documentaries.
This controversy led to a settlement earlier this year, in February 2025, where the city actually agreed to have an independent review of the death. You’d think, “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere!” But the new 32-page report, led by Philadelphia’s top pathologist, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsay Simon, just reaffirmed the original suicide ruling in October 2025.
The family’s attorney, Joseph Podraza Jr., was quick to respond to this new report, and he didn’t hold back. He called the 2025 report “an embarrassment to the City, and an insult to Ellen and her family”. He went on to say that Ellen’s family “just wanted the truth,” but it’s now “clear the truth will not come from Philadelphia’s law enforcement machinery”. Podraza also specifically rebuked Simon’s review, calling it a “deeply flawed attempt to justify a predetermined conclusion,” and pointing out that the recreation they had done “proves Ellen could not self-inflict all of the wounds.”
