Ellen Greenberg Case To Be Reopened By Philly Medical Examiner

MANAYUNK, PHILADELPHIA — The case of Ellen Greenberg's death is being reopened by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office, officials said.

According to Philadelphia officials, a settlement agreement between the City of Philadelphia and Greenberg's family has been reached.

The settlement resolves the matter of Joshua M. Greenberg, D.M.D., et al. v. Sam P. Gulino, et al., and the terms of the settlement include an independent review of the autopsy file, officials said.

Action News reports the agreement also includes an undisclosed monetary settlement.

That means the medical examiner's office will once again review the young first-grade teacher's death.

According to NBC10, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, the medical examiner who ruled Greenberg's death a homicide then later suicide, recently issued a new legal verification stating that he believes the case should be ruled as "something other than suicide."

Greenberg, 27, was found by her fiancée Samuel Goldberg with 20 stab wounds in her apartment on Flat Rock Road in Manayunk on Jan. 26, 2011.

Back in October 2022, her family filed a suit against the city, alleging it covered up her death and wrongly ruled her death a suicide.

However, a September 2023 ruling in the Commonwealth Court said her family did not have legal standing to sue the city in hopes of reversing the suicide ruling to homicide.

This comes even as the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office said there "is no dispute that evidence in the record could support other conclusions about the manner of [Greenberg's] death."

"While this Court is acutely aware of the deeply flawed investigation of the Victim’s death by the City of Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) detectives, the City of Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO), and the MEO, we have no choice under the law but to reverse and remand to the Trial Court for the entry of judgment in favor of the MEO," the ruling reads.

Despite that, the court said it believes that "providing a detailed review of the Victim’s death and the ensuing investigation is clearly warranted with hopes that equity may one day prevail for the Victim and her loved ones."

Detectives and the Medical Examiner's Office initially could not agree on a cause of death, with the Medical Examiner's Office calling the death a homicide, and law enforcement calling it a "suspicious death."

Greenberg's family in 2019 asked for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to reopen the case, but District Attorney Larry Krasner sent the case to then Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro's office, According to Action News.

In late 2021, the AG's office was given a 10 gigabyte file by Greenberg's family.

A representative for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office told Patch in December 2021 that the file was being reviewed and that it was too early to say if it contains new details or new evidence.

However, the case was sent back to Philadelphia.

"While the Office of Attorney General does not have an actual conflict in this matter, circumstances beyond our control have created the appearance of a conflict and our involvement is no longer serving one of the primary purposes of the District Attorney's original conflict referral," the AG's office said in July 2022.

The Chester County District Attorney's Office, which was appointed to investigate Greenberg's Manayunk death due to Krasner previously representing the Greenberg family, said in November 2024 that it could not "prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed," and thus said the homicide investigation is now inactive.