Philadelphia Woman’s ‘SUICIDE’ Verdict in 20-stab Death Under Review as Supreme Court Takes on Family’s Case
A pathologist’s difficult decision that 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg of Philadelphia, whose death from 20 stab wounds was a suicide, will be examined following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s agreement to hear arguments from the woman’s parents and legal representative.
According to Sandee Greenberg, the mother of Greenberg, the family was informed by Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the court has decided to take up their case. The parent’s ability to contest the medical examiner’s conclusions as executors of her estate will be investigated by the court.
A group of judges on the appellate court dismissed the parents’ attempt last year to have the Philadelphia medical examiner change Greenberg’s death certificate from suicide to homicide or undetermined. The panel concluded the parents had insufficient standing.
However, the judges also criticized the medical examiner’s office, the city, and the police for their inquiry.
After outside experts cautioned them they would face an uphill struggle, Greenberg’s parents persisted in their fight to the state’s Supreme Court, where they finally succeeded last week. They had accused the parents of covering up a murder.
“We always questioned why we, Ellen’s parents, were not granted standing,” Dr. Joshua Greenberg, Ellen’s father, stated to Fox News Digital. “We are fighting for standing and the right to question the medical examiner, but we started this as a struggle for Ellen. The medical examiner’s decision is currently unchallengeable.”
According to court filings, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, a forensic pathologist with the city medical examiner’s office, determined that Greenberg’s death was a homicide. After meeting with police behind closed doors, he changed his mind and declared it to be a suicide.
According to court filings, Greenberg was found dead in her kitchen in January 2011 with 20 stab wounds, 10 of which were from behind, and at least one of which may have been administered after she had already passed away. There were numerous bruises all over her body, all in varying states of healing.
On the countertop, investigators discovered a partially prepared fruit salad and indications of a struggle, such as a knife block being knocked over.
Joe Podraza, the attorney representing her parents, said there was proof that the door lock had been tampered with and that her body had been transferred. He said to Fox News Digital that there was no fingerprint on the knife that was discovered there.
According to court filings, the crime scene was cleared before officers arrived with a search warrant. Furthermore, the judges of the appellate court stated that they were not provided with any documentation of the police interrogations conducted with the building security officer or Greenberg’s fiancé, who had dialed 911 after seeing her hunched over in their flat.
However, the death was a suicide, according to repeated statements made by the local police and prosecutors.
Dr. Greenberg stated on Monday, “They never talk about the big gash to Ellen’s head.” “They never talk about the restraint on the wrists, how she was restrained, only that there were no defensive wounds.”
He added that there is missing video proof.
He said, “This is such a bogus case.” “It’s a cluster—-.”
Both Podraza and the family’s private investigator, Tom Brennan, believe that a great deal of the case’s evidence merits further investigation. Greenberg was discovered holding a “pristine” white towel in her left hand even though she had collapsed in a bloodstained kitchen with around two dozen stab wounds.
Renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who performed an independent autopsy assessment, said that the evidence was “strongly suspicious of homicide.”
Wecht, who passed away in May, had previously stated to Fox News Digital that he thought it was “highly, highly unlikely” that Greenberg had committed suicide after reviewing the forensic data.
“In all my years of experience, and all of the homicides that I’ve done, and suicides, I’ve never seen anything like this,” he stated.
Dr. Henry Lee, a renowned forensic pathologist, examined the case as well. According to court filings, he concluded that Greenberg’s injuries were “consistent with a homicide scene” and that the angle of the cuts on the back of her head “would have been difficult to inflict herself.”
Following the resignation of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner due to a conflict of interest and the accusations of another conflict of interest made against former Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is currently the governor, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an outside investigation as per FoxNews.
Since then, Dr. Osbourne has relocated to Florida, where he works at the medical examiner’s office for Palm Beach County. Requests for comment on the Greenberg case have elicited no response from him.