The Mysterious Death of Ellen Greenberg - A 12-Year-Old Homicide or Suicide?

In 2011, a Philadelphia school teacher was found dead in her apartment with 20 stab wounds. Her death was ruled a suicide, but now authorities are taking another look.

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Back in 2020, I posted the article A possible new use for Steem: Citizen investigation of unsolved crimes, which told the story of an unsolved murder near Wilmington, Delaware. Delaware resident and Academy Park school teacher, Susan Ledyard, had been found dead a year earlier on the bank of Wilmington's Brandywine Creek.

I also posted a follow-up to that earlier this year, in the article Ex-husband of DelVal murder victim now charged with assault of his new wife - Updating a 2020 article in [Delaware Valley Life]. At that time, Susan Ledyard's widower had been accused of committing two assaults against his next wife (after Susan).

And I haven't posted about that story again, but as long as I'm here, I'll mention that when I checked for updates, I learned that the story is even closer to home than I had realized. First, I learned that Ledyard was originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania, which is where I happen to live. And second, her widower was arrested yet again for allegedly assaulting a girlfriend in Kennett Square, PA. Kennett Square is about halfway between West Chester, PA and Wilmington, DE, where Ledyard's body was found. As far as I know, Ledyard's murder is still unsolved, and the family may still be offering a $50,000 reward for information.

I was reminded of all this because I recently learned of a new investigation involving another deceased school teacher in the region. Ellen Greenberg was a school teacher at Philadelphia's Juniata Park Academy.

On January 26, 2011, the 27 year old, New York City born, school teacher was found dead in her Manayunk apartment with 20 stab wounds on her body. Her fiancé, Sam, had last seen her alive when he left the apartment to go to the gym. Not quite two hours later, he was dialing 911 for medical assistance. You can hear the 911 call at the beginning of this 2021 podcast from Crime Junkie by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat.

Curiously, on January 27, Greenberg's death was initially ruled a homicide, but police quickly backtracked on that, and the determination was switched to suicide in February. There was no suicide note, but according to Crime Junkie, police didn't see any defensive wounds or signs of a struggle at the scene of her death. Further, she was taking Ambien and Klonopin (as prescribed), both of which list "suicidal thoughts" as a possible side effect.

Greenberg's parents were not persuaded, however. In 2019, an investigative report was published on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and it described some suspicious circumstances of Greenberg's death. This article included quotes from celebrity forensic experts, Cyril Wecht and Henry Lee, both of whom found that the death was more likely to have been a homicide. Other independent investigators and medical professionals have also reached the same conclusion. Crime Junkie notes that every independent expert that the Greenbergs consulted concluded that homicide was more likely than suicide.

In October of that year, the family sued to have the cause of death switched back from suicide to homicide. The case wound its way through the courts until August of 2022 when the Chester County District Attorney announced that they would start investigating the case.

To me, this was curious, because (if I'm not mistaken), Manayunk is in Philadelphia County. I'm still not entirely sure why the Chester County DA would be handling the investigation but it seems that the Philadelphia DA had referred it to the state Attorney General over a conflict of interest, and then the AG apparently relinquished the case over another conflict.

In addition to the above-mentioned Crime Junkie podcast, another podcast from "The Prosecutors" also covered the case in September of 2022. Case files are available from Document Cloud. There is also a Justice for Ellen GoFundMe page and a Justice for Ellen Facebook page.

Finally, the article, Ellen Greenberg died by ‘suicide’ with 20 stab wounds. Her parents are out to prove that’s impossible from May of this year describes why the family has been so interested in having the cause of death reexamined.

"The best way to get away with homicide is to have it ruled a suicide,” said Thomas Brennan Jr., a veteran Pennsylvania State Police and retired Dauphin County detective who trained with the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit.)

This article is how I finally happened to learn about the 12 year old mystery.

Overall, it's an interesting case that includes celebrity forensics, multiple conflicts of interest among the investigators, and a bizarre suicide determination for a death with 20 stab wounds. We'll have to see what comes out of the Chester County District Attorney's office.

Update (July 24): Following links from the Justice for Ellen Facebook page, I found a playlist with 12 videos discussing the history of the Ellen Greenberg investigation. The videos are hosted by Gavin Fish, who is apparently a TrueCrime YouTuber (I didn't know that there was such a thing. ;-). So far, I've only had time to listen to this one, which describes a meeting between Ellen's parents and the Chester County District Attorney:

I also happened to notice that Deb Ryan, the Chesco DA, is currently running for judge, so I wonder if/how that influences the pace of the investigation. It has been almost a year since the case was handed over to Chester County.

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Thank you for your time and attention.

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Steve Palmer is an IT professional with three decades of professional experience in data communications and information systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in computer science, and a master's degree in information systems and technology management. He has been awarded 3 US patents.

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^{Pixabay license, source}

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