Ellen Greenberg, a teacher in Philadelphia, died on January 6, 2011, during a nor'easter when much of the city was shut down. She had 20 stab wounds, including 10 in the back of the head and neck, but authorities ultimately ruled her death a suicide.
Few people looking at this incident from the outside agree with it. Outside investigators and a panel of Pennsylvania judges have called for an independent review, pointing to obvious flaws in the police response and autopsy findings.
The family's attorney, Joe Podraza, said a crime scene cleanup company cleared the apartment before police arrived with a search warrant. No fingerprints were taken on the knife found in Greenberg's chest, and a second suspected weapon has not been recovered. Investigators did not use the blood-detecting chemical Luminol to investigate the scene.
An independent investigation is currently underway. The Chester County District Attorney's Office intervened nearly two years ago following the resignations of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and former Pennsylvania Attorney General and now Governor Josh Shapiro.
'Suicide' verdict for teacher's 20 stab wounds could be reconsidered as family secures potential big victory
Ellen Greenberg (left), undated family photo. (Greenberg family)
Amateur detectives and family supporters from around the country spent hours watching surveillance video from the apartment lobby and hallways searching for clues. Her parents told Fox News Digital that two of them recently shared the findings with their family.
Ellen's mother, Sandy, said a childhood friend of Greenberg's who works in the Navy in Mechanicsburg said the body language of the man entering and exiting the elevator bay indicated “nervousness” and “suspicious” behavior. He said he told her he believed her. He also questioned whether a man the family had previously thought was a cousin of Greenberg's fiancée, Sam Goldberg, could be someone else entirely.
WATCH: Ellen Greenberg's then-fiancé Sam Goldberg seen in 2011 surveillance footage
The other person, a Chester County librarian by trade, is currently undergoing an outside investigation. told PennLive She said she believed a man was seen “jumping up and down nervously” in the lobby, going up and down elevators, and then “using a Kleenex to wipe up blood” from an unexplained injury. She reportedly sent the information to investigators.
Greenberg's father, Dr. Josh Greenberg, told Fox News Digital that the family welcomes help, but that more concrete evidence may be available in a video that has not yet been released to the public. .
WATCH: Phil Hunton, who was the security guard at Ellen Greenberg's apartment at the time, is seen on surveillance footage from 2011
“What the police are holding back is they only gave us about three hours of video, not the whole day before or the next day,” he told FOX News Digital. “They have a crime scene videotape of a building manager named Melissa Ware, but for some reason they can't produce it.”
“The police aren't interested in solving this crime,” he sighs.
Philadelphia police did not respond to requests for comment. They previously declined to discuss the case, citing a public investigation and ongoing civil litigation in Chester County.
The split image shows Ellen Greenberg smiling in an undated family photo and a computer-generated photo based on an autopsy report showing a knife left where she was stabbed 20 times. . Forensic pathologist Dr. Marlon Osborne concluded they were self-inflicted. (Greenberg family)
Greenberg's parents are embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the government, accusing the medical examiner's office of covering up their daughter's murder, demanding more evidence from police and changing the death certificate to say “suicide.” They are requesting that it be replaced with “undetermined.” Or “murder.”
Police showed Podraza several hours of surveillance footage from Greenberg's apartment on the night of her death. Podraza first shared it with Gavin Fish, an independent investigative reporter who has his own website. solve the case.
Philadelphia mayor faces scrutiny as city resists reinvestigation into 'suicide' of woman stabbed 20 times
Ellen Greenberg's parents discuss the incident. (Fox News)
Dr. Greenberg said there are several hours of additional surveillance video that police have not yet turned over, and recordings of the crime scene before it was cleared have also been withheld from the family.
“The building manager, Melissa Ware, later explained that an anonymous person said: [Philadelphia Police Department] “The agent had advised her to call a third-party service to have the apartment thoroughly cleaned,” Federal Judge Ellen Keisler said in an appellate ruling last year. PPD representatives have been questioned by law enforcement authorities. ”
Video: Melissa Ware talks about cleaning Ellen Greenberg's apartment
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Ware previously spoke to Fox Nation about the incident and the cleaning of the apartment.
“I got a call from someone in Sam's family, I think it was his uncle, who wanted to come to the apartment to pick up some belongings for the funeral. I immediately called the police and said, We looked at what we could and couldn't do.'' We didn't, but they told me it was OK to let them in. It was no longer a crime scene,” Ware said. “So I asked, 'So what's the condition of the apartment like? Because I haven't been inside. And is there anyone who can clean it? And they said it's not something they're doing.' I asked. They let me clean up the crime scene.”
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Dr. Greenberg believes Mr. Ware's video may contain clues to what really happened. He said his daughter's devices – three laptops and two cell phones – also disappeared from the crime scene.
Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old Philadelphia teacher, was found dead in her apartment in 2011 with 20 stab wounds, and investigators ruled it a suicide. Her parents do not believe the manner of death was accurate, based on information uncovered during a more than 10-year battle with city leaders. (Sandy Greenberg)
“The first paramedic had 30 years of experience in this kind of thing and knew something was wrong at the scene,” he told FOX News Digital. “No one ever interviewed him and asked him, 'What did you see when you entered the apartment?'”
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Ware, a former building manager, said he thought something was wrong with the cleaning and videotaped the apartment. But despite repeated requests to police, the family does not have a copy.
“Something is wrong,” Dr. Greenberg said. “We have the evidence. We have the facts. This is not a matter of crazy fathers and mothers shouting over a table. We did everything the right way.”
He said he and his wife have been fighting for answers for 14 years and have no intention of giving up.
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Last year, a panel of appeals court judges ruled against the parents' request for forced enrollment. medical examiner of philadelphia To reclassify Greenberg's death. Although the commission found the parents ineligible, the judge faulted the investigation by the city, police and coroner's office.
As part of the parents' civil case, they will meet with an independent forensic psychiatrist.
Scene of Philadelphia teacher's suspected suicide cleared before police arrived with search warrant
Much of the evidence in the case deserves scrutiny, said Podraza and his family's private investigator, Tom Brennan. Greenberg was found lying in the kitchen covered in blood with nearly two dozen stab wounds, clutching a “blank” white towel in his left hand.
Renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who conducted an independent review of the autopsy, found the evidence was “very highly suspicious of murder.”
Vecht, who died in maypreviously told FOX News Digital that after examining the forensic evidence, he believed it was “very, very unlikely” that Greenberg died by suicide.
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Another highly respected forensic pathologist, Dr. Henry Lee, also investigated the case. Court documents say they found the angle of the wound on the back of Greenberg's head “would have been difficult to inflict on her own,” and that her wound was “consistent with a murder scene.”
