This graphic shows knife wounds Ellen suffered to her neck and chest, that pierced her brain and severed her spinal cord |
The Door That Sam said he broke down, Latch looks almost Intact |
Parents of a young teacher found with 20 stab wounds have won the right to challenge the ruling of her death as a suicide.
Ellen Greenberg, 27, was found dead on the kitchen floor of her apartment in Philadelphia in the middle of a blizzard on January 26, 2011.
She had 10 stab wounds to her neck and the back of the head, and 10 to her stomach, abdomen, and chest with a 10-inch knife still plunged into her heart.
Her fiancé Sam Goldberg told police he broke down the door, which was locked from the inside, found her, and attempted CPR with on the phone with 911.
Assistant Philadelphia Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne initially ruled her death a homicide but changed it to suicide after a meeting with police and prosecutors.
Greenberg's parents Joshua and Sandee have spent the 13 years since, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, trying to reverse it.
'Ellen stabbing herself 20 times before dying is bulls**t. She died from a very vicious, very painful knife attack,' Joshua told DailyMail.com
After amassing a wealth of evidence pointing to homicide, they sued the ME's office and Osborne in 2019 but were rejected by the Commonwealth Court last September.
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this week granted their appeal to hear the case as a 'matter of statewide importance'.
'We're smiling, we're very optimistic... I hope we're making our daughter proud. There's been a lot of frustration, but we haven't given up,' Sandee said.
The court will hear arguments on whether 'executors and administrators of an estate have standing to challenge an erroneous finding recorded on the decedent's death certificate'.
The order noted 'that finding constitutes a bar or material impediment to the recovery of victim's compensation, restitution or for wrongful death, as well as private criminal complaints'.
Joshua said the family would change a longstanding precedent if it won, and hoped Greenberg's cause of death would at least be changed to 'undetermined'.
'Medical examiners apparently have this ability that you and I don't have - they can walk on water so their conclusions cannot be challenged, except by a court. So, we are challenging something that cannot be challenged,' he said.
The family's lawyer, Joseph Podraza, said getting the finding changed could force Greenberg's death to be reinvestigated as a possible homicide.
'We've got our fingers and toes crossed. That's why we were ecstatic when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided to take up the matter,' he said.
'We're hopeful that one of the reasons that they took this case is to set that precedent and to correct what we contend is an erroneous determination.'
Though the Commonwealth Court found the Greenbergs had no standing to challenge the medical examiner, the judges were otherwise on their side.
The 39-page decision was a scathing indictment of how the case was handled, giving them hope for the Supreme Court appeal.