A Philadelphia medical examiner has changed his ruling for a third time, saying that the death of a teacher who was stabbed 20 times is "something other than suicide," Breitbart reported. Dr. Marlon Osbourne initially ruled her death a homicide, then inexplicably switched it to suicide, which Pennsylvania's then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro upheld.
The convoluted case involves the death of 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg, who was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment in January 2011. Police found her dead body riddled with stab wounds.
Osbourne initially ruled her death a homicide but inexplicably changed it to suicide a month later. Shapiro, who is now the governor of the Keystone State, upheld that ruling in February 2022 after the family of the deceased woman sued the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.
Now, Osbourne is again reversing his decision amid issues including Shapiro's conflict of interest in the case. "It is my professional opinion Ellen’s manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide," Osbourne said in a court filing Saturday.
This change is just the latest in a string of strange circumstances surrounding this case, which has been ongoing for over a decade. The most significant came after Osbourne's first change of heart, for which no explanation was given.
Then, there was the matter of Shapiro's personal relationship with a possible witness. The person was an attorney and cousin to Samuel Goldberg, Greenberg's fiance, who discovered her body and with whom she spoke to on the phone the night she died.
After a citizen journalist pointed to this connection, Shapiro recused himself from the case. He acknowledged the ties "created the appearance of a conflict of interest" but called the misconduct allegations "unfounded."
The filing Saturday noted factors that caused Osbourne to return to his original determination. "I am now aware that information exists which draws into question, for example, whether Ellen’s fiancé was witnessed entering the apartment before placing the 9-1-1 call on January 26, 2011; whether the door was forced open as reported; whether Ellen’s body was moved by someone else inside the apartment with her at or near the time of her death," Osbourne noted.
Most notably, Osbourne pointed to Dr. Lyndsey Emery's findings about one of Greenberg's wounds. While evaluating a segment of Greenberg's spine, Emery noted a stab wound that was received after death, which would be impossible in a suicide scenario.
Greenberg's parents have fought for the cause of death to be changed from suicide and currently have two pending civil cases. According to CNN, the Greenbergs are seeking damages for a "conspiracy to cover up Ellen’s murder."
Their case hinged on the fact that Goldberg failed to mention for a full two minutes of the 911 call that his fiance had a knife protruding from her chest. When he finally shared that information, Goldberg offered that Greenberg "fell on a knife."
Somehow, police responding to the call felt confident that Greenberg committed suicide and never bothered to call in the crime unit. However, Osbourne's autopsy the day after Greenberg's death showed multiple wounds indicating that she was "stabbed by another person" as well as a mix of bruises that ranged from fresh to healing.
Although Osbourne ruled her death a homicide the next day, which would have warranted an investigation of the crime scene, it was too late. By the time police returned to process the apartment as a crime scene, it had already been professionally cleaned.
There are too many irregularities in this case, but it appears officials are curious about precisely what happened to Greenberg. Unfortunately, they've waited so long that there's a risk that the truth will never be fully revealed.
