ELLEN Greenberg’s ex-fiancé appeared scruffy and unrecognizable in new photos as the schoolteacher’s death more than a decade ago continues to spark intense controversy.
Questions surrounding Greenberg‘s final hours remain unanswered after the city of Philadelphia upheld its initial autopsy findings that stated the 27-year-old educator died by suicide in her apartment on January 26, 2011.
Despite being found with over 20 stab wounds, including punctures on her back and neck, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office again determined that Greenberg’s cause of death was suicide.
In her 32-page report, Dr. Lindsay Simon, the chief medical examiner, highlighted that Greenberg had no defense wounds and there were no signs of a struggle or forced entry into her apartment.
Dr. Simon wrote that Greenberg was “a young woman suffering from anxiety at the time of her death.
“The anxiety appeared to mostly be due to her work as a teacher. She was specifically worried that the grades she needed to submit on the day of her death would indicate she had previously given inflated grades to her students.”
Greenberg’s death was thrust back into the spotlight following the release of the Hulu documentary Death in Apartment 603, which documents the teacher’s final days and the puzzling evidence surrounding her death.
For over 14 years, Greenberg’s parents have fought and campaigned for officials in Pennsylvania to re-examine the case and reclassify the controversial autopsy findings.
ELLEN’S EX-FIANCÉ PICTURED
At the time of her death, Greenberg was engaged to sports television producer Sam Goldberg, then 28.
The U.S. Sun snapped a series of photos of Goldberg, now 43, in the days following the release of the Hulu documentary.
A shabby Goldberg was pictured leaving his apartment in the Gramercy section of Manhattan on October 9, sporting a bright purple baseball hat, a dark blue long-sleeve shirt, stone-white colored pants, and khaki New Balance sneakers.
An untidy Goldberg was also seen carrying a tote bag.
CONTROVERSIAL FINDING
Dr. Simon’s latest report supported Goldberg’s assertion that he was at the gym at the time of his fiancée’s death and returned to their apartment to find the door locked from the inside.
Goldberg sent Greenberg a series of angry text messages, “‘Hello,’ ‘open the door,’ what r u doin’,’ ‘i’m getting pissed,’ ‘hello,’” according to police records.
He eventually broke down the door after an hour and found Greenberg in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor, “She stabbed herself,” Goldberg told a 911 dispatcher.
The medical examiner’s report stated that Goldberg’s statements to investigators were corroborated by “surveillance video, keycard swipes, and other evidence.”
Dr. Simon also stressed that Goldberg’s DNA was not found on the knife Greenberg is believed to have used in her death.
“With all of this information considered, it is the opinion of the undersigned that the manner of Ellen Greenberg’s death is best classified as suicide,” the medical examiner concluded.
“All opinions stated in this report are expressed with the reasonable degree of medical certainty.”
Since his then-fiancée’s death, Goldberg has only spoken publicly about the matter twice and reached out to Greenberg’s parents once when he informed them about his engagement to his now-wife, Caroline Shnay, in 2013, according to the Daily Mail.
In a statement to CNN in 2024, Goldberg said Greenberg’s death left him “bewildered.”
“She was a wonderful and a kind person who had everything to live for. When she died a part of me died with her,” Goldberg said.
He stressed the importance of mental health and blasted the “lies, distortions, and falsehoods” that attempted to smear his reputation.
Goldberg described the latest widespread media coverage about Greenberg’s death “awful.”
“It’s awful and it sucks,” he told the Daily Mail.
William Trask, the attorney for the Greenberg family, slammed the findings, calling Dr. Simon’s review “a deeply flawed attempt to justify a predetermined conclusion.”
“It includes false claims – like the assertion that a stab wound in Ellen’s spinal column was made during autopsy, a theory rejected by every credible expert, including the City’s own neuropathologist,” Trask wrote.