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- [00:01]
Heidi Wong
Crime House has the perfect new show for spooky season Twisted Tales. Hosted by Heidi Wong, each episode of Twisted Tales is perfect for late night scares and daytime frights, revealing the disturbing real life events that inspired the world's most terrifying blockbusters and the ones too twisted to make it to screen. Twisted Tales is a Crime House original.
- [00:25]
Narrator / True Crime Host
Powered by Pave Studios.
- [00:27]
Heidi Wong
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes out every Monday.
- [00:41]
Crime House Announcer / Promo Voice
This is Crime House.
- [00:44]
Narrator / True Crime Host
There have been two cases where I've looked at the injuries to the victim's body and thought to myself, there's actually no way the police believe that that is the cause of death. The first, as many of you may know, was in the Karen Reid trial because you simply cannot convince me that John O' Keefe was hit by a 6,000 pound vehicle going 24 miles per hour and did not sustain a single broken bone, torn ligament or even a bruise below his neck. The second is tonight's case, the death of Ellen Greenberg. This case is nearly 15 years old, but Ellen's parents are still fighting for justice. Let's get into it. A court hearing today on the ME Report that reconfirms Greenberg's death has been ruled a suicide. She was found dead in her manayunk.
- [01:32]
Crime House Announcer / Promo Voice
Apartment with 20 stab wounds back in 2011. Her death was originally ruled a homicide.
- [01:37]
Narrator / True Crime Host
And then it was changed to a suicide. Fourteen years after Sandy Greenberg's daughter Ellen's mysterious stabbing death, she and her husband Josh still have more questions than answers. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor and fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion. Every weekday morning and night here at Crime House Daily, we dig into the true crime stories making headlines right now, where justice is unfolding, arrests are happening, and new evidence is emerging. Every morning, First Watch gets you up to speed on today's biggest cases. Every night, Night Watch takes you deeper. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, this is the place for you. Follow Crime House Daily Wherever you get your podcasts, leave a review and for ad free listening, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. For video, check out our YouTube channel Rimehouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence, so everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- [03:07]
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- [03:43]
Narrator / True Crime Host
If the police told me that my daughter was found with a laceration to the back of her head, 20 stab wounds, half of them to the back of her neck, some of them to her abdomen and chest, and one final strike to the heart that penetrated four inches deep and then tried to tell me that this was a suicide and my daughter who is afraid of getting her ears pierced, did this all to herself. I would laugh in their face out of sheer shock at the stupidity break down and grief and then not stop until I got justice for my daughter. And that's what Josh and Sandy Greenberg have been doing for their daughter for the past almost 15 years. On January 26, 2011, 27 year old Ellen Greenberg was discovered by her fiance dead in their Philadelphia apartment despite sustaining 20 stab wounds. Ellen's fiance Sam Goldberg told detectives about Ellen's recent struggles with mental health and they immediately ruled it a suicide at the scene. However, when the medical examiner was done with the autopsy, he initially ruled it a homicide until a curious meeting was held with him. Officials from the DA's office and investigators who presented more evidence to the ME that made him revert his decision to a suicide. This kicked off a cycle of grief and outrage that continues to this day due to the fact that her death was immediately ruled suicide, the crime scene was never preserved and a company called Crime Scene Cleanup was allowed to professionally clean the crime scene. So we will probably never be able to prove what really happened to Ellen, but people have speculated that her fiance Sam Goldberg, who found Ellen bloody and unresponsive, had something to do with it. Wait till you hear the 911 call. You may be wondering why we are talking about this now. Well, Ellen's parents sued the city of Philadelphia for conspiracy to cover up her daughter's murder. On November 3, the day jury selection was supposed to happen, the city settled with the family for $600,000 and promised to reopen the case. However, the city was dragging their feet. And the judge finally stepped in and said that he better have a new Emmys report in his hands. But by October 14, after almost 15 years of fighting for justice for their daughter, Josh and Sandy thought they might just get it. But the new ME's report was released on October 14, and it was once again determined a suicide. With all the ups and downs in this case, I am hoping that this is not the end for them and that telling you about this case can build more momentum for her parents. But for now, let's get into the details. Sandy and Josh Greenberg welcomed their baby girl, Ellen Greenberg, into this world on June 23, 1983. She is their only baby and the absolute apple of their eyes. They raise Ellen in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where Josh is a periodontist and Sandy is a dental hygienist. And they are clearly good at what they do because Ellen has a radiant smile and perfect teeth. Ellen's family and friends say she was happy with bubbly, outgoing, and just had a certain zest for life. She wants to make a career out of teaching children and really wants to find love. After high school, Ellen attends Pennsylvania State University and studies communications. Once she graduates, she decides she wants to be a teacher. So she takes night classes at Temple University to get her credentials. And about three years into her teaching career, she becomes a founding first grade teacher at the Juniata Park Academy in Philly. Ellen loves her job, and that's not the only good thing she has going for her. Soon, she also falls in love. Around 2008, Ellen goes on a blind date with a handsome young man around her age. His name is Sam Goldberg. Sam is an associate director at NBC Sports, and he checks all of Ellen's boxes from the outside. He is a good Jewish boy from a good Jewish family, so they share a similar culture and upbringing. Ellen's mom says that Sam seemed sweet and was always respectful and she thought that he treated her daughter well. He would bring her coffee in the morning and warm up her car for her on cold mornings before she drives to school. Ellen sees Sam as a worthy partner, a life partner. Eventually, the two of them decide to move in together. They get an apartment in a building called the Venice Lofts, which is located in a neighborhood known as Mana Yunk. Everything seems amazing in their relationship and Sam proposes to Ellen. She's over the moon and had been looking forward to this day for so long. They set a wedding date for August 2011. In the months leading up to their wedding, they're deep in the midst of planning, but Ellen's friends aren't sure what to think of it all. It starts when Ellen's friends and family notice that the once bubbly and optimistic young woman always seems to be anxious and on edge. Whenever they ask what's wrong, Ellen just says that she hates her job and work is really stressing her out. But beyond that, she doesn't really elaborate. But soon her parents become even more worried when she calls them and asks if she can move back to Harrisburg to live with them. They find this really odd and out of character and ask if it has anything to do with Sam, but Ellen insists it's just work that is stressing her out. Ellen's dad doesn't want her to lose the job she's worked so hard for, so he strikes a deal with her. She has to see a psychiatrist a few times, and if she is still unhappy, they can figure things out. Ellen follows through and meets a psychiatrist, but when she is asked about her relationship, she again says everything's going great and claims that the stress and anxiety are just work related. Ellen's doctor seems to think she's dealing with situational mental health issues and prescribes her medication. But Ellen says that she doesn't like the way it makes her feel. Then they try Klonopin and Ambien, an anti anxiety medication and a sleep aid, and Ellen says she feels like she's getting back to her normal, happy self. She texts her mom to say that they're working and for a while her family feels better about her situation. But on January 26, 2011, everything changes. That day, a storm blows in, blanketing the city in over a foot of snow. Schools are canceled by midday, and as the teachers and staff at her school are packing up to leave, one of Ellen's coworkers, a man named Bruce Stern, walks by her classroom and notices that she's agitated. Bruce probably figures she's worried about driving home in the snow and helps get all of the snow off of her car, which takes about an hour. The entire time Bruce is scraping and shoveling, Ellen seems extremely on edge. After Bruce finishes digging, he and Ellen both head home. But an hour later, Ellen calls Bruce. There's no transcript or recording of that call, but Ellen is reportedly still feeling agitated and needs help calming down. They talk for a while, and when they hang up, Bruce doesn't feel like he's helped at all and calls his niece, Alison Stern, who is also one of Ellen's best friends, and says, your BF is crazy. Right after they hang up, Allison gets a call from Ellen but doesn't end up answering, and she says it's one of the biggest regrets she has to this day. Shortly after that call, around 5:15pm, Sam returns to their 6th floor apartment after going down to the gym on the lower floor in the building. When Sam tries to open the apartment door, it's locked. The swing bolt has been latched from the inside. Sam is banging on the door and yelling at Ellen to let him in, which gets the attention of one of their neighbors who peeks out of his door and sees Sam standing there. The neighbor says Sam was pacing back and forth and looked worried about something. Sam is getting more and more irate and starts texting Ellen to ask her to let him in, but gets no response. He goes down to the lobby to ask the front desk concierge to to let him in the unit because he can't get in. The concierge at the time, a man named Phil Hanton, says he can't leave his post and offers to call maintenance to let him in. Sam goes back up, but she's still not answering and Sam sends a series of frustrated messages. You better have an excuse and you have no idea. Sam goes back down to the lobby and Phil says he's even more agitated. He says, I need to get into this f ing unit. Phil says he asks if anything is wrong with Ellen, and Sam responds, I don't know. I don't know. And as he departed the front desk, he said, well, I'm just going to knock the f ing door down. Then he heads back to the elevator, and at 6:33pm Sam kicks down the door to the apartment. As soon as the door bursts open, he sees Ellen in the kitchen and panics. Ellen is slumped on the floor, propped up against the cabinets. She's covered in blood and a serrated kitchen knife is plunged into her chest. Sam frantically calls 91 1. Let's listen to it.
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911 Dispatcher
Her shirt won't come off. It's a zipper.
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Experian Advertiser
Oh my God.
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911 Dispatcher
She stabbed herself.
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Narrator / True Crime Host
Where?
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911 Dispatcher
She fell in a knife. Oh, no, her knife's sticking out.
- [13:11]
Narrator / True Crime Host
What?
- [13:11]
911 Dispatcher
There's a knife sticking out of her heart. Oh, she stabbed herself? I guess so. I don't know where she fell on it. I don't know. Okay, well, don't touch it.
- [13:20]
Narrator / True Crime Host
I find this call interesting for multiple reasons, but there are two things that really stick out. One is that when the dispatcher starts instructing him, he says he can't get her shirt off because there's a zipper and then says, oh my God, she stabbed herself. But in the crime scene photos, the knife is sticking straight out of her chest through the hoodie. The call sounds like he just discovered the knife after taking off her shirt, but he clearly saw it right away. The second thing is him immediately saying that she stabbed herself and that she must have fallen on the knife. I'm pretty sure the last thing most people would think if they saw a loved one on the ground stabbed was oh, she must have done it to herself. A little sus. Then at 6:40pm Police arrive and assess Ellen. It's immediately clear to them that there's nothing they can do, so officers pronounce Ellen Greenberg dead at the scene. Sam bursts into hysterical sobs so loud his neighbors hear him crying. Meanwhile, the police need to figure out what happened to Ellen because the bloody state of Ellen's body suggests someone attacked her. At the same time, Sam swears no one else has been in their apartment except him. As the investigators comb over the evidence in front of them and and try to piece together the final moments of Ellen's life, they reach a conclusion that will have a ripple effect for the next 15 years.
- [14:57]
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- [15:25]
Narrator / True Crime Host
Learn more@natural cycles.com On January 26, 2011, Sam Goldberg returns home to find his apartment door locked from the inside. When Sam breaks down the door, he discovers his fiance, Ellen Greenberg, bloody and unresponsive with a knife sticking out of her chest. Police arrive at the scene and quickly pronounce Ellen dead. Sam tells him that the door was locked from the inside and that no one else had been in the apartment except him. Officers begin scouring the apartment for any clues as to what may have happened. The only other way in or out of the apartment is the narrow balcony. However, not only is the unit on the sixth floor, but the snow on the balcony is completely undisturbed, meaning no one's walked through that balcony door. Pretty soon, officers start noticing other details that form their understanding of what happened and they don't think she was attacked. For starters, Ellen has no defensive wounds and all of the blood is confined to the kitchen. The rest of the kitchen and the apartment in general is immaculate. There's even a bowl of blueberries on the kitchen countertop Next to a freshly cut orange. But one thing that stood out in this otherwise normal scene with no signs of struggle, Is the knife block that was knocked over. And some of the knives were in the sink. Later, when police question Sam, he tells him something that forms an official conclusion about Alan's death. While speaking to police, Sam explains that Ellen had been under a lot of stress for the past few months and that she recently started taking anxiety medication. Between this and all of the information gathered at the scene, Police officially rule Ellen's death a suicide. It's devastating news for Sam, as well as Ellen's friends and family. Even though most people knew she was having a rough time, no one imagined she would ever take her own life. And they're not the only ones who find this explanation hard to believe. The next day, the assistant medical examiner, Marlon Osborne, Begins his autopsy, and his findings point him in a decidedly different direction. First, Osborne notes that the knife in Ellen's chest is four inches deep. But that's not even the most alarming thing. She also has seven more stab wounds to her chest. Ellen also sustained a two inch deep stab wound on her stomach and and a 2 1/2 inch long cut along her scalp. Finally, Osborne notices 10 stab wounds on the back of Ellen's neck, the deepest one being about three inches. Additionally, he notes 11 bruises on Ellen's body In various stages of healing, which means some could have been caused by a struggle with an attacker Right before her death, but others were caused days before Ellen died. Based on this, Osborn makes a rare move. He contradicts the police and rules Greenberg's death as a homicide. But before the police get Osborne's report, they make a decision that crucially impacts their chances of successfully solving a potential murder. That same day, the manager of the Venice loft apartments Gets a call from Sam's uncle, James Schwartzman, who asks the building manager if he can enter the apartment and to retrieve some personal effects for Ellen's funeral. The manager tells James she needs to ask the police first, and when she speaks with them, they say anyone can come and go as they please and even advise her to call the crime scene cleanup. Since Ellen's death is still officially considered a suicide, this is technically okay, but is still mind blowing. So not even 24 hours after Ellen's death, Professional cleaners arrive in protective gear to sterilize the apartment. After they leave, Sam's uncle James and another man enter the apartment and take all of Ellen's electronics that they need for the memorial. If at this point you're flabbergasted as to how the fiance isn't considered suspect number one and thinking this family must know some powerful people, you are correct in your assumption. And Sam's uncle James is that guy. He is an extremely well known and well connected attorney in Philadelphia who has served as a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as a judge on the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline, and as a President judge. He also previously served as the Chairman of the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board and is a former Chairman of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's Disciplinarian Board and is the Chairman of the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Group. Meanwhile, Ellen's family is preparing her body for burial. It's Jewish tradition to bury someone as soon as possible. And two days after her death, on January 28, 2011, they have her funeral. That day, Sam is utterly inconsolable. Then, during the service, one of Ellen's best friends is notified that Ellen is all over the news because the ME has now ruled her death a homicide. Her father Josh gets this news right before he gets up to give the eulogy. And in the eulogy he makes this announcement and then the room goes silent. When the case gets to the Philadelphia's Homicide division, the detectives there are just as surprised. However, they're not willing to accept the ME's findings just yet. On March 7, 2011, the police sit down with the ME in a closed door meeting. During that meeting, the ME does something highly unconventional and changes his official determination of death from homicide back to suicide. But Ellen's parents aren't buying it. They think there's a reason that Emmy initially determined their daughter was murdered. So now they want to get to the bottom of it themselves. They contact a Pittsburgh based forensic pathologist named Cyril Wecht, who has made headlines for contradicting the infamous single bullet theory related to the JFK assassination. When he learns about the injuries Ellen sustained, he immediately has doubts about the official story of her death. After that, the Greenbergs hire a prominent civil rights attorney named Larry Krasner who meets with the DA's office to try and get the investigation reopened. However, this doesn't seem to result in anything. But the Greenbergs aren't deterred. Two years after Ellen's death in 2013, they are introduced to a retired state police officer named Thomas Brennan Jr. Who now works as a private investigator. Brennan reviews the files on Ellen's death and instantly notices something wrong. The first thing that catches his eye is a stream of blood that flowed from Ellen's nose to her left ear. To Brennan, this doesn't make sense, since Ellen was found propped up against the kitchen cabinets, and in that position, the blood would have flowed down her face, not across it. The way Brennan sees it, the only possible explanation for this is that Ellen's body was moved. Even with this crucial finding, years go by before the Greenbergs make any progress. However, one of Ellen's friends connects with a homicide Prosecutor in the DA's office named Guy D', Andrea, who also becomes one of their allies. When Guy first looks for Ellen's files, he can't find them anywhere in the DA's office. They aren't with the homicides, they aren't with the other cases. They were stored in a closet with the office holiday decorations. He said everything about this case felt wrong from the beginning. And when he reviews Ellen's case file and notices all the same inconsistencies others have pointed out, he clocks something else, too. There's something missing from Ellen's case file. When homicide prosecutor Guy d' Andrea becomes involved in Ellen Greenberg's case, he realizes that something important is missing from her file. An outside neuropathology report from Dr. Lucy Roark Adams. That was part of what made the ME change his determination back to suicide. At first, they believed it was possible that Ellen sustained a wound to the neck which would have prevented her from being able to stab herself in the heart. But this report said it could have made her numb, not incapacitated. And d' Andrea can't find it anywhere. He can't find a copy of it or even A bill for Dr. Rourke Adams Services. So he tracks down the doctor himself. And when they speak, things are bizarre. Dr. Roark Adams says she has no memory of working on Ellen's case. It's starting to seem like the Greenbergs and everyone on their side will never make any headway. Fortunately, Thomas Brennan, the private investigator, soon makes a key discovery. He learns that a piece of Ellen's injured spinal column is still in storage at the ME's office. Brennan obtains the sample, then enlists a forensic pathologist for help analyzing it. The pathologist concludes that the deep wound on the back of Ellen's neck would have severed certain nerves, causing severe pain and most likely loss of consciousness. It's a major breakthrough in the Greenberg's investigation. And then, in 2018, they have another stroke of good luck. That year, their former attorney, Larry Krasner, becomes District Attorney of Philadelphia. One of the first things Krasner does is refer Ellen's case to the Attorney General's office for review. At the time, that office was held by Josh Shapiro, who is now the Governor of Pennsylvania. When Krasner refers the case, it's now been seven years since Ellen's death. But with the case in the hands of Pennsylvania's Attorney General, this is the closest Ellen's parents have come to getting her case reopened. Unfortunately, when they hear back from Shapiro's office, their hopes are crushed once again. After holding onto the case for a year, the AG's office concludes that the evidence supports a suicide ruling and once again closes the book on it. As part of their evidence, they cite Ellen's Internet search history, which includes things like suicide methods, quick suicide, and painless suicide. But the curious thing is that these were never mentioned in the original ME's report or any police reports from 2011. In fact, the report claims that there was nothing significant found on her devices. And also, stabbing yourself to death is not a painless suicide. So now they are claiming they have found this new evidence years later. When asked about this, Shapiro spokesperson says that they can't tell if the investigators at the time looked into it or not. If you recall, the chain of custody on Ellen's laptop had already been obliterated when Sam's uncle took that from their apartment the day after she died. Now, this raises questions about whether Ellen actually made those searches herself. At this point, the Greenbergs are fed up. In 2019, they sue the medical examiner's office and the pathologist who conducted the autopsy in civil court, seeking to have Ellen's cause of death officially changed to either homicide or undetermined. This leads to depositions which come with a host of revelations about the last day of Ellen's life and the manner of her death. One of these findings comes in 2021, when the original medical examiner in the case, Marlon Osborne, is deposed. During this deposition, it's revealed that one of Ellen's wounds could have been inflicted postmortem. He also says that if he wasn't told the false information that the doorman was with Sam when he broke down the door to his apartment, he probably would have kept the determination a homicide. The lawsuit also allows the family to ask for surveillance footage from that night. But when their lawyer reaches out to the solicitor's office, they say there is no surveillance footage. This building had between 12 and 20 surveillance cameras, so they aren't buying it and ask them to please go back and check again. They reply that the police have Confirmed there is no video. The family's attorneys reply, saying they are going to get the courts involved or you are going to give us a signed affidavit. And someone from the police department has to go on record saying there was no seizure of the tape. For obvious reasons, no one was going on record saying that. But they did get a message back from the office, basically saying, oh, those surveillance tapes. And end up sending them over and what they see shocks them. It turns out that Sam was not escorted up to his apartment when he broke down the door, which was one of the main things that changed the me's mind for a few years. There are still no major changes in the case, but by the summer of 2024, the case makes it all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, who rules that the Greenberg civil suit against the city of Philadelphia can proceed and there is enough evidence. The Greenberg's lawyers reach out to the original me, Marlon Osborne's counsel, and say, hey, the family is willing to settle if Marlon testifies and tells the truth. His counsel immediately agrees, and Marlon makes an official statement that he believes that Ellen's death should be ruled a homicide. This creates a media frenzy, and on November 3rd, the day jury selection was supposed to begin, Ellen's parents reach a settlement with the city. In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, the Greenbergs receive a $600,000 settlement and an agreement that the city's officials will reopen the case. Part of that agreement was that the city's officials work quickly in the review, which many people, including a judge, feel like they haven't done. But just a few weeks ago, in October 2025, a new medical examiner, not Marlon Osborne, released her findings and once again declares Ellen's death a suicide. The medical examiner says that although the distribution of Ellen's wounds is certainly unusual, she could have inflicted them herself. And her fiance's DNA was not found on the knife as of this recording. The Greenberg's family attorney said that the re evaluation of Ellen's death is, quote, deeply flawed. In a statement to CNN in December 2024, Sam Goldberg said, in part, when Ellen took her own life, it left me bewildered. She was a wonderful and kind person who had everything to live for. When she died, a part of me died with her. Mental health is real and has many victims. Please do some good by raising awareness for mental health. As for Sam, he has moved on with his life and is now married with children. I have a feeling this case is not done with. So as always, we'll be keeping an eye on all of the latest developments. What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel Rimehouse Daily and follow us on social media Rimehouse247 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops.
- [31:38]
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- [32:05]
Narrator / True Crime Host
Experian.
- [32:09]
Heidi Wong
Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong is perfect for spooky season.
- [32:13]
Narrator / True Crime Host
Dive into the real events behind the.
- [32:15]
Heidi Wong
World'S most terrifying blockbusters and beyond. Twisted Tales is a crime house original. Listen wherever you get your podcasts new episodes out every Monday.
- [32:29]
Crime House Announcer / Promo Voice
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