A pathologist’s contentious finding that Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old Philadelphia woman who died from 20 stab wounds, was a suicide, will be reconsidered after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court consented to hear arguments from her parents and their counsel.
Greenberg’s mother, Sandee Greenberg, told Fox News Digital that the family found out the court had consented to hear their case on Tuesday. The court will decide whether the parents, as executors of her estate, have the legal standing to oppose the medical examiner’s conclusions.
Last year, a panel of appellate court justices denied the parents’ request that the Philadelphia medical examiner label Greenberg’s death as homicide or undetermined. The panel determined that the parents lacked standing.
However, the judges chastised the city, police, and the medical examiner’s office for their actions during the investigation.
Minnesota Man Convicted of MURDERING COWORKER AFTER REPEATED REJECTIONS; Faces Life Sentence
Greenberg’s parents claimed a murder cover-up and promised to take their case to the state Supreme Court, finally prevailing last week after outside experts told them they would face a difficult battle.
“We always wondered why we didn’t have standing, Ellen’s mother and father,” said her father, Dr. Joshua Greenberg, to Fox News Digital. “We started fighting for Ellen, but now we’re fighting for the right to challenge the medical examiner.” Currently, the medical examiner’s conclusion cannot be contested.”
According to court filings, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, a forensic pathologist from the municipal medical examiner’s office, declared Greenberg’s death a homicide. Then, after meeting with police behind closed doors, he switched course and declared the death a suicide.
Greenberg was found dead in her kitchen in January 2011 with 20 stab wounds, including 10 from behind, at least one of which could have been inflicted after she had died, according to court filings. Her body was also covered in bruises in various stages of healing.
Investigators discovered a half-made fruit salad on the counter, as well as signs of a struggle, such as the knife block being pushed over.
According to Joe Podraza, her parents’ lawyer, there was evidence that the door lock was tampered with and that her body was transported. He told Fox News Digital that the knife discovered at the scene had never been fingerprinted.
According to court filings, the crime scene was cleaned up before detectives arrived with a search warrant. The appellate court judges also stated that they had no record of police interviews with the building’s security officer or Greenberg’s fiance, who called 911 to report discovering her slumped over in their apartment.
Texas MOM ARRESTED FOR INFANT’S DEATH After Allegedly Leaving Baby in Car During 95-degree Heat
However, municipal police and prosecutors have frequently claimed the death was a suicide.
“They never talk about the big gash to Ellen’s head,” Dr. Greenberg stated on Monday. “They never talk about the restraint on the wrists, how she was restrained, only that there were no defensive wounds.”
He also indicated that video footage is missing.
“This is such a bogus case,” he continued. “It’s a cluster—-.”
According to Podraza and the family’s private investigator, Tom Brennan, there is a lot of evidence in the case that should be investigated. Despite being found with nearly two dozen stab wounds in a blood-stained kitchen, Greenberg was clutching a “pristine” white towel in her left hand.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, a well-known forensic pathologist who did an independent examination of the autopsy, considered the evidence “strongly suspicious of homicide.”
Wecht, who died in May, previously told Fox News Digital that after reviewing the forensic data, he considered Greenberg’s suicide was “highly, highly unlikely.”
“In all my years of experience, and all of the homicides that I’ve done, and suicides, I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told me.
Dr. Henry Lee, a well-known forensic pathologist, also analyzed the case. According to court filings, he determined that the angle of the cuts on Greenberg’s back of the head “would have been difficult to inflict herself” and that her injuries were “consistent with a homicide scene.”
The Chester County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an additional outside investigation after Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner resigned due to a conflict of interest and former Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is now governor, was accused of having a conflict of interest.
Dr. Osbourne has subsequently relocated to Florida, where he works at the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office. He has not returned asked for comment on the Greenberg case.