Ellen Greenberg was found stabbed to death in her apartment, with at least 20 stab wounds. She was stabbed in the back of the neck and head, and the final wound was a stab to the chest, with the knife left embedded there.
Her death was initially ruled a homicide by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner. However, police disagreed and publicly challenged the medical examiner’s findings. Months later, Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne, without warning or explanation, reclassified the death as a suicide.
Since then, Greenberg’s parents have fought to have her death ruled a homicide or inconclusive, only to learn that Pennsylvania state law allows a “medical examiner to be wrong as to the manner of death but cannot be compelled to change it.”
The Chester County District Attorney’s office announced it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred in Ellen Greenberg’s death. As a result, the investigation is now considered “inactive.” The DA’s office said detectives reviewed prior investigations conducted by the Philadelphia Police and the Attorney General’s office, interviewed new witnesses, and consulted with an independent forensic expert.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office explained, “This standard of proof—beyond a reasonable doubt—makes the criminal investigation different from other legal matters surrounding Ms. Greenberg’s death.”
The Chester County DA’s decision to move the investigation to “inactive” status does not change the fact that there is no statute of limitations for criminal homicide in Pennsylvania, and the case is not being closed. It will remain “open and inactive.”
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[Feature Photo: Ellen Greenberg/Handout]
