Fourteen years in the past, on a snowy night in Philadelphia, Ellen Greenberg was discovered useless on the kitchen ground of her residence. She had 20 knife wounds and quite a few bruises. Authorities dominated her demise a suicide.Greenberg was a 27-year-old schoolteacher. Her mother and father insisted she’d been murdered. They fought to have the ruling amended. Now, after years of investigation, a number of lawsuits, and an internet petition that has drawn greater than 166,000 signatures, the pathologist who carried out her post-mortem says he has modified his thoughts.Dr. Marlon Osbourne signed a doc Friday saying that after contemplating new info within the case he now not believes that Greenberg killed herself. Greenberg’s mother and father resolved their claims in opposition to Osbourne over the weekend, one among their attorneys mentioned.And on Monday, simply earlier than a jury might be impaneled in a separate go well with by the Greenbergs in opposition to numerous metropolis officers, the remaining events reached a settlement in each lawsuits. The Greenbergs had been searching for damages for what they referred to as a “conspiracy to cover-up Ellen’s homicide.”Philadelphia metropolis spokesperson Ava Schwemler mentioned that whereas metropolis officers didn’t admit legal responsibility, the Greenbergs will obtain a financial cost — the quantity of which shall be disclosed at a later date — and the town’s Medical Examiner’s Workplace will re-examine the Greenberg case.”We’re very excited,” Greenberg’s mom, Sandee, informed CNN by cellphone after she heard the information of Dr. Osbourne’s reversal. “I imply, by no means in my wildest goals did I believe something like this was going to occur.”All these developments may clear the best way for what Greenberg’s mother and father have wished all alongside: a felony investigation into their daughter’s demise.”That is what they have been combating for,” mentioned Will Trask, one among their attorneys.Osbourne’s lawyer, Marc Bailkin, declined to remark when reached by cellphone.When a CNN reporter requested if the assertion attributed to Osbourne was genuine, he mentioned, “It’s. It speaks for itself.”The pathologist initially dominated Greenberg’s demise a homicideIt all started on January 26, 2011. At 6:30 p.m, Greenberg’s fiancé, Sam Goldberg, referred to as 911 and mentioned, “I simply walked into my residence; my fiancée’s on the ground with blood in all places.”Greater than two minutes handed earlier than Goldberg first talked about a stunning element: A knife was protruding of Ellen’s chest.”She stabbed herself!” he mentioned.”The place?” the 911 operator mentioned.”She fell on a knife,” Goldberg mentioned.The subsequent day, Dr. Osbourne performed an post-mortem. He famous the various stab wounds, in addition to bruises in numerous phases of therapeutic. Writing that she was “stabbed by one other individual,” he dominated the case a murder.However the Philadelphia police handled the demise as a suicide from the start. Investigators had been so satisfied Ellen had killed herself that they launched the scene with out calling within the Crime Scene Unit.By the point investigators returned, the residence had been professionally cleaned. Potential proof had been washed away.The police held quick to their willpower of suicide — partly as a result of it appeared that Ellen had been alone when she died. Investigators thought the door was mounted from the within by a swing bar latch, and preliminary reviews indicated that Goldberg had been accompanied by a safety guard whereas forcing open the door.Osbourne later mentioned in a deposition, “she’s the one one discovered within the residence, with nothing disturbed, nothing misplaced, no different approach of getting in there, it does not lend to the truth that another person was there to do it. In order that was discounted.”After conferring with law-enforcement officers, Osbourne amended the demise certificates to “suicide.” Formally, Ellen Greenberg had killed herself.However her mother and father didn’t settle for that conclusion. As they later mentioned, they wished to exonerate their daughter. And one after the other, they discovered consultants who agreed.The famous pathologist Cyril Wecht mentioned the case was “strongly suspicious of murder.” Against the law-scene reconstructionist mentioned it appeared Greenberg’s physique had been moved. And one other exterior pathologist, Wayne Ross, identified a hemorrhage in her neck muscle tissues that he thought was indicative of strangulation. He wrote that the varied bruises on her physique “had been in line with a repeated beating.”As for the claims concerning the residence door, these had been much less sure than they first appeared.Melissa Ware, who managed Greenberg’s residence constructing, informed CNN that the latched door did not show Greenberg had locked herself in. It was attainable, she mentioned, that the latch swung by itself in response to a closing door. It had occurred to her, she mentioned.A safety guard mentioned he had not been there when the fiancé compelled open the door. And regardless of two relations’ claims that they’d been on the cellphone with Goldberg when he compelled open the door, a CNN evaluation of cellphone information and different proof appeared to contradict that declare.Final November, Goldberg gave a press release to CNN lamenting what he referred to as “the pathetic and despicable makes an attempt to desecrate my popularity and her privateness by making a narrative that embraces lies, distortions and falsehoods with a view to keep away from the reality. Psychological sickness may be very actual and has many victims.”However on Friday, a decide issued a ruling that may have allowed the Greenbergs’ second lawsuit to go to a jury trial. A sequence of authorized maneuvers adopted. And Dr. Osbourne — now a pathologist in Pompano Seaside, Florida — signed a doc that amended his long-held place on Greenberg’s demise.Osbourne now says new info has led him to doubt his earlier rulingOsbourne wrote, “it’s my skilled opinion Ellen’s method of demise ought to be designated as one thing apart from suicide.”Trask, one of many Greenbergs’ attorneys, mentioned Osbourne produced the assertion as a approach of resolving the lawsuit with the Greenbergs. He mentioned the Greenbergs agreed Monday to launch Osbourne from the go well with.Osbourne’s assertion cited “extra info” he’d gotten since he issued the amended demise certificates:”I’m now conscious that info exists which pulls into query, for instance, whether or not Ellen’s fiancé was witnessed getting into the residence earlier than putting the 9-1-1 name on January 26, 2011; whether or not the door was compelled open as reported; whether or not Ellen’s physique was moved by another person contained in the residence along with her at or close to the time of her demise; and the findings of Lindsey Emery, M.D. from her neuropathological analysis of Ellen’s cervical phase pattern.”Emery, a neuropathologist for the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Workplace, mentioned in a 2021 deposition that it appeared Greenberg had been stabbed behind her neck after she was useless. She later filed a declaration strolling again that conclusion and saying there may have been different explanations for the dearth of important response in one among her wounds.With Osbourne’s departure, that left two defendants as jury choice started Monday morning: Sam Gulino, the town’s former chief medical expert; and police Det. John McNamee. Each have denied wrongdoing within the case.Simply earlier than 11:30 a.m., one among Greenberg’s relations on the courthouse reported that the jurors had been dismissed. Minutes later, Greenberg lawyer Joe Podraza gave a press release to reporters.”We have now resolved the matter,” he mentioned, including that the Greenbergs’ second lawsuit, demanding the medical expert’s workplace change its ruling on Ellen’s explanation for demise, had additionally been settled. That go well with was pending earlier than the Pennsylvania Supreme Courtroom.CNN reached out for remark to the town’s police division, medical expert’s workplace, and mayor’s workplace, in addition to two attorneys representing Gulino and McNamee. None had responded by the point of this text’s publication.Dr. Osbourne’s new conclusion shouldn’t be binding on the town. He acknowledged in his assertion that “I’m now not empowered to amend Ellen’s demise certificates myself as a result of I now not preserve a Pennsylvania medical license and am now not employed by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s workplace.””Look, the Greenbergs have been combating this for 14 years,” mentioned Trask, one among their attorneys. “They’re exhausted. They spent their retirement on this case. They’re prepared for closure.”He added, “all they wished was for Dr. Osbourne to confess that he was unsuitable, and that their daughter did not kill herself. And that is what they bought. And the remainder of it was icing on the cake.”Reached by cellphone on Monday afternoon, Greenberg’s father, Josh, mentioned it felt as if he’d simply taken and handed a really troublesome check.”We fought very lengthy to get this,” he mentioned. “To get justice for our daughter. And we did.”
Fourteen years in the past, on a snowy night in Philadelphia, Ellen Greenberg was discovered useless on the kitchen ground of her residence. She had 20 knife wounds and quite a few bruises. Authorities dominated her demise a suicide.
Greenberg was a 27-year-old schoolteacher. Her mother and father insisted she’d been murdered. They fought to have the ruling amended. Now, after years of investigation, a number of lawsuits, and an internet petition that has drawn greater than 166,000 signatures, the pathologist who carried out her post-mortem says he has modified his thoughts.
Dr. Marlon Osbourne signed a doc Friday saying that after contemplating new info within the case he now not believes that Greenberg killed herself. Greenberg’s mother and father resolved their claims in opposition to Osbourne over the weekend, one among their attorneys mentioned.
And on Monday, simply earlier than a jury might be impaneled in a separate go well with by the Greenbergs in opposition to numerous metropolis officers, the remaining events reached a settlement in each lawsuits. The Greenbergs had been searching for damages for what they referred to as a “conspiracy to cover-up Ellen’s homicide.”
Philadelphia metropolis spokesperson Ava Schwemler mentioned that whereas metropolis officers didn’t admit legal responsibility, the Greenbergs will obtain a financial cost — the quantity of which shall be disclosed at a later date — and the town’s Medical Examiner’s Workplace will re-examine the Greenberg case.
“We’re very excited,” Greenberg’s mom, Sandee, informed CNN by cellphone after she heard the information of Dr. Osbourne’s reversal. “I imply, by no means in my wildest goals did I believe something like this was going to occur.”
All these developments may clear the best way for what Greenberg’s mother and father have wished all alongside: a felony investigation into their daughter’s demise.
“That is what they have been combating for,” mentioned Will Trask, one among their attorneys.
Osbourne’s lawyer, Marc Bailkin, declined to remark when reached by cellphone.
When a CNN reporter requested if the assertion attributed to Osbourne was genuine, he mentioned, “It’s. It speaks for itself.”
The pathologist initially dominated Greenberg’s demise a murder
All of it started on January 26, 2011. At 6:30 p.m, Greenberg’s fiancé, Sam Goldberg, referred to as 911 and mentioned, “I simply walked into my residence; my fiancée’s on the ground with blood in all places.”
Greater than two minutes handed earlier than Goldberg first talked about a stunning element: A knife was protruding of Ellen’s chest.
“She stabbed herself!” he mentioned.
“The place?” the 911 operator mentioned.
“She fell on a knife,” Goldberg mentioned.
The subsequent day, Dr. Osbourne performed an post-mortem. He famous the various stab wounds, in addition to bruises in numerous phases of therapeutic. Writing that she was “stabbed by one other individual,” he dominated the case a murder.
However the Philadelphia police handled the demise as a suicide from the start. Investigators had been so satisfied Ellen had killed herself that they launched the scene with out calling within the Crime Scene Unit.
By the point investigators returned, the residence had been professionally cleaned. Potential proof had been washed away.
The police held quick to their willpower of suicide — partly as a result of it appeared that Ellen had been alone when she died. Investigators thought the door was mounted from the within by a swing bar latch, and preliminary reviews indicated that Goldberg had been accompanied by a safety guard whereas forcing open the door.
Osbourne later mentioned in a deposition, “she’s the one one discovered within the residence, with nothing disturbed, nothing misplaced, no different approach of getting in there, it does not lend to the truth that another person was there to do it. In order that was discounted.”
After conferring with law-enforcement officers, Osbourne amended the demise certificates to “suicide.” Formally, Ellen Greenberg had killed herself.
However her mother and father didn’t settle for that conclusion. As they later mentioned, they wished to exonerate their daughter. And one after the other, they discovered consultants who agreed.
The famous pathologist Cyril Wecht mentioned the case was “strongly suspicious of murder.” Against the law-scene reconstructionist mentioned it appeared Greenberg’s physique had been moved. And one other exterior pathologist, Wayne Ross, identified a hemorrhage in her neck muscle tissues that he thought was indicative of strangulation. He wrote that the varied bruises on her physique “had been in line with a repeated beating.”
As for the claims concerning the residence door, these had been much less sure than they first appeared.
Melissa Ware, who managed Greenberg’s residence constructing, informed CNN that the latched door did not show Greenberg had locked herself in. It was attainable, she mentioned, that the latch swung by itself in response to a closing door. It had occurred to her, she mentioned.
A safety guard mentioned he had not been there when the fiancé compelled open the door. And regardless of two relations’ claims that they’d been on the cellphone with Goldberg when he compelled open the door, a CNN evaluation of cellphone information and different proof appeared to contradict that declare.
Final November, Goldberg gave a press release to CNN lamenting what he referred to as “the pathetic and despicable makes an attempt to desecrate my popularity and her privateness by making a narrative that embraces lies, distortions and falsehoods with a view to keep away from the reality. Psychological sickness may be very actual and has many victims.”
However on Friday, a decide issued a ruling that may have allowed the Greenbergs’ second lawsuit to go to a jury trial. A sequence of authorized maneuvers adopted. And Dr. Osbourne — now a pathologist in Pompano Seaside, Florida — signed a doc that amended his long-held place on Greenberg’s demise.
Osbourne now says new info has led him to doubt his earlier ruling
Osbourne wrote, “it’s my skilled opinion Ellen’s method of demise ought to be designated as one thing apart from suicide.”
Trask, one of many Greenbergs’ attorneys, mentioned Osbourne produced the assertion as a approach of resolving the lawsuit with the Greenbergs. He mentioned the Greenbergs agreed Monday to launch Osbourne from the go well with.
Osbourne’s assertion cited “extra info” he’d gotten since he issued the amended demise certificates:
“I’m now conscious that info exists which pulls into query, for instance, whether or not Ellen’s fiancé was witnessed getting into the residence earlier than putting the 9-1-1 name on January 26, 2011; whether or not the door was compelled open as reported; whether or not Ellen’s physique was moved by another person contained in the residence along with her at or close to the time of her demise; and the findings of Lindsey Emery, M.D. from her neuropathological analysis of Ellen’s cervical phase pattern.”
Emery, a neuropathologist for the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Workplace, mentioned in a 2021 deposition that it appeared Greenberg had been stabbed behind her neck after she was useless. She later filed a declaration strolling again that conclusion and saying there may have been different explanations for the dearth of important response in one among her wounds.
With Osbourne’s departure, that left two defendants as jury choice started Monday morning: Sam Gulino, the town’s former chief medical expert; and police Det. John McNamee. Each have denied wrongdoing within the case.
Simply earlier than 11:30 a.m., one among Greenberg’s relations on the courthouse reported that the jurors had been dismissed. Minutes later, Greenberg lawyer Joe Podraza gave a press release to reporters.
“We have now resolved the matter,” he mentioned, including that the Greenbergs’ second lawsuit, demanding the medical expert’s workplace change its ruling on Ellen’s explanation for demise, had additionally been settled. That go well with was pending earlier than the Pennsylvania Supreme Courtroom.
CNN reached out for remark to the town’s police division, medical expert’s workplace, and mayor’s workplace, in addition to two attorneys representing Gulino and McNamee. None had responded by the point of this text’s publication.
Dr. Osbourne’s new conclusion shouldn’t be binding on the town. He acknowledged in his assertion that “I’m now not empowered to amend Ellen’s demise certificates myself as a result of I now not preserve a Pennsylvania medical license and am now not employed by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s workplace.”
“Look, the Greenbergs have been combating this for 14 years,” mentioned Trask, one among their attorneys. “They’re exhausted. They spent their retirement on this case. They’re prepared for closure.”
He added, “all they wished was for Dr. Osbourne to confess that he was unsuitable, and that their daughter did not kill herself. And that is what they bought. And the remainder of it was icing on the cake.”
Reached by cellphone on Monday afternoon, Greenberg’s father, Josh, mentioned it felt as if he’d simply taken and handed a really troublesome check.
“We fought very lengthy to get this,” he mentioned. “To get justice for our daughter. And we did.”
