PA - Ellen Greenberg, 27, Philly teacher’s brutal stabbing, ruled suicide but possible homicide, Jan 2011

  • #661
Er
Its possible that the door latch was already broken, loose, or prone to malfunction before that day.
SG indicated after returning from the gym, the apt door latched from the inside, which required him to force entry.
I have doubts about the forceful entry that evening.

If it doesnt make sense - it's most likely not true.
My opinion.
the photos of the door don’t consistently look the same over time, which is confusing. Hopefully someone has the original photos.

IMHOO
 
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  • #662
Not sure if Derrick Levasseur is an approved source, but he put out an episode with Rhode Island pathologist Dr. Priya Banergee and I found it incredibly compelling. They get very detailed about specific injuries. I watched it twice today.

 
  • #663
According to her parents, a pathologist that they trust most emphasized that the marks on her neck and or the blow to the head caused her death and that the stabbings to her body were mostly superficial and postmortem except for the one to her chest where the knife was found. Remember all information that anyone knows came from SG. They were together in the apartment. Only them.
<modsnip>
 
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  • #664
According to her parents, a pathologist that they trust most emphasized that the marks on her neck and or the blow to the head caused her death and that the stabbings to her body were mostly superficial and postmortem except for the one to her chest where the knife was found. Remember all information that anyone knows came from SG. They were together in the apartment. Only them. <modsnip>
Yeah, 6+ cm into the neck and brain (N and T) are about as far from superficial as it gets.

I get that they focus on the previously overlooked strangulation - especially since nobody would claim she strangled herself (no ligature marks) but to say stabbing very close to the brain stem and piercing the dural sack are nothing is an extreme exaggeration.
 
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  • #665
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  • #666
According to her parents, a pathologist that they trust most emphasized that the marks on her neck and or the blow to the head caused her death and that the stabbings to her body were mostly superficial and postmortem except for the one to her chest where the knife was found. Remember all information that anyone knows came from SG. They were together in the apartment. Only them.
<modsnip>
Have we seen that pathologist's report that supports that? I must apologize because I have not kept up on this thread very well.
 
  • #667
Have we seen that pathologist's report that supports that? I must apologize because I have not kept up on this thread very well.
Idk but her parents and independent pathologists have and those injuries have been ignored by those who wish to push the narrative that EG did this to herself and focus only on the knife wounds. One could argue that she took a knife to herself but it is not believable that she hit herself on the head, tried to strangle herself and also stab herself. All have to be considered. She had bruises in different stages of healing. IMO, this was not the first time she was attacked.

I have worked with lots of DV victims. I have listened to calls from them at night when they knew they had to leave but were afraid to leave knowing that the worst would then come to them or to the animals they love.
I have then received calls from their abuser when he tracked the previous call that was made to me and I made the excuse that it was a wrong number.
I have helped them make an escape plan. Sometimes telling her to wear layers of clothing to work and then storing the clothes for use later.
I have helped them move to another county shelter when their abuser found them at the shelter they were in. I have set up pick ups at public places for them once they decide to escape.
I have gone to court with them. I have met them at the hospital. I have learned they were murdered just days after making a PFA application. This was in Pennsylvania.

IMO, this was a classic DV situation she was trying to handle herself. IMO, she was embarrassed to find herself in this situation as she thought no one in her life could believe that her abuser would do such things to her. She knew if this came to light, her whole world as she knew it would change. She didn't get the chance.
 
  • #668
Yeah, 6+ cm into the neck and brain (N and T) are about as far from superficial as it gets.

I get that they focus on the previously overlooked strangulation - especially since nobody would claim she strangled herself (no ligature marks) but to say stabbing very close to the brain stem and piercing the dural sack are nothing is an extreme exaggeration.
Since the knife wound up embedded in EG's chest, with these 6+ cm wounds to her neck and brain, is it even possible for her to do that? After inflicting those neck/brain injuries (if not superficial) to then forcefully bury the knife into her chest? That had to be the last wound, if she did all that herself. And in doing so, to not have hardly any blood found on her hands or the white towel found in her left hand?
 
  • #669
When I look at the picture of the door, it seems so weird and, IMO, it doesn't make sense that a crowbar or any tool could make this damage. It looks too small, too clean, too perfect. I have a lot of doubt on the "force" he used to open the door. I could be wrong and that's exactly what a crowbar could do to a door when someone opens it forcefully but I'm just so suspicious. The fact that nothing fell on the floor or that the screws are still attached makes me believe he didn't use any type of force to open it, or he did but from the inside to try and make it look like he did it from the outside. that's just my opinion though.

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  • #670
When I look at the picture of the door, it seems so weird and, IMO, it doesn't make sense that a crowbar or any tool could make this damage. It looks too small, too clean, too perfect. I have a lot of doubt on the "force" he used to open the door. I could be wrong and that's exactly what a crowbar could do to a door when someone opens it forcefully but I'm just so suspicious. The fact that nothing fell on the floor or that the screws are still attached makes me believe he didn't use any type of force to open it, or he did but from the inside to try and make it look like he did it from the outside. that's just my opinion though.

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Do we know he used a crowbar? I don't remember seeing it mentioned anywhere....admittedly, I could have missed it.
 
  • #671
When I look at the picture of the door, it seems so weird and, IMO, it doesn't make sense that a crowbar or any tool could make this damage. It looks too small, too clean, too perfect. I have a lot of doubt on the "force" he used to open the door. I could be wrong and that's exactly what a crowbar could do to a door when someone opens it forcefully but I'm just so suspicious. The fact that nothing fell on the floor or that the screws are still attached makes me believe he didn't use any type of force to open it, or he did but from the inside to try and make it look like he did it from the outside. that's just my opinion though.

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Was there any clear damage to the door frame?? Experts have said that he would have had to break/damage the door frame to get past the latch. Remember all that anyone knows comes from SG.
 
  • #672
Since the knife wound up embedded in EG's chest, with these 6+ cm wounds to her neck and brain, is it even possible for her to do that? After inflicting those neck/brain injuries (if not superficial) to then forcefully bury the knife into her chest? That had to be the last wound, if she did all that herself. And in doing so, to not have hardly any blood found on her hands or the white towel found in her left hand?
These are excellent questions. I really don’t think it’s possible - but I’m not a pathologist.
 
  • #673
According to this timeline, Sam was confirmed to be out of the apartment at 4:45 and at the gym. Ellen was still using her laptop at 4:46 (I feel like a lot hinges on this fact, where does it come from?) And then Sam is at the gym until 5:30, visually confirmed. Ellen did not answer a phone call at 5:24.

So either she was dead when he left the apartment and the computer usage is incorrect, or she was still alive but missed a phone call at 5:24 (in the bathroom perhaps? Or dead/dying?) At 5:30 he leaves the gym and by 5:44 he was being loud enough to attract attention from the neighbors. If he was the perp, that doesn't leave much time for the deed. That's assuming he was finished by the time he started attracting attention.

How did no one hear anything? A neighbor claims to have heard Sam the entire time he was trying to get into the apartment, but no one heard any struggle or screaming? If a stranger got her, it must have happened very quickly and quietly.

Did they estimate time of death later? If she'd been dead for awhile, I would hope that would be obvious. Did she normally lock the latch when home alone? How hard are those to circumvent, anyway? If she let someone in and they murdered her, how did it get relocked? How long does blood take to dry? How dry was her blood?

The bruises on her neck are fascinating, but she had previously searched For "suffocation." Could she have tried to cut off her own air supply? Why didn't she just take the rest of her sleeping pills and klonopin?

Why did she hate her job so much? Why were her parents weird about her taking meds to feel better? What time that day were grades due? Did she finish submitting grades or not?

This case is so bizarre...there's not enough evidence for anything really, and yet something happened! I wonder why they haven't changed it to Undetermined. That makes the most sense to me.

ETA: the TOD was estimated to be within the hour, and her phone was left in the bathroom. I'm real curious about that phone. Wonder what she was looking at last.
 
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  • #674
According to this timeline, Sam was confirmed to be out of the apartment at 4:45 and at the gym. Ellen was still using her laptop at 4:46 (I feel like a lot hinges on this fact, where does it come from?) And then Sam is at the gym until 5:30, visually confirmed. Ellen did not answer a phone call at 5:24.

So either she was dead when he left the apartment and the computer usage is incorrect, or she was still alive but missed a phone call at 5:24 (in the bathroom perhaps? Or dead/dying?) At 5:30 he leaves the gym and by 5:44 he was being loud enough to attract attention from the neighbors. If he was the perp, that doesn't leave much time for the deed. That's assuming he was finished by the time he started attracting attention.

How did no one hear anything? A neighbor claims to have heard Sam the entire time he was trying to get into the apartment, but no one heard any struggle or screaming? If a stranger got her, it must have happened very quickly and quietly.

Did they estimate time of death later? If she'd been dead for awhile, I would hope that would be obvious. Did she normally lock the latch when home alone? How hard are those to circumvent, anyway? If she let someone in and they murdered her, how did it get relocked? How long does blood take to dry? How dry was her blood?

The bruises on her neck are fascinating, but she had previously searched For "suffocation." Could she have tried to cut off her own air supply? Why didn't she just take the rest of her sleeping pills and klonopin?

Why did she hate her job so much? Why were her parents weird about her taking meds to feel better? What time that day were grades due? Did she finish submitting grades or not?

This case is so bizarre...there's not enough evidence for anything really, and yet something happened! I wonder why they haven't changed it to Undetermined. That makes the most sense to me.

ETA: the TOD was estimated to be within the hour, and her phone was left in the bathroom. I'm real curious about that phone. Wonder what she was looking at last.
Some have theorized that Ellen used her job as an excuse to why she was stressed, unhappy — not herself. When, in reality, it was her relationship that was making her miserable. She was probably ashamed and embarrassed to admit her vibrant, successful fiance was an insecure, controlling monster.
What stood out for me was his reaction when he couldn’t get into the apartment. His texts to Ellen were angry and aggressive. Imagine you live in an apartment complex with concierge and health club. You are gone for less than a hour and the door is locked/you can’t get in and believe that your partner is inside. Wouldn’t a more reasonable response be confusion or concern? He really comes off as being a jerk in those texts to her. It’s not as though he was standing out in the cold…MOO of course.
More MOO - I think it’s as simple as Ellen was a victim of DV, planning to leave and he killed her in a fit of rage. He used his time at the gym to figure out how he was going to play it out. He’s a big time sports producer, of course the cops believe his suicide explanation. As soon as the cops leave, his big shot attorney (uncle), who knows people in high places, wastes no time helping himself to the evidence and inserting himself into the investigation’…:
If this man was not a SPORTS producer in a family with political ties, there would be NO question to what happened. If he were a brown or black man in a modest apartment complex, who claimed his fiancé stabbed herself front and back 20 times to commit suicide, eyebrows WOULD be raised.
 
  • #675
According to this timeline, Sam was confirmed to be out of the apartment at 4:45 and at the gym. Ellen was still using her laptop at 4:46 (I feel like a lot hinges on this fact, where does it come from?) And then Sam is at the gym until 5:30, visually confirmed. Ellen did not answer a phone call at 5:24.

So either she was dead when he left the apartment and the computer usage is incorrect, or she was still alive but missed a phone call at 5:24 (in the bathroom perhaps? Or dead/dying?) At 5:30 he leaves the gym and by 5:44 he was being loud enough to attract attention from the neighbors. If he was the perp, that doesn't leave much time for the deed. That's assuming he was finished by the time he started attracting attention.

How did no one hear anything? A neighbor claims to have heard Sam the entire time he was trying to get into the apartment, but no one heard any struggle or screaming? If a stranger got her, it must have happened very quickly and quietly.

Did they estimate time of death later? If she'd been dead for awhile, I would hope that would be obvious. Did she normally lock the latch when home alone? How hard are those to circumvent, anyway? If she let someone in and they murdered her, how did it get relocked? How long does blood take to dry? How dry was her blood?

The bruises on her neck are fascinating, but she had previously searched For "suffocation." Could she have tried to cut off her own air supply? Why didn't she just take the rest of her sleeping pills and klonopin?

Why did she hate her job so much? Why were her parents weird about her taking meds to feel better? What time that day were grades due? Did she finish submitting grades or not?

This case is so bizarre...there's not enough evidence for anything really, and yet something happened! I wonder why they haven't changed it to Undetermined. That makes the most sense to me.

ETA: the TOD was estimated to be within the hour, and her phone was left in the bathroom. I'm real curious about that phone. Wonder what she was looking at last.
You raise very good points but can't really be answered facually because there was no investigation. What happened after is most concerning to me. Why the need for a closed door meeting and the flip flop of ME reports? Of course subsequent ME analysis is only off of a report by the original view and inspection of the body. Why the immediate cleanup of the apartment?? Not normal and customary, IMO. This to me is suspicious and reeks of cover up.

Also concerning to me is IF for some reason, this case is reopened with new eyes on it, was any evidence saved?? What is there to work with?? I'm sure that her parents have plenty but who knows.

It amazes me that so many cases in different locales are just riddled with corruption by those in some sort of power.

Some podcasters are saying that SG and his current wife have separated. If so, she would be a prime source of information as to what makes SG tick. All JMO.
 
  • #676
According to this timeline, Sam was confirmed to be out of the apartment at 4:45 and at the gym. Ellen was still using her laptop at 4:46 (I feel like a lot hinges on this fact, where does it come from?) And then Sam is at the gym until 5:30, visually confirmed. Ellen did not answer a phone call at 5:24.

So either she was dead when he left the apartment and the computer usage is incorrect, or she was still alive but missed a phone call at 5:24 (in the bathroom perhaps? Or dead/dying?) At 5:30 he leaves the gym and by 5:44 he was being loud enough to attract attention from the neighbors. If he was the perp, that doesn't leave much time for the deed. That's assuming he was finished by the time he started attracting attention.

How did no one hear anything? A neighbor claims to have heard Sam the entire time he was trying to get into the apartment, but no one heard any struggle or screaming? If a stranger got her, it must have happened very quickly and quietly.

Did they estimate time of death later? If she'd been dead for awhile, I would hope that would be obvious. Did she normally lock the latch when home alone? How hard are those to circumvent, anyway? If she let someone in and they murdered her, how did it get relocked? How long does blood take to dry? How dry was her blood?

The bruises on her neck are fascinating, but she had previously searched For "suffocation." Could she have tried to cut off her own air supply? Why didn't she just take the rest of her sleeping pills and klonopin?

Why did she hate her job so much? Why were her parents weird about her taking meds to feel better? What time that day were grades due? Did she finish submitting grades or not?

This case is so bizarre...there's not enough evidence for anything really, and yet something happened! I wonder why they haven't changed it to Undetermined. That makes the most sense to me.

ETA: the TOD was estimated to be within the hour, and her phone was left in the bathroom. I'm real curious about that phone. Wonder what she was looking at last.
I am not really so on top of all the facts, having only paid attention to this case on and off. Just looking at that crucial timeline point that you have raised - was the laptop use a proof that she was alive when fiance left the apartment at 4:45?

Was the surveillance timestamp sync to the same computer time? Often they are off in other cases.

Was it possible to schedule a job on the laptop, before he left, to make it look like she was using it?

If she was indeed alive when he was at the gym... and she was trying to self harm... Did he fly in a fit of rage when he broke in, found her injured with a knife, and then planted the last, fatal blows?

How solid is all such evidence without trying them in court?

All MOO and guesses
 
  • #677
Derrick Levasseur of Detective Perspective has posted the third and final video of his Ellen Greenberg series. Another great episode and I got goosebumps listening to his perspective, starting around the 50 minute mark.

 
  • #678
I am not really so on top of all the facts, having only paid attention to this case on and off. Just looking at that crucial timeline point that you have raised - was the laptop use a proof that she was alive when fiance left the apartment at 4:45?

Was the surveillance timestamp sync to the same computer time? Often they are off in other cases.

Was it possible to schedule a job on the laptop, before he left, to make it look like she was using it?

If she was indeed alive when he was at the gym... and she was trying to self harm... Did he fly in a fit of rage when he broke in, found her injured with a knife, and then planted the last, fatal blows?

How solid is all such evidence without trying them in court?

All MOO and guesses
That's what I'm wondering. Was it, say, just a random keystroke anyone could have done? Or was she still posting grades?

But now I'm wondering how some on else else could have done it so quickly and quietly in daylight.

Say someone was in the apartment already, waiting. Sam leaves, the person strikes...where? Using what? Her phone was left in the bathroom. That seems like a unlikely place to ambush someone. Was the large gash on the back of her head from the initial blow? What item was used to make it? And where is all the blood?

Say she was still working on her computer, her phone forgotten in the bathroom (she seems like someone who was on it constantly, I don't think she would have left it for long if she forgot it in another room.) And someone snuck up and hit her from behind. Again, where's the blood? She ended up in the kitchen, why didn't she scream or run for the door? She cornered herself in the kitchen maybe looking for a weapon? Why was the towel she grabbed not used for any of her wounds? It didn't have blood on it.

If the initial attack knocked her out, she must have been carried or dragged to the kitchen...but again, where is the blood? Head wounds bleed like crazy. If someone was stabbing her in a frenzy, why wasn't there blood everywhere? Even up on the ceiling. And the perp should have had a decent amount of blood on him/her. Did they shower? Change clothes? Is there a garbage chute they used for evidence? Did no one see them walking to and from their apartment? This was dinnertime; when they left, they would have had to fix the lock and that would look weird and take a few extra seconds I'm guessing; who would chance that while people are getting home from work?

Is it even possible to kill someone and clean up thoroughly in an hour?

I'd like to know what the cleaning crew remember.
 
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  • #679
Was there multiple people's DNA on the knife handle or fingerprints in blood? (Did he touch it?) Was there blood/hair stuck on the countertop, where EG supposedly (I'm guessing) incurred the damage to the back of her head? Or was she supposed to have banged her head violently enough against the cabinets while sitting on the kitchen floor stabbing herself? Were the drains in the bathroom in the apartment and gym checked for blood/DNA? Why bother because LE proclaimed it was a suicide, before the autopsy was even done?

So many questions but the crime scene was professionally cleaned so quickly, too quickly and LE decided to take the word of EG's partner as gospel. AJMO.
 
  • #680
You raise very good points but can't really be answered facually because there was no investigation. What happened after is most concerning to me. Why the need for a closed door meeting and the flip flop of ME reports? Of course subsequent ME analysis is only off of a report by the original view and inspection of the body. Why the immediate cleanup of the apartment?? Not normal and customary, IMO. This to me is suspicious and reeks of cover up.

Also concerning to me is IF for some reason, this case is reopened with new eyes on it, was any evidence saved?? What is there to work with?? I'm sure that her parents have plenty but who knows.

It amazes me that so many cases in different locales are just riddled with corruption by those in some sort of power.

Some podcasters are saying that SG and his current wife have separated. If so, she would be a prime source of information as to what makes SG tick. All JMO.
would like to know more information about both these people. I had thought that SG just went on with his life after this but maybe not. EG could have had a lot of problems and still been murdered- I am confused about some of the crime scene areas seeming clean if this was an act of crazed anger. Was it pre-planned or not? I agree that SG had opportunity/possible motive/access... So many people have "cold feet" before a marriage- even without any DV, people start thinking about eternity and it scares them. IMO. Would like to know if EG had any history of self harm ... women really do not usually stab themselves. file:///C:/Users/lutac/Downloads/singh-et-al-2014-suicidal-death-due-to-stabbing-a-case-of-rare-occurrence.pdf; "According to WHO estimates, more than 700,000 people die each year due to suicide and suicides performed with a bladed weapon account for approximately 1.6%–3% of all suicides."https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2024/3017903 (both of these articles have some very clinical pictures) I also looked for CDC data and it does not even have data charts for knives- mostly firearms.
 

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