Former fiancé of woman found dead with 20 stab wounds in 2011 insists it was suicide after then-AG Josh Shapiro refused to prosecute

The controversial case ruled suicide where Pennsylvania resident Ellen Greenberg died from 20 stab wounds, half of them going into her back and neck, is still claimed to be a suicide by Greenberg's then fiancé, Samuel Goldberg.

Goldberg finally broke his silence on the matter after 14 years and told reporters at CNN in an investigative piece that "Ellen took her own life." Goldberg has been considered to be a primary suspect for those who have not been convinced that the case was a suicide.

On Jan 26, 2011, 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg, who was a first-grade teacher at the time, died in an apartment that she shared with Goldberg. She was found with a knife in her chest and 20 stab wounds. Half of those were to the back of her head and neck. She also had 11 bruises on her body, as reported by the outlet.

Goldberg maintains that mental illness is what took Greenberg’s life, per his statement to CNN. However, a doctor treating Greenberg at the time reported that she was “not suicidal” just days before and wrote in a report about her that she had bruises that “suggest domestic abuse sufficient to account for her anxiety.”

The case was initially ruled a homicide by Philadelphia Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne, but then police publicly challenged the ruling by the medical examiner and Osbourne switched, saying that it was a suicide without any explanation at the time. Josh Shapiro, then the Attorney General in Pennsylvania, backed the finding that it was suicide at the time. However, the Greenburg family has tried to overturn the decision and turn it back into a homicide case for years.

"When Ellen took her own life it left me bewildered. She was a wonderful and a kind person who had everything to live for," Golberg claimed to CNN about the case. "When [Greenberg] died a part of me died with her. Unimaginably, in the years that have passed I have had to endure the unimaginable passing of my future wife and the pathetic and despicable attempts to desecrate my reputation and her privacy by creating a narrative that embraces lies, distortions and falsehoods in order to avoid the truth. Mental illness is very real and has many victims."

He added in the email, "I hope and pray that you never lose someone you love like I did to a terrible disease and then be accused by ignorant and misinformed people of causing her death. If you’re really writing a truthful story, dig deeper, and please do some good by raising awareness for mental health."

The case remained inactive for years, but greater scrutiny came over it as Shapiro was being considered as a vice-presidential pick for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election during the summer. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is now set to hear the case.

Shapiro sent a letter to the Greenberg family’s lawyers in 2011 that his office reviewed the case and found it to be a suicide. But many details in the case do not add up, according to reporting from Gavin Fish. On Jan. 26, 2011, Goldberg called 911 in order to report that Greenberg on the floor with "blood everywhere" at around 6:31 pm. Goldberg told investigators he had left to go to the gym 45 minutes earlier, but that when he came back the door was locked.

He claimed that he could not get in contact with Ellen by phone and reverted to breaking down the door and finding her body. Goldberg had in fact called his cousin, Kamian Schwartzman, at 6:14 pm for about five minutes. Sam then missed several calls from his uncle James Schwartzman but answered his phone at 6:26 pm. Both his cousin and uncle are lawyers and were in the apartment building before first responders arrived as early as 6:34 pm but claimed in a letter to Fish that they got to the building "closer to 7:30.

PennLive reported in 2024 that Ellen's "body was slumped against a kitchen cabinet in a seated position. However, an attorney for Ellen's parents said in court Tuesday that her body had been moved." James Schwartzman as well then-AG Shapiro were in similar political and social circles and came from the same neighborhood.

James Schwartzman took the time the day after Ellen died to go back to the apartment, a crime scene at the time, and took her laptop, work laptop, and cellphone. Police got the devices from them two days afterward.