PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Investigators say they are “unable to move forward” with the case of a Philadelphia woman whose 2011 death was initially ruled a homicide but later declared a suicide.
The Chester County District Attorney’s Office issued a statement on Friday saying, “Based on the current state of the evidence, we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt a crime was committed.”
Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old teacher, was found dead in her Manayunk apartment on Jan. 26, 2011. Her fiancé said the door was locked from the inside and he had to break in, and he found her dead in the kitchen.
According to court records, an autopsy found 20 stab wounds to her head, neck and abdomen, including a knife still in her chest.
The Philadelphia medical examiner initially ruled it a homicide, but about a month later, the manner of death was changed to suicide.
Her family has been fighting in court for more than a decade to change the ruling, pointing to evidence that the body may have been moved and that the wounds could not have been self-inflicted.
Over concerns of a conflict of interest, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office turned the investigation over to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office in 2022.
The DA’s statement also says detectives reviewed previous investigations and conducted new interviews and consultations with an independent forensic expert.
While they can’t meet the burden “beyond a reasonable doubt” at this time, the investigation has moved to an inactive status but remains open. There is no statute of limitations on criminal homicide.
In a statement, the Greenberg family’s attorney said this latest development does not change their “conviction about Ellen having been murdered.”
“Admittedly, the investigation conducted by the Chester County District Attorney’s Office was extremely limited and constrained,” the statement reads. “The Office told us that they did not investigate the core issues which we have raised which establish Ellen was murdered, and that evidence remains unchallenged.”
The family’s attorney noted that a “highly experienced homicide prosecutor” in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office conducted his own independent investigation and concluded that Greenberg had been murdered.
“We now look forward to an upcoming trial where a full and forthright examination of the core issues surrounding Ellen’s murder may be publicly conducted before an independent Judge and jury of our peers,” the statement continues.