As the parents of 27-year-old Ellen Greenberg, a Philadelphia teacher whose 2011 death was ruled a suicide after she was found with 20 stab wounds and covered in bruises, advance in a significant legal battle this week, her fiancé, Sam Goldberg, spoke publicly about her death for the first time.
Goldberg’s statement came as the Greenbergs, who have been entangled in a legal fight with the government since their daughter’s death, filed two active lawsuits, one accusing local officials and the medical examiner’s office of covering up their daughter’s death and the other aiming to have the designation of “suicide” on her death certificate replaced with “homicide” or “undetermined.” Oral arguments in their civil suit were heard on Wednesday in a Philadelphia City Hall courtroom.
“They are getting closer to justice for Ellen,” Sandee Greenberg, Ellen’s mother, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We are very determined and not giving up.”
The Greenbergs do not believe their daughter’s death was a suicide, and over the years, forensic pathologists, crime-scene experts, former law enforcement officials, and attorneys have expressed similar opinions. However, her fiancé seems to believe otherwise.
“When Ellen took her own life, it left me bewildered. She was a wonderful and a kind person who had everything to live for. When she died, a part of me died with her,” Goldberg told CNN.
Goldberg also criticized the family’s attempts to describe his reputation and privacy by creating a narrative that includes lies, distortions, and falsehoods to avoid the truth. He added, “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.”
This is not the first public statement Goldberg has made on the topic since her death. Previously, he has been quiet about her death.
The family is seeking to have the label “suicide” on her death certificate changed to either “homicide” or “undetermined.” In an oral argument in their civil suit, they argued that the city medical examiner’s office and local officials had covered up her death, and that they were waiting for the truth to come out.
The Greenbergs have listed several concerns, including why the original autopsy report found multiple stab wounds with one of them possibly inflicted after she was already dead. They also question why police were allowed to clear the crime scene without properly checking for evidence and why a judge, tied to Goldberg, was allowed to remove items from the crime scene.
In an interview with Fox News, Ellen’s father, Dr. Josh Greenberg, described what they believe his daughter was experiencing leading up to her death. “My daughter was being abused,” he said. “She had injuries on her body consistent with abuse.”
The family has also suggested that not long before her death, their daughter had wanted to leave her shared apartment with Goldberg and come home to their house in Harrisburg, adding that a psychiatrist, Dr. Ellen Berman, later diagnosed the 27-year-old with anxiety. Berman also noted that Greenberg did not have suicidal thoughts or feelings.