Dr. Lindsay Simon, the chief medical examiner in Philadelphia, has reaffirmed Ellen Greenberg’s death as a suicide.
Hulu miniseries Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg? brought to light the circumstances surrounding Greenberg’s death. It also served as a piece of material reviewed for Dr. Simon to reach her conclusion.
Greenberg’s death is unusual for a suicide. She was found in 2011 by her fiancé, Sam Goldberg with a knife sticking out of her chest and 20 noted stab wounds (three more incisions would be found later by Simon) and 11 contusions. That doesn’t sound like a suicide, but one piece of evidence overruled all of that — their shared apartment door had been latched from the inside. Goldberg had to physically break through the latch to find Greenberg. There were no signs of struggle in the apartment, no valuables missing and no one else’s DNA (including Goldberg’s) was found on the knife. The apartment building had 24/7 security and cameras, the latter of which caught Goldberg’s alibi about going to the gym.
Greenberg’s death was ruled a suicide on the scene, a decision that did not preserve the apartment properly for additional study. Greenberg had a history of emotional struggles, primarily anxiety. Greenberg, a young teacher, had been feeling especially anxious about getting grades in by a deadline. She expressed these feelings with various individuals.
An autopsy, however, found Greenberg’s death to be a homicide. Subsequent reports from various consultants were mixed.
Simon’s report found no defensive wounds (consistent with other reports) and identified what are called “hesitation wounds,” which can often be the first attempts at such self harm. They are exploratory, for lack of a better word, and often not deep or deadly.
Greenberg’s stab wounds were all on her posterior head/neck right neck and central front torso. “While the distribution of injuries is admittedly unusual, the fact remains that Ellen would be capable of inflicting these injuries herself,” Simon wrote.
More to come.
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