Former Philadelphia city official settles with Ellen Greenberg's parents in emotional distress case
There are major developments in the long-running case of Ellen Greenberg, the Philadelphia school teacher found dead inside her Manayunk apartment in 2011 from nearly two dozen stab wounds.
Her death was determined to be a suicide despite what lawyers for the family have argued is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
A judge in Philadelphia on Friday cleared the way for Ellen's parents to take three city officials to trial over allegations they covered up, what lawyers say, was Ellen's murder. It is a civil case with claims of emotional distress.
On Saturday afternoon, one of those defendants settled with the Greenbergs.
In reaching this settlement, Dr. Marlon Osbourne, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Ellen Greenberg, offered a sworn verification saying after new information about Ellen's death came to light:
"In my professional opinion, Ellen's manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide."
Lawyers say this is a major step in their pursuit of proving Ellen did not take her own life.
"To us, it means that we've accomplished our role that Ellen did not commit a suicide. Here you have the original pathologist, finally, after 14 years after Ellen's death and five years of litigation acknowledging that her manner of death should not be suicide but should be deemed something else," said Joe Podraza, the Greenberg family's attorney.
The Greenbergs have argued since 2021 that a reexamination of forensic evidence shows Ellen could not have caused some of the wounds — at least one was caused after she had died, according to medical tests contained in court filings.
A city spokesman declined to comment on the development because of the ongoing litigation. Former chief medical examiner Dr. Sam Gulino and a former police detective are still set to go on trial on Monday.
