Ellen Greenberg case: Chester County district attorney ‘unable to move forward’ with criminal charges

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First-grade teacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment in 2011. (Family ceremony)

PHILADELPHIA – The Chester County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that their investigation into the 2011 death of Ellen Greenberg has been placed in an inactive status after determining they were unable to move forward with criminal charges.

The announcement came more than two years after the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office transferred the case to Chester County.

27-year-old Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment by her fiancé on January 26, 2011. The first-grade teacher had been stabbed 20 times, according to investigators.

After an autopsy the next day, her death was ruled a homicide, before that ruling was later changed to suicide by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.

Police ruled her death a suicide because her apartment door was locked from the inside and her boyfriend — who said he found her after breaking down the door — had no defensive wounds.

Philadelphia medical examiner Marlon Osbourne initially ruled her death a homicide, noting the large number of stab wounds, including ten to her neck. After police publicly disputed the findings, Osbourne changed the verdict to suicide without explanation.

That change has been the focus of controversy and legal battles over the years, including a lawsuit Greenberg’s family filed against the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office in 2021 to change Ellen’s cause of death to homicide or “inconclusive.”

Since receiving the case, Chester County officials say investigators first worked to determine if there was sufficient evidence to reopen the investigation by reviewing previous investigations conducted by the Philadelphia Police Department and the State’s Attorney’s Office General of Pennsylvania.

Chester County investigators also conducted new interviews and consulted with an independent forensic expert.

Following their investigation, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office says that based on the current state of the evidence, they have determined that they “cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed.”

“This standard of proof – beyond a reasonable doubt – sets the criminal investigation apart from other legal cases or issues surrounding Ms. Greenberg’s death. “Because we cannot meet our burden of proof with the information and evidence currently available, we have placed this investigation in an inactive status,” read a statement from the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.

Chester County says because there is no statute of limitations for criminal homicide in Pennsylvania and because investigations can take new directions, they chose not to close the case.