All language subtitles for Death.in.Apartment.603.What.Happened.to.Ellen.Greenberg.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-GRACE.Hi

[wind whistling]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

ALYSON: After a Jewish funeral,

the custom is to have Shiva.

For seven days,
people sit Shiva,

which is going to the
family of the deceased

and sitting with them,

taking their mind off
of what is going on.

So, right after the service,

everybody went back to
Ellen's grandmother's house.

Sam's family eventually
made it about an hour late.

Harrisburg is a
pretty small place.

So it shouldn't take
an hour to get there.

But they did arrive.

DEBBIE: At Shiva, we didn't
know what to believe.

We had just heard
she killed herself,

and now we're hearing that
she didn't kill herself.

But, again, no
one said anything.

Sandee and Josh and
Sam's parents and Sam...

they went into a bedroom.

Sam was here. His
mother was here.

His father was here.
Sandee was here.

And I was here.

And I said to Sam that what
the police are going to do

is they're going to
start their investigation

from closest to Ellen
to farthest from Ellen.

They are going to question

somebody who knows Ellen
or lived with Ellen.

And that's you.

♪ ♪

[wind whistling]

♪ ♪

MELISSA: Once it was announced
that it was a homicide,

I did speak with a detective,

and they needed
to come back out.

And he said, I'll be right over.

I got scared. I got scared.

I'd just let people into the
apartment to clean it up.

Now all of a sudden,
it's a homicide.

I've got reporters.
I've got family members.

I've got residents
knocking on the door.

It was... it was a crazy
scene, and it was very chaotic.

REPORTER: Police are back
out at the Venice Lofts

of Flat Rock Road in Manayunk,

searching for information
on the suspicious death

of 26-year-old Ellen Greenberg.

She died Wednesday night

during the height
of the snowstorm.

Police say the medical examiner

found that she had
died of stab wounds

to her chest and torso.

Because of those findings,

investigators with
the homicide unit

returned to the apartment today

to search for any
additional evidence

that could result in this
becoming a case of murder.

♪ ♪

GUY: Once the medical examiners

ruled this a
homicide, it's like,

whoa, go back and investigate.

Too late. We allowed the
crime scene to be cleared,

which allowed cleaners,
professional cleaners...

and I'm not talking
residential cleaners,

I'm talking
crime-scene cleaners...

to come in and clean
the crime scene.

DONNA: We're saying
it's a suicide.

And then two days later,
we're saying it's a homicide.

So they gave the window to be
able to clean the scene up.

The scene is tainted.

As far as my personal
investigation,

I've never been out after
a professional company

cleaned the crime scene up.

RON: When a scene has a
computer or a cell phone

or a laptop,

you tend to want to seize those

and to keep those
in a safe place.

There's this whole concept
in law enforcement,

and investigation and
in... in court cases

known as chain of custody.

Where was this evidence?
Who took control of it?

GUY: While retrieving
items for the funeral,

Ellen's devices were
taken out of her apartment

by two members of Sam
Goldberg's family,

specifically his uncle
Jamie Schwartzman,

a prominent
Philadelphia attorney.

After her death was
ruled a homicide,

he turned the devices
over to the police.

So what should be
done wasn't done.

GUY: So many errors

happened in this case
that all snowballed.

You don't have crime
scene unit coming.

You don't have investigation.

You don't have a
held crime scene.

This snowball is getting
bigger and bigger,

because now what are you
going to investigate?

This scene is clean.

♪ ♪

DEBBIE: A week to ten days
after Ellen's passing,

I got a phone call

from a homicide
detective in Philly.

And he wanted to know

if he could come
over and interview me

because I'd been all over
Ellen's text messages.

[knocking on door]

And I was like, sure. Oh,
my God, this is great.

He's going to, like,
find the killer.

I was so happy to help them.

And I had all these questions
I wanted to ask him.

But they only asked
me six questions.

And I...

That was that.

♪ ♪

STEPHANIE: On January 31, 2011,

I was working a shift at
the Philadelphia Daily News.

I was probably the only reporter

in the newsroom that day.

We were a small operation.

And I reached out to
the police department

and asked for an
update in Ellen's case.

Her case had been
covered by my colleagues

earlier in the week.

And we wanted to see where
the investigation stood.

The Medical Examiner's Office

had already ruled
her death a homicide,

but when I talked to
the police spokesperson,

he said that while
they were carrying it

as a suspicious death

that they may be
leaning towards suicide.

♪ ♪

As I noted in my reporting,

police told me

the scene was carried
as a suicide that night

because Sam had stayed on the
scene and was cooperative.

The door had been
broken from the outside

and locked from the
inside, apparently.

There were no signs of an
intruder in the apartment,

and Ellen didn't have any
defensive wounds on her body.

In my initial reporting,

I noted that this
was highly unusual.

I can't recall another
instance in my career

where the police department
publicly contradicted

the medical examiner's
findings to the press.

GUY: Think about this...
you're not looking at a woman

who has two slit wrists
and a suicide note.

You're looking at a woman

who's been stabbed
20 times, right?

Multiple stab wounds to
the back of the neck,

a huge blunt force trauma
from a knife to the head,

stab wounds on the torso, right?

And then, ultimately,
a stab to the heart.

So what does that mean?

Do you say, automatically,
this is a homicide?

Maybe.

But we have to do our
investigative work,

because if you don't know
one way or the other,

treat it as a homicide
until proven otherwise.

And they didn't do that.

DONNA: It's detrimental
to a homicide scene

if it was cleaned up before
we were able to collect

any type of evidence.

As a police officer,
I'm suspicious.

Why is this cleaned up so fast?

JOSH: I had no
experience in this.

I just didn't know what
was going to happen

or what was not going to happen.

I grew up trusting the
police, believing the police.

That's why they're
the police, right?

So what are we supposed to do?

We're supposed to... it's
a murder investigation.

We believe it was murder.

It's in the hands of the police,

and you figure
they're going to...

they're going to
be professionals,

and they're going
to do their job.

JOSH: We had no reason
to suspect anything

was out of the ordinary.

STEPHANIE: At that point,
the police department

was giving us
little information.

The Medical Examiner's Office

wasn't going to give
us an interview either.

So, at this point, really,
reporters are stymied

in their quest for answers.

And then on March 10, 2011,

the Medical Examiner's Office

publicly declares
Ellen's death a suicide.

♪ ♪

SANDEE: After suicide,
we heard nothing.

It was done.

They were like, we're
done. Case closed.

I was so devastated and so...

distraught.

It was like the
night of her murder.

We blacked out.

I can't recall
anything about it.

Fortunately or unfortunately,

we don't have any
experience in this,

so I didn't know what to do.

We were in the dark.

♪ ♪

Suicide is not a crime

in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.

In other words, there
is no investigation.

They're done.

[dramatic music]

MELANIE: I remember
getting in the car,

it still being very cold,

and I kind of just
remembered my mom telling me,

like, oh, well, Miss Ellen's

not going to be in school today.

After that, I just
remember going into class

and not seeing her.

And I'm like, okay,
well, maybe she's late,

which is very rare because
she was never late.

[chuckles]

ALEXANDRA: I remember that day,

the day we came back, we
all waited for each other.

♪ ♪

And we walked up the
hallway together...

[voice breaking] To her room...

♪ ♪

Because that was just, like,
such a solidified thing...

'cause she wasn't
going to be there.

I think that was maybe
one of my hardest days,

just walking up that hallway.

And we all did it together.

MELANIE: You don't know
how to tell a five-year-old

or a six-year-old
that type of news.

I was very confused.

I was... just I wasn't
getting the concept

until one of the students
kind of just whispered to me,

like, she's dead.

Like, she's not coming back.

♪ ♪

DELANI: I couldn't believe it.

I've never dealt with
death before that.

ALEXANDRA: I can
remember talking about it

with my students,

you know, probably after they
had spoken with the therapist.

And I remember, I just...
I could not hold back.

I was just crying all the time.
-Me too.

And it was so difficult.

There's a huge ripple effect.

It was a massive
loss for the school.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

SANDEE: That's a cute
one. CAROLINE: Mm-hmm.

Oh, at school.

SANDEE: I know. This is one
of the best pictures ever.

CAROLINE: Did you
go to her school?

Yeah. We... I helped her,
um, set the room up...

-Mm-hmm.
-And put all the different...

You know, it was very colorful.

♪ ♪

My mother loves pictures.

And she made this
for Ellen and Sam.

♪ ♪

That's San Francisco.
-Where...

He had just finished a
Pebble Beach golf tournament,

and then they went
to San Francisco

and then to Napa...

so...

After Ellen's passing
was a very dark,

dark, dark time.

And I wasn't in a
very good place.

Remember, I used to
come to your house

and lay on the floor next
to the dog in the sun?

-I don't remember.
-[chuckles] I did.

But, um, it took me a while

to fight through it,
power through it.

But, eventually,
I built myself up.

And, uh...

I don't really remember
a whole lot of stuff...

but it was...

it was pretty awful.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

It took me a long
time to regroup,

get myself strong,

and put Humpty Dumpty
back together again

so that I could, you
know, figure this out.

THOMAS: Let's go over
the autopsy report.

I have a lot of problems
with a lot of it, okay?

I don't think it's
done properly.

My name is Thomas
Patrick Brennan, Jr.

I was with the
Pennsylvania State Police

for 25 years.

And in February of 2013,

I met with two
friends of mine...

one a retired dentist,
the other who is a judge.

They were both friends
of the Greenbergs.

The first meeting we had,

I asked them... I said, well,
what documentation do you have?

And they said, well, we
have the autopsy report,

and we have some
autopsy photographs

and some crime-scene
photographs,

but we've never looked
at the photographs.

[dramatic music]

I said, well, I'd like to
have that documentation

so I can study it, look it over.

♪ ♪

JOSH: He came to us.

He reviewed various
things that we had.

And he said, this is a
murder. This is a homicide.

♪ ♪

THOMAS: They said,
well, will you continue

to look at it for us?

And I said, well, you're
going to have to be

extremely, extremely patient.

I said, this is not
going to be a year

or two years, three years.

I said, that's not
going to happen.

Josh, being Josh, said to me...

well, what's this
going to cost me?

And I looked at him,
and I said, well...

I don't make money on
somebody else's grief.

So my time is not going
to cost you anything.

I worked in Philadelphia.

I worked in Philadelphia
for a long time.

You don't know the
politics of Philadelphia.

I said, you are going to
have to fight, fight, fight.

And if you're not willing
to do that, don't start,

because you are going
to have to fight this

for everything that's in you.

JOSH: That's the
right thing to do.

That's what I'm about.
I was Ellen's father.

I still am Ellen's father.

And I'm not going to leave
Ellen out there alone.

I'm going to find
out what happened.

She deserves her justice.

She deserves to
maintain her dignity.

And Philadelphia
owes that to her.

[dramatic music]

THOMAS: We arranged
another breakfast meeting,

and I pointed different
things out to them

in the crime-scene photographs
and in the autopsy photos.

And a lot of discrepancies
in the autopsy report.

The first thing
that stood out to me

was the dried and
coagulated blood

on the victim's face.

And that's the dried
and coagulated blood

that runs across
the face to the ear.

But she's found
sitting up and leaning

against the corner
of the cabinets.

I looked at it, and I
said, wait a minute.

If she's sitting up, it should
be running down her face.

That indicated to me right away

that, hey, the
body's been moved.

ANNIE: According to the
medical examiner's report,

Ellen's body was found
in a supine position.

She had no defensive wounds
on her hands or her arms.

She did have blood
covering her face.

Her hands were
cold to the touch.

Her torso was warm.

Investigators felt that
this was consistent

with the position that
her body was found in.

THOMAS: If you take a look
at the autopsy report,

there was a lot of
bruising on the body,

and it was in different
stages of healing.

♪ ♪

ANNIE: According to
the autopsy report,

there were bruises
on Ellen's body

that were in various
stages of healing,

but this did not factor
in to the manner of death.

Now, we know in January of 2011

that Ellen started to
see a psychiatrist,

and she was prescribed
two medications...

Klonopin, which is
an anti anxiety drug,

and also Ambien,
which is a sleep aid.

When Stephanie Farr

interviewed the
original investigators,

they did question whether
or not those medications

could have contributed to
the bruising on Ellen's body.

There's also the possibility

that Ellen was involved in some
strenuous physical activity,

like intense workouts.

According to the case file,

we know that Ellen
had three appointments

with a psychiatrist to
talk about her anxiety,

but she never said
anything bad about Sam.

In fact, the psychiatrist said

that she smiled
whenever mentioning him.

When the psychiatrist
directly asked Ellen

if there had been any abuse,
she denied that there were

any verbal or physical
confrontations with Sam.

♪ ♪

SARAH: Ellen had
significant bruising.

Now, though I wasn't
involved in the investigation

at the time, I noticed
the bruising...

it's in various
stages of healing.

So it's not indicative
of an attack.

This was something that
happened over time.

SANDEE: To find out
in the autopsy report

of all the bruising...

I knew nothing. I
didn't know anything.

♪ ♪

It just... I-I feel...

I feel very, very sad.

♪ ♪

[rain falling]

THOMAS: As time went on,

I developed some other sources.

And Debbie Schwab called me,

and she said, Tom,

I was talking to
this individual,

and this individual said

that she knows an individual

who works in DA's office.

♪ ♪

GUY: I remember so clearly

getting involved in the
Ellen Greenberg case.

It was 2015.

DEBBIE: Guy was working
in the DA's office,

and someone had
asked him to look

on behalf of us

at Ellen's records.

GUY: I had to do some digging.

I didn't know anything about it.

All I knew was this...

20 stab wounds, suicide.

That's... that's a bizarre,
bizarre set of facts,

without knowing anything else.

But we've all seen
stranger things.

I start looking
for the case file.

Couldn't find it anywhere.

And part of that is because
it wasn't a homicide, right?

So it's not in the
homicide file room.

It wasn't in the
regular file room,

because at least at that point,

it's not technically
a crime, right?

So where is this file?
Ultimately, I do find it.

A little odd, but
it was in a closet

where we kept sort of our
various holiday decorations

in the office.

I pull this Ellen Greenberg
file out of the closet,

and I do like I did
in any other case.

Every single piece of
evidence is pulled out.

It's organized.
It's categorized.

So, essentially, there's
three files that exist, right?

The medical examiner's, the
district attorney's file,

and the homicide file.

I gathered all three of
those, and I built my file.

♪ ♪

From the beginning,
it just felt wrong.

And I really, really wanted
to do the right thing,

and so I wanted to make sure

that if this was
going to be set...

or looked at with a
fresh set of eyes,

it got at least the
justice that it deserved.

And at some point,
I was communicating

directly with a man by
the name of Tom Brennan.

And so I asked around.
People knew him.

He was a very respected
law-enforcement officer,

retired, now working as
a private investigator

for the Greenbergs.

And would I be willing
to speak with him?

[speaking indistinctly]

So Guy and I met, and, you
know, we became friends.

And then I asked if he could
get access to the 911 call.

And Guy said, I still
have some contacts.

He said, I'll see
if I can get it.

A couple weeks later,
he got the 911 call.

I-I listened to it,

and I could not believe
what I was hearing.

[dial tone drones]

[line trilling]

OPERATOR: Philadelphia
Fire Department, 842.

SAM: Please hurry.
OPERATOR: What's wrong?

SAM: My... my... I just... my...

I went downstairs
to go work out.

I came back up. The
door was latched.

My fiancée is inside.

She wasn't... she
wasn't answering.

So, after about a half hour,
I decided to break it down.

I see her now, just on
the floor with blood.

Like, she's not...
she's not responding.

OPERATOR: Okay,
is she breathing?

SAM: She... I... OPERATOR:
Look at her chest.

I need you to calm down,

and I need you to
look at her chest.

It's really... SAM:
I don't think she...

I really don't think she
is. OPERATOR: Listen to me.

Someone's on the way.
Look at her chest.

Is she flat on her back?

SAM: She's on her
back. Do I bring her...

OPERATOR: Okay,
look at her chest

and tell me if it's going
up and down, up and down.

SAM: I don't see her moving.

OPERATOR: Okay, do you
know how to do CPR?

SAM: I don't.

OPERATOR: Okay, I can
tell you what to do, okay,

until they get there.

I want you to keep her
flat... SAM: Oh, God.

OPERATOR: Hello?
SAM: Yeah. Hi. Okay.

OPERATOR: Are you willing to
do CPR with me over the phone

till they get there?
SAM: I-I have to, right?

OPERATOR: Okay, so get
her flat on her back.

Bare her chest, okay? You
want to rip her shirt off.

SAM: Oh, shit. OPERATOR: Okay?

You need to kneel
down by her side.

SAM: Oh, my God. Ellie, please.

OPERATOR: Listen, listen,
you can't freak out, sir...

SAM: Okay, I'm trying not
to. I'm trying not to.

Her shirt won't come
off. It's a zipper.

Oh, my God, she stabbed herself!

OPERATOR: Where? SAM:
She fell on a knife.

Oh, no. Her knife
is sticking out.

GUY: I have listened to
thousands of 911 phone calls

prior to listening
to this 911 call.

And I don't know at that time

that I had ever heard
anything like it.

SANDEE: The crushing
part of that

was when he was asked to do CPR.

I was alarmed.

I-I could not believe my ears.

In that 911 call,
you hear him discover

that the knife is
still in her chest.

He asked the
operator what to do,

and he sounds
completely overwhelmed.

There's a lot of ways that you
could pick apart that 911 call.

However, witnesses say that
they saw Sam visibly upset,

crying in the hallway,

and that he was more than eager

to talk to homicide detectives.

That call, it was not
what I would expect

from somebody who
loved my daughter.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

ALYSON: When Ellen
started dating Sam,

there were definitely some
changes that we noticed in her.

And, you know, were we jealous
of some of the changes?

Maybe.

I joke around... I say, she
went kind of from shopping

at Nordstrom's to
shopping at Neiman's.

♪ ♪

She was spending
more and more time

with him wherever he was,

more time at his family's house.

So we were seeing
less and less of her.

Ellen got engaged in June...

and then I got
engaged in October.

She wanted to be there
to celebrate for me

but wasn't open
about her planning.

She was very closed
off about it.

You know, at times, it was
a little frustrating for me.

Like, I'm sharing
all these details,

and I just want to
share the joy with you.

But then, you know,
as time went on,

I was starting to feel like,

okay, there's something
going on with this.

♪ ♪

ALEXANDRA: One thing that
always stood out to me

towards the end is she never
wore her engagement ring.

That was something
that I always noticed.

And I would ask her,
and she was like, oh...

she's like, oh, I
just didn't put it on,

or, oh, it rolls around.
I didn't want to wear it.

And that was something
that struck me.

I don't know the reason

why she wasn't
wearing it at the end,

but that was probably the
first time I was, like...

sort of curious about
what was going on.

But like I said, whenever
I said something about it,

it was just sort of,
like, a, oh, it's just...

it was bothering me.

♪ ♪

ANNIE: When Ellen's
body was found,

she was not wearing
her engagement ring.

And at the time,

investigators conducted
two interviews with Sam,

and they asked him, why
wouldn't she be wearing

her engagement ring?

And he said that he assumed

it was because she
didn't wear it to school.

They also asked Sam about
his relationship with Ellen.

He told investigators

that they never had
any domestic issues,

that they never had to get
their parents involved.

He said that day that she
came home at 1:30 from school,

and she was really unhappy,

and she said that she
wanted to quit her job.

When it came to
her mental health,

Sam said that she never talked
about wanting to hurt herself,

and she also never
made any past attempts.

He also said that that
January she was more depressed

than he had seen her before.

And she also asked
him the question,

would you still love
me if I was crazy?

ALYSON: If that was
what was such a big deal

and that's what he
saw going on with her,

then why didn't he reach out to
any of us as her best friends?

Why didn't he call us
and say, hey, help me?

Help me help her.

♪ ♪

ANNIE: Ellen's
death wasn't a story

that dominated the news

when it first happened.

♪ ♪

At the time, in 2011, we
had over 300 homicides

in the city of Philadelphia.

So, with that many homicides

and the messaging from police
that this was a suicide,

it seemed that there really
wasn't any question to it.

And at the time,

there really wasn't
anybody coming out to say,

hey, somebody needs to
take a look at this.

This is strange.
This isn't adding up.

At the time, the
Greenbergs, I think,

were still wrapping their
head around everything.

And so it didn't
stay in the news.

THOMAS: After four years,

I sat down with the
parents and said,

listen, we have to get
the media involved.

They can get other
people excited

and involved in this case.

So I called ten
individuals, journalists,

who had done stories initially.

The only one that called
me back was Stephanie Farr.

STEPHANIE: In late fall of 2017,

I received a voicemail message
from a man named Tom Brennan,

asking if I remembered the
case of Ellen Greenberg.

I've covered thousands
of cases in my career,

and I don't remember
all of them,

but I never forgot hers,
because it was so unusual.

THOMAS: She said,
Tom, I'm interested,

but what can you give me?

I said, well, I
talked to the parents.

I said, I can give you
everything that I have.

♪ ♪

STEPHANIE: In April 2018,

I went to interview
the Greenbergs.

I remember being nervous.

I remember Sandee
being more nervous.

And I remember her saying to me,

we've never done anything
like this before.

And I said, very
few people have.

People don't come to
us as a first resort.

We're often a last resort

for people who have had every
door shut in their face,

and I think that's what
happened to the Greenbergs.

And Tom recognized
that the only way

there was going to get
some movement on this case

was to bring it to the media.

♪ ♪

[telephone ringing]

[dramatic music]

SANDEE: Sam would check
in with me periodically.

And I don't know
what possessed me,

but we would have a...

you know, a very
cordial conversation.

And I would always say,

you know, Sam, we know
this was not a suicide.

And then there was
an awkward silence.

♪ ♪

DEBBIE: After Ellen passed away,

Sam and I met for
coffee a couple times

just to get together and,
like, talk about things.

And I wanted to see where he was

and how things were going.

[cell phone chimes]

And we always text each
other on her birthday

and the anniversary
of her death,

like those type of things.

[cell phone chimes]

♪ ♪

He didn't seem so concerned
with how Ellen died.

He never questioned anything,
if it was a homicide.

He was pretty
confident, that's all.

It was a suicide.

[cell phone chimes]

♪ ♪

He always kept it that
Ellen killed herself,

and it was mental health.

And that's how he
portrayed it all the time.

[cell phone chimes]

♪ ♪

He did ask me at one point,
do you think I killed Ellen?

And I was like... [sighs]

Well, I don't think
she killed herself.

That's all I'll say.

♪ ♪

SANDEE: I have to clear this up.

Ellen did not commit suicide.

And it's not up to anyone else

to tell me how to
spend my time...

and investigate what
I want to investigate.

♪ ♪

Because the Greenbergs
were adamant

that their daughter
did not commit suicide,

they wanted to find the truth.

They believed that the
final ruling was wrong.

While I was working
on this story,

I reached out to the
District Attorney's Office.

Their office referred it

to the Pennsylvania
Attorney General's Office

which at that time was headed
by now-Governor Josh Shapiro.

I called up that
office and said,

I'm working on this
investigative piece.

The spokesperson
confirmed that the office

did indeed have the case and
that they were reviewing it.

I asked him to let me know

when they had
reached a conclusion.

♪ ♪

What journalists are
really good at...

is a little bit of everything,

but our main quality is, we
know how to ask questions,

and we're not afraid to do it.

And I did reach out

to the Philadelphia
Police Department

to see if any of the
investigators on the case

would give me an interview.

And much to my surprise,

I was granted an interview

with two of the investigators
who had worked Ellen's case.

♪ ♪

The police told
me in my interview

that they believed that
Ellen's death was a suicide,

because the door had been locked

and broken from the outside,

the apartment being undisturbed.

And they really focused heavily

on the lack of defensive
wounds on Ellen.

I remember the
detective saying to me

that he had never
seen a stabbing case

without defensive wounds.

And so that was a
big point for them.

They did tell me that the scene

was not treated as a homicide
the night it happened

and that they had to go
back and reinvestigate

once the case was
ruled a homicide

by the Medical
Examiner's Office.

Police told me they did
test the knife for DNA

and that Ellen's was the
only DNA found on the knife.

They did not seem to have any
pause that it was a suicide,

despite my questions.

♪ ♪

Looking at the case file
given to me by Tom Brennan,

we know that Ellen made three
visits to a psychiatrist

and that she talked
about her anxiety.

But in the psychiatrist notes,
there were no indications

of any suicidal ideation,

and none of her friends or
her family that I spoke to

noted anything of
that nature either.

Then in 2019,

as I'm ending more than a year
of reporting on this case,

I reach back out to
Josh Shapiro's office,

which at this point has also
had Ellen's case on a review

for more than a year.

The interaction was
contentious, I would say.

They said they had done
a thorough investigation

and had found searches
on Ellen's computer

between December and January

for "quick suicide"
and "painless suicide."

♪ ♪

My first question was...

why does the medical
examiner's report

from 2011

not seem to say anything
indicative of suicide

was found on her computer?

Why did Guy D'Andrea
not see these searches

in the case file that
he had looked through?

GUY: There weren't
suicide searches

in the police file
that was given to me.

There wasn't suicide searches

from the Medical
Examiner's Office.

And there weren't
suicide searches

in terms of a report from the
District Attorney's Office.

And you're telling me that
the file you got was mine.

So it's a simple question...
where did they come from?

Now, maybe there's
a good answer,

but I still don't actually
know an answer to that.

STEPHANIE: At that time,
I was told they believed

that these searches confirmed
the suicide findings

and that they considered the
case closed at this point.

One of the surprises of the
Attorney General's Office

leaning heavily on the searches

on Ellen's computer and phone

is that we know
that these devices

were at some point
taken from the apartment

before the actual homicide
investigation starts...

which means that
the chain of custody

of these devices is tainted...

and they wouldn't
hold up in court.

Search histories can
be deleted, of course.

Documents can be deleted.

You can add additional
search histories.

You can add search histories,

and if you know
what you're doing,

they can be time/date-stamped
back in time.

Was it done here?
We don't know yet.

And so for the highest
law-enforcement office

in Pennsylvania

to rely on these searches
on Ellen's computer

in their response to
me was surprising.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

ANNIE: Since police
were so determined

and dead set on the fact
that this was a suicide,

I don't think people realized

you know, how many times
she was stabbed at first.

I think there was, you
know, eyebrows raised,

thinking, how could this happen?

But I think the first time
that everyone realized

how strange and twisted
Ellen's case was,

was really not until
Stephanie Farr's article

came out in 2019.

STEPHANIE: In the days leading
up to publishing this story,

to say I was anxious, I think,
would be an understatement.

I don't get nervous a lot.

I don't get butterflies a lot,

but I had put a
lot into this case,

and I believed that,
above all else,

the Greenbergs had
valid questions

that deserved answers from
the city of Philadelphia,

and they weren't getting them.

And this could be the chance

to hopefully force
the city's hand

to at least tell them something,

to turn over the case file,

anything to give these
folks some insight

into how their daughter's
death was changed

from a homicide to a suicide.

ANNIE: Her article

took a very complex
story, investigation

and created a road map...

SAM: Oh, my God,
she stabbed herself!

ANNIE: For everybody
to understand

all the nuances in the case.

For the first time,
you're getting an idea

of what exactly police
are saying in detail.

Then you're hearing some
of the strange explanations

that are coming from the
Medical Examiner's Office.

STEPHANIE: It was
extremely well read.

It generated a ton of
interest on social media,

from reader emails,

and also in the
true-crime community.

What gets me is the
physical evidence.

She has stab wounds...

Her case has been plagued
with investigative failures.

If you're just beginning
to play along...

The case took a very
strange and unexpected turn.

PERSON: That just do not
seem to align with suicide.

DEBBIE: Stephanie
Farr broke the story,

and it came out on the
front cover of The Inquirer,

and that was huge for us.

We were like, oh, my God, wow.

Like, so much is out there now.

It was just a whirlwind
of, oh, my God.

Everybody was, like,
hounding the Greenbergs.

And after that, Ellen was on
every show and news station.

It's a story making
national headlines.

A Pennsylvania family's fight

for answers.

Was Ellen Greenberg's death

a suicide or homicide?

That's the question
a grieving family

is still trying to get answered.

I think what made covering
Ellen's story really difficult

was, when Stephanie's
article came out,

it answered a lot of questions,

but then it created
even more questions.

-You guys all set?
-All set.

From this point out
of this building,

eyes are everywhere, okay?

-Got it.
-All right? Let's go.

ANNIE: And then it was
only a few months later

that Joe Podraza took the
case and filed the lawsuit,

asking the court
to compel the city

to change the manner of death

from suicide back to
homicide, or undetermined.

JOE: I first became familiar

with the Ellen Greenberg matter

by reading Stephanie
Farr's article

that was published
in The Inquirer.

I was struck with...

there is something seriously
wrong with this case.

It just does not add up.

Four months later, I received
a call out of the blue

from a gentleman,

and he identified himself
as Josh Greenberg.

He started generally talking

about, my daughter died in 2011.

She was stabbed.

And at that point,
I stopped him.

I said, is this the matter
where the young lady

was stabbed 20 times and
our esteemed authority

in Philadelphia is
calling this a suicide?

He said, yes, the very matter.

And I said, you got me at go.

Let's do it.

It was time to take
the gloves off.

Something happened here,

and the family has not
gotten a fair shake.

♪ ♪

[singing indistinctly]

SANDEE: She's singing
her song to Daddy.

Hello.

JOSH: See, Mommy
gets to go, too.

You want to try it,
Josh? JOSH: No. Can I...

It's all about justice
with me, really...

that she's being mistreated,

and I'm not going
to let that happen.

I've tried to stop,

but I can't stop.

Just part of my makeup, I guess.

If Ellen was to ask
me, I would tell her,

Daddy and Mommy are
not going to give up...

Ooh.

Ever.

[indistinct chatter]

She knows that.

♪ ♪