Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Stabbed 20 Times But Young Teacher’s Death Ruled a Suicide; Feds Now Involved
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What happened to Elle Greenberg and why is it controversial?
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Chapter 2: What evidence challenges the suicide ruling of Elle Greenberg's death?
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Chapter 3: Why are federal authorities reopening the investigation into Elle's death?
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Chapter 4: How have the Greenberg family responded to the investigation updates?
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Hey there, folks. It is Friday, January 16th, and when you hear that a woman was stabbed more than 20 times, but her death is ruled a suicide, you're going to have questions. But now, here we are, 15 years after the death of Ellen Greenberg, the federal government seems to have some questions about this, too. Finally... And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Fascinating case.
That's the first question. How is it possible that someone who was stabbed 20 times, you're going to tell me that's a suicide?
Chapter 5: What details about the crime scene raise questions about the suicide ruling?
Yes, and imagine being the parents of Ellen Greenberg, and you find out that your 27-year-old daughter, who is seemingly happy, engaged, she has a fiancé, she's a schoolteacher, that all of a sudden she is found in her kitchen in Philadelphia with all of these stab wounds, including a 10-inch knife in her chest, that she died by suicide. And not by homicide.
That has never sat well with her parents who have said, our daughter did not commit suicide. We know that. She was murdered. However, her official cause of death is suicide.
To anybody with common sense, that just doesn't make sense. Now, you're curious and you want to hear some more answers, and we'll get into some of the back and forth, but one medical examiner ruled it a homicide and comes back and said a suicide, and then another group says, no, we think it's a suicide, and another group says... So there's been a lot of back and forth.
The official ruling, we should say, is in fact that she died by suicide. There has, at least as far as I have seen, Robes, never actually had a suspect, never had anybody under investigation before.
Chapter 6: What role did the fiancé play in the investigation of Elle Greenberg?
in this case, including the fiance.
And that's a problem for the parents. And they feel like, and they have said this is a victory for them because this week, on Thursday, we are talking almost 15 years to the day because Ellen Greenberg died on January 26, 2011. But on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office issued subpoenas around this case. They are apparently opening an inquiry into
into whether Ellen Greenberg's death was properly investigated. And that's important because they're not necessarily going back and saying, we're going to change or potentially change her manner of death. But what they're doing is they're saying this investigation possibly was not conducted properly.
Chapter 7: What conclusions have forensic experts drawn about Elle's cause of death?
The family has said the investigation was botched from the beginning. They're mincing no words. But apparently the U.S. Attorney's Office is seeking documents from the Philadelphia Police Department and other agencies. That's the information we received.
And you have to ask, why? Why now? And if you're not looking into the actual death, why are you looking into the investigation of her death? So this looks like they're looking into—this is a corruption probe.
Exactly.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of the new inquiry for Elle Greenberg's family?
Right? So why that? Now, for the family, you have to go, okay, if this came across their desk, what else is coming? This is our case. So even if they—the family's been screaming this, so I bet even if they don't get a change in the ruling of the manner of her death— to hear that maybe there was some wrongdoing that led to an extended amount of pain that their family didn't need to go through.
Who knows?
Yeah, think about this now. It's hard enough to lose a child, period, but to have her death be unexplained, or at least for you not to feel... like you actually know what happened to your daughter, that's a whole other level of pain and torture on top of the death itself. This is the statement, the official statement from the family after the announcement of this inquiry.
So here's what they said. The prospects of the federal United States attorneys investigating any aspect of Ellen's murder is a dream come true for her parents, Sandy and Josh. We have only wanted justice for Ellen and now have renewed hope this will occur. Sandy and Josh and their lawyers will continue to pursue and support all avenues to secure justice in this matter. That makes sense.
What is, how is it, what does justice now look like? They didn't like the investigation or is it your understanding as well, Robes, they didn't like how it was conducted or just they didn't like the conclusion? It almost feels like it's two different things, right? Yeah.
I mean, to think that her death, and we'll get into the details of it, was initially ruled a homicide for obvious reasons. But two weeks later, they changed it to suicide. And so that doesn't seem like a lot of time, but we'll get into the why and how this all happened. The details of her death, as we know them, she was found by her fiancé.
On January, that was January 26th, correct, 2011, he said he found her in the kitchen of their home slumped on the floor against the kitchen cabinets. He said that she had been stabbed at least 20 times, including, and this is the thing that gets me, 10 times in the back of her neck. And when he found her, she still had a 10-inch knife lodged in her chest.
Okay.
It's not for most folks. You hear that. OK, obviously she was murdered. It's just not possible. But then they started adding less before we even get into the stab wounds. I mean, there was no what is it? No sign of forced entry. And the place was locked. There was no sign of a struggle. There was no evidence of anybody else being in that house.
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