(NewsNation) — Dr. Wayne Ross, a forensic neuropathologist hired by the family of Ellen Greenberg, believes the teacher’s 2011 death was staged to look like a suicide, he told NewsNation senior national correspondent Brian Entin.
He cites a towel placed next to her, clean despite her 20 stab wounds, as evidence of the staging.
The case was originally ruled a homicide, then changed to suicide. Greenberg’s family has long found her passing suspicious, with her father saying he believes she was strangled.
Ross agrees: “To a reasonable degree of medical certainty, she was strangled. Yeah, I would testify in the court of law.”
The medical examiner who initially investigated the case released new legal verification indicating he believes the ruling of a suicide is inaccurate.
Just days ago, the family of Ellen Greenberg reached a settlement agreement with Philadelphia officials to reopen the investigation.
And Ross has an idea of what they might find — from bruises on her wrists and legs, to conflicting blood splatter evidence.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who worked as Philadelphia district attorney when Greenberg was found dead, addressed the case Thursday.
“There’s nothing I wanted more than to give these parents some finality, some answers, some clarity, and we received more evidence, more information during the course of our investigation that … pointed toward a suicide,” Shapiro said.
Ellen Greenberg’s death
Greenberg was found dead Jan. 26, 2011, in the kitchen of her apartment by her fiancé. The 27-year-old woman had been stabbed 20 times.
Philadelphia Medical Examiner Marlon Osbourne initially ruled the death a homicide due to the large number of stab wounds, including 10 on the back of Greenberg’s neck. But police challenged the finding and he changed his assessment to suicide.
Osbourne did not offer an explanation for the change at the time, but a new statement showed he made the change after acquiring additional information from her case file and consulting with another doctor.
NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside contributed to this report,
