Kriti MehrotraWhen Ellen Rae Greenberg was found dead inside her home on the evening of January 26, 2011, it left her entire family shattered to the core. As explored in ABC’s and Hulu’s ‘Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?,’ she died from 20 stab wounds across her upper body, half of which were to her back and neck. However, her manner of death was soon ruled a suicide, a verdict her parents have always opposed. In fact, ever since then, they have been fighting to get her what they believe to be justice.
Ellen Greenberg Was the Light of Her Parents’ Lives
It was on June 23, 1983, that Ellen Rae Greenberg was born in New York City, New York, to Sandra “Sandee” Greenberg and Joshua “Josh” Greenberg as their only child. They raised her in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the best of their abilities, especially upon learning that they could not have any more children. According to the aforementioned series, the couple wanted to have a big family, but it sadly just wasn’t possible, so they made the best of what they had. They embraced parenthood with Ellen, showered her with all the comforts and joy they could, and made sure she never felt lonely by having extended family around.
The fact that Ellen was a beautiful young woman admittedly helped them too, with Sandee long having admitted that her care, kindness, and joy for the world made her proud. As for Josh, he was admittedly a strict and protective father who only wanted the best for his little girl, yet she understood this, enabling them to have a beautiful relationship. In fact, even after she relocated to Philadelphia for college and then chose to remain there for her career and her love life, she maintained constant contact with her beloved parents.
Ellen Greenberg’s Parents Never Believed She Took Her Own Life
The evening of January 26, 2011, was the night when everything turned upside down for Sandee and Josh, and they still remember the moments leading up to it. According to the show, the couple was watching television, and the blizzard was happening outside as background noise when their phone rang. Sandee was the one to pick it up, and she was excited to hear her daughter’s fiancé’s parents on the other side. After all, Ellen and Sam Goldberg had sent their save-the-dates just 4 days prior. However, they had called her to inform her that Ellen had died, and all Sandee remembers is shouting for her husband to pick up the call from the other line.
Neither Sandee nor Josh remembers precisely what they were told or how they managed to get through their night because all they could feel was pain and grief over losing the apple of their eyes. They aren’t even sure how they managed to arrange for her funeral within two days, as is the Jewish norm, but they do recall being told during the service that the medical examiner had ruled Ellen’s death a homicide. Josh was the one to announce the same mere minutes later during the eulogy, following which they had a long conversation with Sam and his family about what was to follow.
Sandee and Josh always believed their daughter did not take their own life because she never expressed suicidal ideations, and she also had stab wounds to her back. Unfortunately, their hopes for getting answers were shattered mere weeks later as the officials changed her manner of death to suicide again, meaning no more investigations, which the Goldbergs reportedly never questioned. The couple tried to get the police’s attention over the ensuing few years, but to no avail. Therefore, in the mid-2010s, they hired a private investigator to look deeper into the case, approached the media a couple of years later to get Ellen’s case back into the limelight, and retained an attorney to help them in legal matters against the city.
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Ellen Greenberg’s Parents Have Continued to Be Her Voice
After investigating Ellen’s case privately for years, Sandee and Josh sued the City of Philadelphia, the medical examiner, and others, citing that they didn’t do all they could in the matter. Through it, they were asking them to change Ellen’s manner of death back to homicide so that the police could investigate properly. Ultimately, through depositions, their legal team managed to get a deeper insight into how this case was handled, and they were ready to take it to trial in 2025. Finally, in February, city officials and the medical examiner agreed to settle the case. The former agreed to reevaluate the autopsy, whereas the doctor admitted the “manner of death should be designated as something other than suicide.”
Unfortunately, despite months having passed, no progress was made, so the Greenbergs returned to court, driving the latter to order that officials need to expedite this matter. In their statement, the judge stated “judge delayed and justice denied” while ordering the city to complete its reevaluation by October 14, 2025. Since then, Sandee and Josh have been able to breathe a sigh of relief as the process has finally started, and they hope they get the answers they are looking for soon.
On a more personal level, Sandee and Josh admittedly struggled a lot after Ellen’s passing, and it even put a strain on their marriage. Nevertheless, they were determined not to let their grief break them apart for their love and their late daughter, so they went to marriage counseling to make things work. Therefore, today, they have been together for over 4 decades and are still proudly facing everything the universe has to throw at them side by side. They do still have bad days, and they are still grieving, especially when they think of the life Ellen missed out on, but they are doing their best to focus on the positives. Thus, today, in their mid-70s, they continue to reside in Harrisburg. From what we can tell, Sandee is a retired dental hygienist, whereas Josh is a retired periodontist.
