All language subtitles for Death.in.Apartment.603.What.Happened.to.Ellen.Greenberg.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-GRACE

Philadelphia police...

Help. I...
I need... I need...

I just... I just walked
into my apartment.

My fiancée's on the floor
with blood everywhere.

Is this
a house or apartment?

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

It was January
of 2011 when Greenberg was

discovered dead by her fiancé

in their locked
Manayunk apartment.

She suffered more
than 20 stab wounds.

The Philadelphia
medical examiner

initially ruled Greenberg's
death a homicide

before switching it to suicide.

Philadelphia is
calling this a suicide?

Just does not add up.

I have
investigated stabbing suicides

in my career.

But I've never seen anyone
stab themselves in the back.

Ellen was
infatuated with the dream

of what a partner would be,
what her life would be like.

I knew I couldn't
believe the suicide.

The media really
began to pick up the case.

Everyone realized how strange
and twisted Ellen's case was.

I was Ellen's father.

I still am Ellen's father.

I'm gonna find
out what happened.

If you want to
get away with a homicide,

have it declared a suicide.

All right.

You gotta tell what day it
is and what we're doing.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's...
happy Valentine's Day.

Alyson's my valentine.

To be around Ellen,
you felt like you belonged.

I think Ellen wanted
to please people.

Look at Mommy.

She gave
her time and energy

to everybody around her

and did it without wanting
anything in return.

Attention, seniors.

Class pictures will be taken...

Junior/senior prom will
be held on April 21st.

This is Ellen Greenberg
reporting for WHIP-TV 5.

We were
very proud of her.

She was so joyful
and fun-loving.

I couldn't wait to get up in
the morning and be her mom.

I would have loved to
have had more children,

but unfortunately,
it didn't work out.

But one healthy child is...

is a blessing.

Graduation's gonna
be here before you know it.

A big part about
finding out what's next

is discovering the real you.

Ellen was beautiful,
had a gorgeous smile,

had, you know, killer hair.

She was, you know, gorgeous.

But she was just as
kind and generous.

She was my absolute best friend.

She was my person.

We went through pretty much
every phase of life together,

from our middle school
days into high school

and then off to Penn State
into our young adult lives

living in the Philadelphia area.

After college,
she moved to Philadelphia,

and she got an
apartment in Manayunk,

which is where a lot
of young students live,

and it's just a
really cool place.

Sandee called me and said,
hey, Ellen's moving to Philly.

It's their only child,
and they were so far away.

And I was like, I've got her.

Ellen, of course,
loved Philadelphia.

It was all about
the social life,

dating and meeting people.

You know, at
that point in our lives,

we had a lot of friends
who were starting

to get engaged and married.

We had a
lot of discussions

at that time in our
lives just about love.

You know, I was in love,
and she wanted to find love.

I remember a conversation
she and I had

in her apartment in Manayunk.

I was sitting on her bed.

Her room was always
immaculately clean.

And she was looking
at a ring on my hand,

saying, oh, this
is so beautiful.

I can't wait to find love.

Do you guys want to,
you know, have kids?

When did you know
that you loved him?

All she wanted
was to be in love.

All she wanted was
to have a family.

She was ready to start her life.

And you couldn't help
but want that for her.

Someone fixed Ellen
up on a blind date with Sam,

and I remember her calling me,

asking me if I knew who he was.

And I didn't know
him personally,

but I knew his family.

His grandmother and his aunt,
they were friends of mine.

So I was like, yes, like,
oh, my God, Sam, he's...

like, such a nice family.

And you should definitely
go out on a date with him.

Sam and
Ellen's first date

was kind of exciting for
all of us, I would say.

He was in Charleston,
South Carolina,

on a work trip for
the Golf Channel.

They had been talking
on FaceTime for...

I don't know if it
was a month or so.

And he said he
would fly her down.

Ellen getting on a plane

and going to meet someone
she had never met before

was completely out of
character for Ellen.

She's like, what do
you think I should do?

And I was like, you should go.

I mean, it'll either
be a great story

for your grandchildren
or it's not gonna work.

And she went for the
weekend, she came home,

and she was like, wow.

Like, she really liked him.

And after that, like,
they were a couple.

Sam checked a
ton of boxes for her.

I mean, you know, he was cute.

He was from this area.

He's Jewish.

He was very charming,

very charismatic,
very respectful.

In the morning, when
it was cold outside,

he would go out
and turn her car on

and warm it up and
bring her her coffee.

And he was very, very attentive.

And, you know, I thought
that was really sweet.

From everything
that I could tell,

our daughter was happy.

He's gotta be doing
something right.

They'd been together for
three years when he proposed,

and she was just over the moon.

I don't know if
fathers always have

reservations about their
daughter getting engaged,

but she was happy.

That's what was most
important to me.

She was ready to get married

and start a life together
and plan for a future.

And I was all in.

I love my fiancée,
Ellen Greenberg, so much

because she's my best friend
in the whole wide world,

and she makes me so happy
whenever I think about her.

I love her.

Mwah, honey.

The week
of January 26th,

I heard on the news there
was, like, a nor'easter coming

to Philadelphia, and in
those days, like, it snowed,

and, like, you didn't
leave your house for days.

The storm came
in with a vengeance.

It's moving fast, of course,

and now heading into Philly.

This will be one to
two inches per hour

at least over the
next few hours.

Ellen was a
first-grade teacher,

and schools in
Philadelphia were closing.

So I texted her.

It was kind of like a
squall or something.

Like, they just
called it at the time.

So we were so excited.

I mean, teachers love a
snow day, just like kids do.

I remember, like,
waving goodbye to her

in the parking lot.

And later in the
day when I got home,

I called a couple times.

She didn't answer.

That day was cold as hell.

The front desk is
popping, you know.

And Sam came to the front desk.

He said, Ellen came home early,

but I'm locked out of my unit.

So I said, well, the concierge
don't leave the front desk

anymore to let people in.

Let me continue to call her,

and I'll try to get in
touch with maintenance.

So he sort of just
walked away with that.

My girlfriend at the
time and I lived in 602,

pretty much across
from Sam and Ellen.

And I hear, like,

a male's voice talking
outside the door.

I get up and I crack
the door a little bit

and hear it's Sam
pounding on the door,

trying to coax her to come
to the door to let him in.

I just figured they were
into some kind of argument

and he got locked out.

He was pacing back and
forth, and, I don't know,

he looked worried
about something.

When he came again,
he was much more agitated.

He said, I need to get
in the fucking unit.

So I said, well, is she...
is something wrong with her?

He said, I don't
know. I don't know.

And as he was departing
from the front desk,

he said, well, I'm just gonna
knock the fucking door down.

After Sam went
back to the unit

to break the door down,

next thing I see
is a fire truck.

The lead or the
lieutenant or something,

he said, where is the elevator?

I said, you know, just go,

and I directed him
to the elevator.

He went up with his crew.

About 45 minutes
later, he came down.

I said, how is she?
Everything OK up there?

He said, you don't
need an ambulance.

You need a homicide detective.

That's when everything changed.

I mean, my life
changed right there.

On January
26th, I was in my office

working a little
later than normal,

and I received a call from Phil,

who was our concierge on duty,
let me know that there was

an issue going on in a
sixth-floor apartment

and that the police
were down in the lobby.

My office was on
the second floor,

so I proceeded to
go to the elevator,

went down one floor.

As soon as the
elevator doors open,

there were two police officers

waiting to get in the elevator,

and then I took them
up to the sixth floor.

When we were walking
down the hallway,

I was a little concerned
'cause when I turned around,

they did have their guns drawn.

I didn't know
what was going on.

I could tell that there was
numerous people there...

the police, first responders.

Sam was distraught.

I didn't know what he found.

But there was some
serious problem inside

with his... with Ellen.

When I was a homicide
prosecutor in Philadelphia,

I reviewed over 100 homicides.

Sadly, in Philadelphia,
that is most often

the way in which
people are killed,

by homicide or by murder.

And one of the things
that is almost always,

if not always,
critical are timelines.

What we know is, Sam
Goldberg left the apartment

at approximately 4:50 PM.

Per him, Ellen is alive and well

and inside of that apartment.

He is gone for, give or
take, 38 1/2 to 40 minutes

at the gym and the lobby area,

which you can see on CCTV.

He then gets into the elevator.

He goes to enter the
apartment, and it's latched.

And you could only unlock it
or lock it from the inside.

And he's shouting
into the apartment.

He's slamming on the door.

He's getting more
and more irate.

This, in combination
with going up and down

the elevators to the lobby,
goes on for about an hour

before he finally makes
entry into the apartment

and makes the 911 call.

Ellen was found up against
the cabinetry in the corner,

slunched down, blood
all over her body,

on the cabinetry
where clearly her head

had slid down the cabinet.

And there is a knife
sticking out of her chest.

At around 6:40 PM, the police,
fire, and rescue were there,

and detectives are there
because this looks like,

at least from the
call, to be a homicide.

So homicide detectives
come out as well as police.

The next time I go to the door,

I could hear Sam talking
to the police officer

about her medication

and that she had some
mental health issues.

After Sam spoke
with the detectives,

they believed that
Ellen was experiencing

mental health issues.

So instead of
investigating this,

they call it a suicide on scene.

I was told that
she had stabbed herself.

The gurney came out,
and it was empty.

And Sam was told
that she had passed,

that she was dead,
and he started crying.

And I just asked
what I could do.

When we initially found
out what happened,

the only phone call I
made was to Sam's parents,

and then the next
phone call I made

when I had a moment was
to my corporate office

to explain what had happened.

We were hunkered
down in our house.

You couldn't even hear the
snow plows going through.

It was like a blizzard outside.

We made dinner, and
we were watching TV.

The landline in
the kitchen rang,

and it was Sam's father.

He said, something terrible
has happened to Ellie.

And I said, well,
what do you mean?

Where's the ambulance?

There is no ambulance.

And at that point, I
almost lost my voice.

I was screaming for
Josh to, you know,

pick up the other landline.

And everything kinda went dark.

It's very difficult for us
to talk about that time slot

and try and put it
in any sort of order.

I was pretty much
in a state of shock.

I don't even know how I was
able to lay my head down

and fall asleep.

I was just...

nothing in my life prepared
me for that moment.

Nothing in my life would
ever be the same after that.

Sam and Ellen
got engaged in June.

They came home,

and then it was like,
let's plan a wedding.

I was privy to see pictures
of Ellen in her dress,

and she was so beautiful.

She was gonna hold pink
peonies in her bridal bouquet.

But I went shopping with her
the first week in December

for save the dates.

And she definitely
wasn't herself.

Ellen wanted to
come home to Harrisburg,

and we were totally in
the dark of what was...

why she would want to come home.

Something shifted

in that November,
December time frame.

The Ellen that we knew
that used to be excited

about everything was gone.

She just totally lost her light.

I reached out to Sandee,

and I was like,
what's up with Ellen?

Like, she's not her
normal bubbly self.

And she was like, I
know. I noticed it.

So then we started
talking more about it.

She would say, oh,
she was stressed from school.

She had a large classroom, and
that was stressing her out.

It's an inner-city school.

We did have very
big class sizes.

There were five first
grades, and all of them

were at least at 30 kids,

some of them almost
40 kids in a class.

She did say she
wasn't feeling quite right.

She was new, so she was nervous,

like anyone starting
any job would be.

It did seem a little
overblown to me,

but she was in the
midst of being engaged.

So she had a lot
of pressure on her,

not the least of
which was school.

She was doing circles
in her head about work.

It was always work, and
she was looking to get out.

I remember I went
into her classroom,

and she started crying,

and she's like, I can't do this.

I can't do this.

She was more anxious.

She was more nervous.

And I made a deal.

He made a deal
with her that if we found

a good psychiatrist
and she did that

and if she still wanted
to come home, she could.

But he wanted her
not to lose her job

because she worked
so hard to get there.

I'm almost embarrassed
to tell you,

but I think at that
stage, what my goals were

were legitimate
fatherly goals...

help the daughter
and save the job.

The
psychiatrist prescribed

some anxiety medication.

She tried a couple of things

and didn't really
like the way she felt.

And then they put her
on a different medicine,

and then she started texting
me like, it's working.

I'm feeling good.

I mean, she wasn't, like,
100%, but she was feeling good.

Bruce, my father-in-law,

her coworker, he assured me
there was nothing going on

at work that she
needed to worry about.

So what was it that was
causing her so much anxiety?

Sam traveled a ton for work,

so she knew for the
parts of the year

that the tournaments were,
he was gonna be gone.

I do think she had some
insecurities with it.

It wasn't an ideal situation,

but Ellen knew what
she signed up for.

And from, you know,
everything she was telling us,

everything was perfect.

I wasn't scared for her.

It's just like, oh, she's
going through a rough patch.

It never occurred to me that
it could be anything else

other than what
she was telling me,

because why wouldn't
she tell me?

The day of the snowstorm,

she was really, really
obsessed with the grades.

I was
like, Ellen, it's OK,

like, because you have it.

Like, you have all the data.

But it was just really something

that was weighing on her.

I was with
her a lot that day.

She was really
tense at that point

because report cards
were coming out.

So when I went out to my
car, she was already there.

She was parked right next to me,

and I cleaned off
her car for her.

It probably took me the
better part of an hour.

And for all that
time, she was on edge.

So I tried to talk
her down from that...

off the ledge.

The 15-minute ride took me

an hour and a half to get home,

and then when I got to the
parking lot at my condo,

I got a call from Ellen,
and it was the same thing.

And she was still
distraught when we hung up.

Bruce texts me, and he
says, your BF is crazy.

So I... I call him, and
as I'm talking to him,

Ellen calls me on
the other line.

And I didn't pick up.

I kick myself to this day.

I didn't pick up.

The police said that
Ellen committed suicide.

We have no reason not
to believe the police.

We knew nothing.

We were in the dark
about everything.

My name's Donna Jaconi.

I was a Philadelphia police
officer for 26 years,

and I was in the elite
crime scene unit,

where I was a crime
scene investigator

for over 22 years.

We would go out to the scene,

meet with the
homicide detectives.

Then we'd photograph
the whole scene,

search for ballistic evidence,
clothing, hair fibers.

We were looking for evidence

of either a crime
or not a crime.

In 2011, Philadelphia
was a high-crime city.

But Manayunk is one of
the lower crime areas.

I probably only had one or two
homicides there in my career.

Venice Lofts is
a unique property

because it's not the city,
but it's not the suburbs.

It's right in between.

We had a 24-hour concierge.

Guests would come
into the front.

They would sign in.

We had a key fob system

that would register
the apartment number

as well as the residents' names.

The parking was gated,

and there were cameras at
every point of entrance

and in the common areas.

We didn't have cameras
in the elevators

or the hallways at the time.

That night, we were slow
because of the snowstorm.

I remember a call
coming in from Manayunk.

It was mentioned that
it was a suicide.

We basically only
went out to things

that were major crimes.

If it was said to be a
suicide, then there would be

no reason to hold the scene.

And so basically,
we didn't go out.

I'll never
forget that night.

You know, it was just surreal.

And I just saw her last week.

She was so full of energy

and so looking forward
to this engagement party

that they were having.

After learning how she died
and that it was a suicide,

I didn't understand it.

I didn't understand it.

I remember, I
guess, about 10:00,

everybody was still
up in the unit.

Detectives, they sorta
asked me questions.

I didn't even know what
my job was at that point,

to be honest with you.

There's no blueprint or format
to how you deal with that.

And I think Melissa and I were
making that shit up as we went.

At that point,
everyone had gone home.

It was just those that came
from the coroner's office,

myself, and Ellen.

I had dealt with fires and
floods and domestic issues

and thefts, but
I had never dealt

with someone who had died

and having to
escort the body out.

There was no discussion
in the elevator.

There was dead silence.

Ellen was taken away.

And the next day, I got
a call from Sam's uncle,

that they wanted to retrieve
some personal effects

for the funeral.

And I called the police station

asking if I can let
them into the apartment.

They said I could, and I...

I could only imagine that
if there was a stab wound,

that perhaps there was blood,

and I didn't want the
family to see that.

So police directed
me to call a company

called Crime Scene Cleanup.

I made a phone call,
and they came out.

And that's when I
videotaped the apartment.

I don't know what was
left in the apartment.

I know I was letting someone
else in that I didn't know,

and I didn't want to
be held responsible

for anything missing.

When I went into the apartment,

the thing that I remember
the most is the setting.

I remember walking in and seeing

blueberries on the counter,

a couple of knives in the sink.

It was so serene.

You know, cleaning the
fruit in the kitchen.

Just a... just an
everyday event.

That's what it looked like.

There was laptops.

I remember the engagement ring.

And then I remember the blood.

I didn't stay the entire
time with the cleanup crew,

but I do remember that
they had on Hazmat suits

and protective gear,
and they put everything

in the dishwasher
and turned it on

and wiped it up,
and that was it.

Two men arrived.

One was Sam's uncle.

I wanted to do my best in
balancing my sympathies

and helping the family, as well
as my role as property manager.

So I did stay there with
them as they walked around.

I just stayed in
the living room.

They weren't in there too long,

maybe... maybe 15 minutes or so.

And then I locked
up behind them.

The police determine
this is a suicide,

and because of that decision,

you don't have a
held crime scene,

meaning it's not roped
off and protected.

This apartment is being
professionally cleaned

by a company called
Crime Scene Cleanup.

And the very next morning,

all of Ellen's
electronic devices

were taken by her
fiancé's uncle,

who's not even related to Ellen.

The morning of the 27th,

I go start shoveling out.

It's... we have, like,
over a foot of snow.

9:15, my phone rings,

and it's Sandee, Ellen's mom.

And she says, Ellen
took her life.

And I'm just like, oh, my God.

H... how? What?

And I... I don't even
know what to say.

And I'm like, I'm so sorry.

What... and she just says,

I need you to call
all the girls.

I must have said over and
over, no, that's not right.

That's not right. No.

Ell... what? No.

I just... I'd seen
Ellen the week before.

I just talked to Ellen.

Like, what?

I'm like, no, there's
no way it's suicide.

I still think I
didn't fully believe

when I called you and I'm, like,

saying these words to you.

Yeah.

And I was just...

still completely disbelieving
of what had happened.

And then I picked up the
phone and called Sam.

And the first words
out of his mouth were,

she did this to herself.

And I just remember thinking,
what are you talking about?

Why would you think that?

Why would you say that?

I was in total
shock and disbelief.

Most suicides,

even if they have had
ideation in the past,

the actual moment that
the decision is made

is relatively short,
with very little time

between the decision
and the act.

And a lot of times,
people want to say,

well, they couldn't possibly
have died by suicide.

They had plans in their life.

There is so much bound up in it

of, what could I have done?

What should I have
done? What did I miss?

So it's actually really common
for families and loved ones

to refuse to accept suicide.

That doesn't mean that
they're always wrong, though.

The ME's
office is a neutral body.

We determine cause
and manner of death.

It is our responsibility
to that victim

to find out the truth.

I have a forensic
consulting company

where I do high-profile
cases and second opinions,

and this is an unusual case

because there were mistakes
from the very beginning.

At a crime scene, the
crime scene itself

is under the jurisdiction
of law enforcement.

However, the body and things
that surround the body

or are with the body
are the jurisdiction

of the medical examiner.

The medical examiner
basically examines

that body at the scene.

They will look at the wounds,
and they will examine the body

on a cursory method right then

to help determine at
that point in time,

can I make a decision?

Is this a homicide or
suicide or accident?

Sometimes you can.
Sometimes you can't.

But if you're able to, you
must examine that body.

That is the evidence.

Does the evidence match the
story that we're hearing?

And in this case, pretty
much all of that is negative.

They rushed to the belief

and really took
the fiancé's word

that this was self-inflicted.

Though I wasn't
involved in the investigation

at the time, while
researching Ellen's case,

I noticed the home
in which it happened

should have been
better preserved

and the evidence on the body

should have been
better preserved,

cataloged, identified.

From the materials that
I've been given access to,

there are significant
weaknesses.

There are no photos at the scene

of half of the
wounds on her body.

She was stabbed 20 times.

And it is acknowledged
that they didn't even know

half of them, the
ones on the back,

were present until the autopsy.

There are 20 stab
wounds, multiple stab wounds

to the back of the neck,
a huge blunt-force trauma

from a knife to the head.

How was this ruled a suicide?

I have investigated

stabbing suicides in my career.

I've never seen anyone stab
themselves in the back.

There are specific
wounds that typically

we would call hesitation wounds.

They are usually with suicide,

and they're very shallow
attempts at injury to yourself.

There are some that I would
call that on Ellen's body.

However, a stabbing of this
nature with so many wounds

is just very atypical.

When Ellen
Greenberg's body was taken

to the medical
examiner's office,

the medical examiner,
Marlon Osbourne,

looked at the body and
looked at the evidence,

and he, in fact, ruled
this death a homicide.

So they're gonna be able to
get a real investigation,

and this family is
finally gonna get a call.

Your daughter, Ellen,
did not kill herself.

Ellen died
on January 26th,

and the funeral was
just two days later,

which is typical
in Jewish custom.

Burials are very quick.

We went together
in the snowstorm.

And it was packed.
Do you remember?

We were, like, all
the way in the back.

It was packed.

A lot of people.

And it was a miserable snow.

Snow up to your
ankles at that point,

especially in Harrisburg.

There was clearly
a divide at that funeral.

Ellen's family all
was on the right,

then Sam's on the left.

Two separate sides.

It was a very awkward
feeling and situation.

I was
directly behind Sam.

When we walked into
the funeral home,

he turned around,

and he looked at me,
and I've never seen

a face more contorted
with anguish in my life.

He didn't look like himself.

I got chills.

I remember Sam wailing.

Wailing.

Yeah.

It was a lot.

That morning
of the funeral,

I got a phone call
from my best friend.

She said, oh, my God,
Ellen's story is on the news,

and it is now a homicide.

Now a serious warning for women.

The search is on for a suspect
following a murder in Manayunk.

Police crime
scene specialists were back

at the Venice Lofts apartments,

collecting potential evidence

from Ellen Rae Greenberg's
sixth-floor apartment.

Presently, they have no suspects

or motive in the case.

We were like, wait, what?

Like, what do you mean?

It's all over the
news in Philadelphia.

We had no idea.

Sandee and Josh
were never called

by Philadelphia
Police or anybody.

I told them.

We found out that it
was now considered a homicide.

And then I had to give a eulogy.

I asked everyone to close your
eyes and just think of Ellen,

and Ellen will be there.

She'll still be in
your mind's eye.

Josh got up there,
and he shared the news

of what had come out
actually on the...

on the news stations in
Philadelphia that morning.

He announced it.

And you could hear a pin drop.

It was like
a hush went over,

you know, the crowd there.

It was alarming.

I mean, my God, the
medical examiner

had changed it to homicide.

We went to the cemetery,

and I remember pulling the
rabbi aside and saying,

are we burying her?

And he's like, if
we're at the cemetery,

she's getting buried.

In Jewish custom,
the body is prepared

in a certain way, and the
women in the community

who prepared Ellen's
body, word had gotten out

about what they had seen.

All of the sudden, that suicide
narrative was long gone.

Here we all are there,
and no one's talking

about the big
elephant in the room.

If it was a homicide,
who could have done

anything like that to Ellen?