The death of 27-year-old Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg has remained a mystery since 2011, when she was found with 20 stab wounds in the kitchen of her Manayunk apartment.
Now, her case is back in the spotlight with the premiere of a new Hulu docuseries, Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?, debuting Monday, Sept. 29. The true-crime series explores Greenberg’s life, the circumstances of her death, and the ongoing efforts by her family to challenge the city’s ruling of suicide.
Greenberg’s death has been mired in controversy: Initially ruled a suicide, it was later reclassified as a homicide before being reversed again. Her parents, Joshua and Sandra Greenberg, have spent more than a decade fighting for a new investigation and accountability from the city. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14 to review the Medical Examiner’s Office’s reinvestigation of the case.
Greenberg was found by her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg, in the couple’s apartment kitchen with 20 stab wounds (including 10 to the back of her neck), along with multiple bruises in various stages of healing, and a 10-inch kitchen knife lodged into her chest. Police at the crime scene ruled the death a suicide because Goldberg informed them that he had to break down the apartment door due to it being locked from the inside. Police, citing the lack of defensive wounds and the locked door, initially deemed it a suicide.
But the next day, after completing Greenberg’s autopsy, the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide based on the number and locations of the wounds. Philadelphia homicide detectives began investigating, but within weeks, police reversed the ruling back to suicide.
Over the next 14 years, the Greenbergs fought for answers, suing the city twice to reconsider the ruling of Ellen’s death and to answer for the city’s “embarrassingly botched” investigation. The investigation is still ongoing with an upcoming hearing on Oct. 14 to review the Medical Examiner’s office reinvestigation of the case, according to the lawsuit.
The Hulu series investigates the established evidence and draws from exclusive interviews with Joshua and Sandra Greenberg, Ellen’s childhood friends, former co-workers, and journalists — including The Inquirer’s Stephanie Farr, whose 2019 article revived public attention around the case, according to the documentary.
In an interview with showrunner Nancy Schwartzman, the documentary hopes to bring Ellen’s story to an even wider audience.
The Bryn Mawr-raised filmmaker said she wouldn’t have been able to put the pieces together if it weren’t for the journalists who uncovered the facts.
“I get to visually immerse you, but we’re all sticking to the facts here, and those facts wouldn’t have come to life without Stephanie’s work and the work of the editors,” she said.
Schwartzman said, for the Greenbergs, going to the press was the last stop on a journey, where every public institution meant to help them didn’t.
Throughout the three-part docuseries, viewers will be shown all the facts gathered since Greenberg’s 2011 death, including uncensored crime scene images.
Her Manayunk apartment kitchen streaked in blood, Ellen’s body, and the 20 stab wounds and bruises she received, is shown multiple times in the series, forcing the audience to grapple with the Greenberg’s disbelief in how Ellen could have committed suicide in this way, Schwartzman said.
“But, because the nature of this crime was so violent — 20 stab wounds is what experts call “overkill” — and the fact that it’s been called a suicide, I think audiences need to see what this looks like.”
Produced and run by Schwartzman, Death in Apartment 603 was produced by ABC News Studios alongside Dakota and Elle Fanning’s Lewellan Pictures, Lionsgate Alternative Television, and Tanbark Pictures.
The three-episode docuseries will be available for streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers on Monday, Sept. 29.
Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?
Premieres Monday, Sept. 29. All three episodes will stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.
