On January 26, 2011, a blizzard hit Philadelphia, prompting Ellen Greenberg to leave work and return to her Manayunk apartment, where she lived with her fiancé Samuel (Sam) Goldberg, a Gladwyne-based television producer for NBC and later Golf.com.

At approximately 6:40 p.m. that evening, Ellen was pronounced dead as a result of twenty stab wounds, including ten to her back and neck.

There were also eleven bruises in various stages of resolution on Ellen’s right arm, abdomen, and right leg. However, despite there being no suicide note, the crime scene was treated as a suicide.

Following the autopsy, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office initially ruled the case as a homicide.

However, the next day, the Philadelphia Police Department backtracked and stated that “the death of Ellen Greenberg has not been ruled a homicide…Homicide investigators are considering the manner of death as suspicious at this time.” The case was reversed and officially ruled a suicide in February 2011.