A new Hulu docuseries, “Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?”, sheds fresh light on the mysterious 2011 death of Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg, who was found with 20 stab wounds in her apartment. Despite the gruesome circumstances, authorities ultimately ruled her death a suicide—a decision that continues to fuel controversy and questions more than a decade later.
A Shocking Discovery
Greenberg, a 27-year-old first-grade teacher, was discovered by her fiancé Sam Goldberg, who broke through a latched door and found her body in the kitchen with a knife lodged in her chest. She had multiple stab wounds, including injuries to her neck and back.
Initially, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her death a homicide, only to change the cause back to suicide just four months later. The abrupt reversal left Greenberg’s parents, Josh and Sandra Greenberg, convinced that critical mistakes had been made.
Parents’ Pursuit of Justice
For 14 years, Ellen’s parents have fought to reopen the case, arguing that their daughter could not have inflicted such wounds on herself. The docuseries follows their legal and emotional journey, highlighting how their persistence recently led to a new review of the case by city officials.
“We would love to have this documentary bring justice for Ellen,” Josh Greenberg says in the series. “But the most important part is sharing who Ellen was and how much she loved life.”
Questions About the Investigation
The series also examines several serious investigative errors, including the professional cleaning of Greenberg’s apartment immediately after her body was removed and the unexplained removal of her computer by a family member of her fiancé.
Forensic experts interviewed in the series expressed doubts about the suicide ruling, noting stab wounds in the back of her head and back, along with bruises in different healing stages—injuries inconsistent with self-infliction.
Authorities’ Response
Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro reaffirmed the suicide ruling in 2019, despite the Greenbergs’ legal challenges. Neither the Philadelphia Police Department, the Medical Examiner’s Office, nor the Attorney General’s Office agreed to participate in the documentary.
Director Nancy Schwartzman, who began filming in 2025, says the project aims to hold institutions accountable: “What we saw in this case was a series of human errors that snowballed into bigger failures.”
Streaming Now
“Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?” is now streaming on Hulu, giving audiences a closer look at one of Philadelphia’s most perplexing and heartbreaking unsolved cases.
