Parents Say Daughter Stabbed 20 Times Couldn't Possibly Have Taken Her Own Life

Ellen Greenberg's parents are fighting for justice for their daughter, who they say did not take her own life.

It was January 2011 and Ellen Greenberg had just sent out save-the-date notices for her wedding when the unthinkable happened. 

Her fiance, Sam Goldberg, had gone to the gym to work out and when he returned to their Philadelphia apartment, he found himself locked out. After calling her name repeatedly and sending her increasingly annoyed texts, Goldberg sought the help of a building attendant who let him into the apartment. 

Inside, he found 27-year-old Greenberg with 20 stab wounds, 10 to the back of the neck, one to help scalp, eight to her chest and a vicious slash across her abdomen. 

The knife was still lodged in her chest.

But with no forced entry and no defensive wounds, Greenberg's death was ruled a suicide. 

It's a decision that still haunts her parents, Sandee and Josh Greenberg. 

"Everything stopped," Josh told Inside Edition of the moment he learned his only child was dead. "The world stopped. What else could you say?"

The distraught father can't believe Ellen would take her own life. 

"There were a total of at least 20 stab wounds, at least 10 were to the back of the neck and I think some to the head," he said. "It says to me it's murder."

Before her death, Ellen had confided in her parents that she had been stressed and anxious about work. Her psychiatrist determined she had severe anxiety and prescribed Klonopin and Ambien. 

The psychiatrist's notes also said that Ellen was "not suicidal," according to her parents. 

Tom Brennan, a retired detective who is working with the Greenbergs, told Inside Edition the fact that Ellen was stabbed multiple times in the back shows her death likely wasn't suicide. 

"You can't get it back ... far enough to administer those type of wounds," he said, demonstrating with the knife. 

Eight years after her death, Ellen's parents are now stepping up their efforts to establish their daughter was killed.

For now, Sandee draws strength from her daughter's last words to her. 

"We went back and forth. We had a routine; she said, 'I love you,' I said, 'I love you' ...  so I was grateful for that."

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