Pennsylvania Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments in controversial stabbing ruled a suicide

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by the parents of a Philadelphia woman found stabbed to death in her apartment who are challenging the determination that her death was a suicide. 

Ellen Greenberg, a teacher, was found dead by her fiancee in 2011 with 20 stab wounds, including to the back of her head. The knife was discovered still embedded in her chest. 

“For everyone citizen in this commonwealth this case could potentially have a bearing in their lives or the lives of their family members," said Joseph Podraza, the Greenberg's lawyer, in a statement to a local Philadelphia outlet. 

“We believe that if we are allowed to go to trial that a jury or a judge will decide that the evidence is so overwhelming that Ellen did not commit suicide, but instead a homicide that will bring someone or some people to justice,” he also said. 

Greenberg's parents have fought a ruling by the medical examiner that the young woman's death was a suicide for more than a decade.

In 2011, the medical examiner initially ruled her death a homicide, but quickly reversed the determination after police challenged the finding, despite the suspicious circumstances. A lower previously ruled against the Greenberg's challenge, however, the judges acknowledged a "deeply flawed" police investigation.