Police: Venice Lofts Stabbing Death Ruled A Suicide

The stabbing death of Ellen Rae Greenberg, a 27-year-old schoolteacher who lived in the Venice Lofts condominium complex in Manayunk, has officially been ruled a suicide.

Greenberg, who worked as a first-grade teacher at Juniata Park Academy, was discovered fatally stabbed inside her condo Jan. 26.

On Friday, police officially confirmed that the death had been ruled a suicide.

“I don’t know when that was determined,” but the investigation has since been closed, said Philadelphia Police Officer Jillian Russell, a department spokeswoman.

Russell said the public affairs unit was not in possession of the official paperwork, so particulars, such as how many stab wounds Greenberg suffered, and how and where they were inflicted, could not be offered.

However, she said Greenberg suffered “multiple” stab wounds, which ultimately caused her death.

Police detectives and investigators with the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office initially could not agree on a cause of death, with the Medical Examiner’s Office calling the death a homicide, and law enforcement calling it a “suspicious death,” according to a Jan. 31 report in the Philadelphia Daily News.

A voice message left for Jeff Moran, the Medical Examiner’s spokesman, was not immediately returned Friday morning, so it was unclear if the alleged discrepancies between the two investigating agencies were still in existence.

In a Jan. 31 Roxborough-Manayunk Patch report, Philadelphia School District officials were quoted as saying that Greenberg was a dedicated teacher and would be sorely missed.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard had said in a statement immediately following Greenberg’s death that Greenberg’s parents would often travel from their Harrisburg home to “join her [Greenberg] in the classroom to share their knowledge with her students. Her dedication to the school was complete and unconditional."

The 5th Police District, which encompasses Manayunk and Roxborough, has some of the lowest violent crime rates in the city, making Greenberg’s death, and the circumstances surrounding it, particularly shocking.