The Ellen Greenberg Case : Pathology with Dr. Priya | A Zone 7 Series , Part 2

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Pathology with Dr. Priya, a Zone 7 series, Sheryl McCollum and Dr. Priya Banerjee continue their forensic review of the 2011 death of Ellen Greenberg, a young woman found with more than twenty stab wounds in her Philadelphia apartment. Picking up where part one left off, Dr. Priya discusses the two critical stab wounds that penetrated Ellen's brain stem and spinal cord; injuries she believes would have rendered her incapable of any further self-harm. From the anatomy of the cervical spine to the forensic interpretation of bruising, Dr. Priya explains why the medical evidence in this case still challenges the official ruling of suicide, and why the Greenberg family continues to fight for justice.

Highlights

(0:00) Welcome to Pathology with Dr. Priya: A Zone 7 series—Sheryl McCollum and Dr. Priya introduce part two of the Ellen Greenberg case
(1:45) Dr. Priya describes how she documents injuries and explains why numbering stab wounds can mislead investigators
(2:45) The base-of-skull wounds, and how it penetrated the dura, disrupting vital brainstem functions
(4:45) The cervical-spine injury between C2 and C3 and how Ellen’s neurological injuries could explain the absence of defensive wounds
(10:45) Distinguishing the possible order of injuries, and why positioning and directionality are critical in understanding the sequence of events
(13:15) "History of mental illness does not make you suicidal.” Dr. Priya explains why psychiatric history must be interpreted cautiously in death investigations
(14:15) Brusing: what it can and cannot tell investigators about struggle, timing and prior assaults
(20:00) Dr. Priya reflects on the Greenberg family’s courage, and the power of their love to keep fighting for the truth

About the Hosts

Dr. Priya Banerjee is a board-certified forensic pathologist with extensive experience in death investigation, clinical forensics, and courtroom testimony. A graduate of Johns Hopkins, she served for over a decade as Rhode Island’s state medical examiner and now runs a private forensic pathology practice. Her work includes military deaths, NSA cases, and high-profile investigations. Dr. Priya has also been featured as a forensic expert on platforms such as CrimeOnline and Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She is a dedicated educator, animal lover, and proud mom.

Website: anchorforensicpathology.com
Twitter/X: @Autopsy_MD

Sheryl McCollum is an Emmy Award–winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, and the Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She works as a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department and is the co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings together universities, law enforcement, and experts to help solve unsolved homicides, missing persons cases, and kidnappings.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:11.8	Y'all welcome to Pathology with Dr. Priya, Ellen Greenberg, Part 2.
0:20.0	So Dr. Priya, last week, was giving us a great introduction to autopsy 101, and she started
0:29.2	to explain the injuries that she notated with Ellen Greenberg.
0:34.7	Now she's going to jump right back into where she was, where she's talking
0:38.7	about the two injuries on the back of the head that would have rendered Ellen incapable of
0:44.8	stabbing herself even more. And that's critical because as y'all know, when she was found, the
0:52.8	knife was in her chest, which would have meant
0:55.6	there was at least one more stab wound after those two that she's already pinpointed.
1:01.0	Dr. Priya, welcome back and thank you again for taking us through this important case.
1:07.0	Yes, so I do want to, you know, just revisit the issue that when I look at anybody who's been stabbed multiple times, it's the order is, you know, is impossible to determine unless it's on video, okay?
1:21.4	Now, we know the last stab wound's the one with the knife, and we can, we need to pay attention at autopsy, whether there's bleeding
1:28.0	with each wound in stab or incised or cutting wound to see if it was while she was physiologically
1:35.0	alive, okay? So that is where we're talking about. Now, we know that the chest wound is the last
1:42.5	one because it has a knife in it.
1:44.6	That's the only one I can tell, okay?
1:47.0	I can't tell you if it's neighbor on the chest or the neck was first, middle, you know, second
1:54.5	to last.
1:55.3	We're just going to have to look at each one.
1:58.4	Okay.
1:59.2	Now, when these wounds are described, we just, we can't say wound number
2:05.3	one, too, because I think that implies too much of an order. So like what's done in this case,
	...

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