Stream It Or Skip It?

Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg? is a three-part docuseries that looks into the 2011 death of Ellen Greenberg, how it was immediately ruled a suicide by the Philadelphia PD, changed to a homicide by the medical examiner, then inexplicably changed back to a suicide by the M.E.’s office. Because of the rulings, the crime scene wasn’t preserved, and Greenberg’s parents have been fighting for almost 15 years to have the investigation reopened.

Opening Shot: Snowy shots of the Manayunk neighborhood in Philadelphia.

The Gist: The producers of the series talk to a number of Greenberg’s friends, as well as her parents, Sandee and Josh Greenberg. They recount how happy she was when she got engaged to her boyfriend, Sam Goldberg. On the night of January 26, 2011, during a blizzard, Goldberg had to break into his own apartment after Ellen didn’t respond to knocks and texts; he found her body in the kitchen.

The autopsy found that Ellen had 20 stab wounds, some of which were on her back. Going on the word of Goldberg about his fiancée’s recent mental health struggles, Philadelphia PD immediately ruled Ellen’s death a suicide, which means they did not hold the crime scene for CSI to examine; the manager of the condo complex where the couple lived had a crime scene cleaning company clean the apartment the next day.

However, after the autopsy, the medical examiner changed the ruling from suicide to homicide, which the family didn’t find out about until the media reported it during Ellen’s funeral. But because the crime scene wasn’t secured, a lot of physical evidence that could have helped law enforcement was destroyed.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Death In Apartment 603: What Happened To Ellen Greenberg? is reminiscent of other ABC News Studios docuseries, like Mr. & Mrs. Murder.

Our Take: Nancy Schwartzman, the EP and showrunner of Death In Apartment 603 (Elle and Dakota Fanning are also among the EPs) had a tough task, because the case of Ellen Greenberg’s death is still unsolved. In other words, there isn’t going to really be a satisfying ending to this story. What Schwartzman and her crew are trying to accomplish with this series is take the point of view of Ellen Greenberg’s parents and loved ones, who knew her as such a ebullient, positive presence who couldn’t have possibly taken her own life.

It certainly is a one-sided view, and curiously we don’t hear from her fiancé, Samuel Goldberg. There’s nothing to indicate he was under suspicion, but it doesn’t seem like he or his family was interested in talking to Schwartzman’s film crew. This is where some speculation comes into play, like an account of Ellen’s funeral where it seemed like there was tension between the Greenbergs and the Goldbergs.

Does this play into what went on during later phases of the investigation? Maybe. But on first blush it feels like a detail the filmmakers threw into the narrative to add some meat to a narrative that is less about who killed Ellen Greenberg and more about how law enforcement really, really screwed her case up.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: “If it was a homicide, who could have done anything like that to Ellen?” says her cousin, Debbie Schwab, echoing what everyone at her funeral was thinking when they found out the M.E changed her death from a suicide to homicide.

Sleeper Star: Greenberg’s parents, Sandee and Josh, are the stars of this series, as their determination to get to the truth of their daughter’s death is what drives the narrative.

Most Pilot-y Line: We’ll almost always rail against the use of reenactments, and this series leans a bit too heavily on them.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Death In Apartment 603: What Happened To Ellen Greenberg? is a series that’s more about a victim’s family seeking answers than getting those answers. But the series is compelling because of how startling the mishandling of Ellen Greenberg’s case really was.

How To Watch Death In Apartment 603

The new true crime documentary, Death In Apartment 603: What Happened To Ellen Greenberg?, is currently available to stream for Hulu subscribers.

If you’re new to Hulu, you can get started with a 30-day free trial on the streamer’s basic (with ads) plan. After the trial period, you’ll pay $9.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.

If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $10.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $29.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.