Kentucky doctor pleads guilty to trying to hire a hitman to kill ex-husband

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A former Norton Commons doctor accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday and could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.

Stephanie Russell’s trial on charges of murder-for-hire and stalking was set to begin in U.S. District Court on Monday but she instead accepted a plea agreement to both charges with a sentence calling for between 97 months and 144 months in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge David Hale will ultimately decide her sentence on July 31.

Russell, 53, fainted during the guilty plea hearing, hitting her head on a table. She was treated by a U.S. Marshal during a 30-minute break.

The prosecution and defense attorney Scott C. Cox declined to comment after the guilty plea.

Russell's ex-husband, Rick Crabtree, said he was "ready for my family to have closure."

Russell had been accused of contacting an undercover FBI agent, who was posing as a hitman, and agreeing to pay $7,000 to the agent in exchange for murdering her ex-husband. Russell left a partial payment of $3,500 outside her medical office in a drop box and agreed to pay the other half after her ex-husband was killed.

Authorities also found more than $2,000 in her home that was supposed to be used to pay a hit man.

The state will keep $5,000 as part of the guilty plea.

Russell’s defense attorneys had claimed she was "delusional" and acting under "extreme emotional disturbance" in fear of her children's safety at the time of the crime. Russell and her husband had been in a custody battle.

As proof, they recently included text messages she sent a Brazilian "spiritual healer" saying she was "looking for a death spell" for her ex-husband, asking how much it would cost and whether a sacrifice would be used.

The unnamed woman responded the price rate would depend on the number of people involved but that she had an 85% death rate and it could be done within hours using Voodoo. The woman also promised a 100% guarantee or Russell's money would be returned, according to the messages sent on April 22, 2022.

When asked by Russell what kind of spell would be used, the healer replied, "it's a death spell my dear not a love spell," according to the records filed in U.S. District Court last month. "I can't tell you inside details, but I will do your job."

In addition, Russell's attorneys have included expert medical testimony that Russell's "mental condition left her unable to attain the culpable state of mind required by the criminal charges in this case" and that she became increasingly delusional when she believed her two children had been neglected or abused by her estranged husband.

Hale ordered that there be no mention of alleged abuse of the children during the trial.

Records show that on Nov. 25, 2019, a detective with the Louisville Metro Police Department's Crimes Against Children Unit met with a special agent from the FBI. The LMPD detective believed she had uncovered a murder-for-hire plot during her investigation into child abuse allegations reported by Russell against her ex-husband.

Court records indicate Russell's ex-husband filed for divorce in 2018, and it was finalized in 2020. And the probable cause affidavit includes several disturbing text messages between Russell and witnesses. Russell and her ex-husband have two children together.

Russell asked multiple employees where she worked if they knew someone who would kill her husband, according to her guilty plea. The FBI was notified and Russell was recorded several times in phone conversations with a purported hitman who was actually with the FBI.

"I want him completely gone from my life," she said, according to the guilty plea. "I mean, do you like, do they disappear? Do you like shoot them on the road. Like what happens? Or should I just not know."

The stalking charge was related to Russell using another person to pose as a WAVE 3 reporter and going to her ex-husband's office, leaving him accusatory voicemails and putting notes in his garage pretending to be "writing a derogatory story" about him.

This story may be updated.

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