WDRB Google Preferred Source Asset

See more WDRB reporting in Google Search

Add WDRB as a preferred source on Google to ensure that local news and weather from WDRB appears more often in Top Stories when relevant to your search.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The trial for a Norton Commons doctor accused of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband was originally scheduled to start Thursday but it's now been reset for a future date.

Stephanie Russell contacted an undercover FBI agent, who was posing as a hitman, and agreed to pay $7,000 to the agent in exchange for murdering her ex-husband, according to information from the Department of Justice. 

Her attorneys filed a motion to continue to the trial so they could prepare for cross examination of a witness. This was unopposed and granted. A new date has not been set for 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 Metro Police 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. 

On March 28, 2022, the FBI was referred to a private investigator by an LMPD detective. The private investigator had information regarding an alleged murder-for-hire plot by Russell.

Investigators say between July 2021 and March 2022, Russell approached two nurses at the business on separate occasions and asked each of them for assistance in killing her ex-husband. The affidavit also includes several screenshots from conversations between Russell and others.

Russell could face 10 years in federal prison if she is convicted.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.