LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville pediatrician accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband appeared in court for arraignment Monday.
Dr. Stephanie Russell has been charged with the use of interstate commerce facilities in commission of murder-for-hire according to court documents.
Tuesday, a judge ruled Russell will have to remain in custody, saying prosecutors showed sufficient evidence she was a flight risk and a danger.
“She’s disappointed that she’s not going to be able to return to her practice and patients," Russell's defense attorney David Mour said. "We’re still in a COVID epidemic, we have a baby formula shortage and she’s a well respected pediatrician in this community."
Russell faces up to 10 years in prison for allegedly trying to pay a hitman $7,000 to kill her ex-husband. The hitman turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
Assistant US Attorney Marisa Ford presented an affidavit, released Tuesday, that detailed the investigation leading to Russell's arrest last week.
According to the affidavit, Dr. Stephanie Russell originally accused her ex-husband, Rick Crabtree, of child abuse in 2019. The detective assigned to the case did not find any evidence of child abuse according to the documents.
As part of the divorce settlement, Crabtree got full custody of their two children, while Russell had supervised visitation two days a week according to court documents.
On March 28 a Louisville police detective referred the FBI to a private investigator about a murder for hire plot by Russell according to documents. A witness who works at Kidz Life Pediatrics had come forward, and the private investigator advised the witness to contact the FBI too according to court documents.
FBI special agents interviewed the witness and learned Russell had approached two nurses between July 2021 and March 2022 and asked them for help in killing Crabtree according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said the witness provided screenshots of text messages between Russell and another witness.
The second witness explained to the first witness that “Christmas flowers” and “flowers” was code for killing Crabtree according to the affidavit.
Originally, the second witness told Russell they knew somebody who could deliver "Christmas flowers" for $4,000 and wanted the "flowers" to be delivered before Christmas said the documents. However, the second witness told Russell that the person died and could no longer help Russell and later left Kidz Life Pediatrics according to court documents.
The affidavit states Russell had told the second witness she wanted Crabtree dead so she could have full custody of the children and did not care how her ex-husband was killed.
According to court documents, the second witness thought Russell was joking but their spouse encouraged them to keep talking to Russell to see if the plot was serious or not.
On May 12, after the second witness quit, the second witness met with Russell and gave her the number to an alleged hitman, who turned out to be an FBI Undercover Employee (UCE) according to the affidavit.
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Russell called the UCE May 15, and offered to meet them in Indiana to “discuss methods in person,” according to court documents. The affidavit states Russell called the next day, asking if Crabtree could be killed on or before Friday, May 20 “due to it being the last day of school for their children.”
According to the document, Russell said she wanted the murder to appear as if Crabtree had committed suicide and requested an “apologetic” suicide note be texted to her.
Russell and UCE agreed to $7,000 – $3,500 before and $3,500 after – plus another $10,000 Russell said Crabtree had in his safe according to court documents.
The court documents state Russell later texted UCE on May 18 that the first half of the payment is in the “outside lab specimen drop boxes” next to the doors in the back of her office.
The documents did mention while investigators were surveying the property they did not see Russell physically drop the payment in the boxes outside her property, but she was the last person to leave her office that day.
Tuesday, Russell's attorneys argued she should be released to home incarceration. They proposed an assistant at her pediatric office take her to and from Kidz Life Pediatrics, so she could continue practicing medicine.
WHAS11 spoke to a parent who took her children to the office. Ely Heard said she used to bring the children she nannied to Dr. Russell, and purposefully chose the office when her own two children were born.
Heard described the news of Russell's arrest as a complete shock.
"They're my treasures, they're my children," Heard said. "I will never trust her with them again."
The case is expected to be submitted to a grand jury in early June.
Read the whole affidavit here.
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