Stephanie Russell: Woman who wanted ex hexed by 'death spell' plots own fall after she pays undercover FBI agent to kill him

OLDHAM, KENTUCKY: Stephanie Russell, a Kentucky pediatrician known for her KidzLife Pediatrics office admitted to attempting to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband Rick Crabtree.

Russell was arrested in May 19, 2022. She has now pleaded guilty to one count of murder-for-hire and one count of stalking in Federal court on Monday, April 22. 

At 53 years of age, Russell's downfall was swift after she lost custody of her two children as per Law&Crime. 

Stephanie Russell's plot to kill ex-husband 

Newly released documents in March shed light on Russell's intentions, suggesting she wanted revenge against Crabtree after he was granted full custody of their two children.

Despite being granted supervised visitation, Russell's dissatisfaction seemingly led her to explore drastic measures. During her defense in February, Russell shared WhatsApp messages that revealed her interest in using a “death spell” on her ex-husband before her arrest in May 2022 for trying to pay someone to kill him.

She asked about success rates and prices, and one person claimed an 85% success rate for death spells, reports WHAS11. 

Allegedly, Russell sought the spell to end her ex-husband's life, with the person claiming her spells could potentially do the deed within five hours, according to the documents.

Russell continued seeking out a death spell from different contacts, insisting that the only way to find peace was if her ex-husband died. Her attorneys had then argued that these messages showed she was mentally disturbed at the time.

However, when Russell appeared in court on Monday, April 22, as that was the trial date set by Judge David J Hale, her mental health testimony was shot down and as her records from her previous family-court disputes with her ex-husband showed otherwise.

Prosecutors also wanted to prevent Russell from making false claims of abuse as well. Russell had earlier claimed her ex was abusing the children but a detective assigned to the case did not find any evidence of child abuse according to the affidavit documents which were released in 2022. 

Russell eventually pleaded guilty to attempted murder-for-hire and aiding interstate stalking on the morning of her trial. The stalking charge was connected to Russell’s conduct during the child custody battle that she lost.

During custody litigation between Dec 1, 2018, and Aug 9, 2019, a news release says Russell, aided by a person, “J.S.,” who traveled to Louisville from Michigan, “engaged in conduct that caused and attempted to cause her former husband substantial emotional distress, and Russell did so with the intent to harass and intimidate him.”

She had recruited someone to harass her ex-husband, posing as a reporter and leaving defamatory materials at his workplace.

How did Stephanie Russell get caught? 

Russell has been a licensed doctor in Jefferson County since 1998, and she graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1997.

In her bid to plot revenge, the pediatrician is also accused of trying to pay a hitman $7,000 to kill her ex-husband in 2022. She used the code word "christmas flowers" to refer to the hit according to court documents.

Unfortunately for her, the hitman turned out to be an FBI agent investigators said.

A news release on Monday, April 22, revealed how Russell had been asking her employees at Kidzlife Pediatrics in Norton Commons since July 2021 if they knew anyone who would kill Crabtree. Prosecutors alleged that Russell stopped seeking murder from spell casters and turned to more conventional means.

The person Russell ended up getting in contact with and hired was actually an undercover FBI agent. She agreed to pay the agent $7,000 in total for the deed. 

In May 2022, Russell started having phone conversations with the agent she thought was a hitman. One of those conversations mentioned in the release, reads as follows: 

Hitman:  Obviously you want [R.C.] killed, right, . . . ?

Russell:  I want him to be completely gone from my life, yes . . . .

Hitman:  Well I mean that can be in the Bahamas, but I don’t think we’re talking a vacation away. I think we’re talking in the ground.

Russell:  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?  

Hitman:  It really depends on, I mean, price dictates. That’s just how that goes. The more work I got to do, the more it’s going to cost you, but it could be, do you want it to look like a suicide? Do you want it to . . .

Russell:  Yes, that would be amazing.

Prosecutors said Russell was caught on surveillance video placing $3,500 in a specimen box in front of her office so that the hitman could collect his fee. Court filings indicated Russell agreed to pay the other half once the job was done.

The purported hitman drove to Louisville from Illinois and was videotaped as he picked up the payment. The FBI arrested Russell the next day.   

What is the sentence Stephanie Russell faces? 

Russell faces up to 15 years in prison, but a plea agreement suggests a sentence of 97 to 144 months; a maximum fine of $500,000 and three years of supervised release, reports Fox56News.

The judge accepted Russell’s guilty plea but will review the case further before deciding on the punishment. Russell will be sentenced by Hale on July 31.