'Hitman' trial of Louisville pediatrician won't start next month as planned
The trial of a pediatrician charged with hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband, which was set to begin Feb. 13, has been delayed indefinitely so that the government can arrange a mental evaluation of the defendant, Dr. Stephanie Russell.
The FBI charged Russell, a board certified pediatrician embroiled in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, in May with using interstate facilities in the commission of a murder for hire.
The man whom she allegedly agreed to pay $6,000 for the job — including $3,500 she left for him in the sample collection box outside her Norton Commons office — turned out to be an FBI undercover employee.
Russell, 53, who could be sentenced to up to 10 years if convicted, has been held without bail since her arrest and a ruling by a U.S. magistrate judge that she posed a risk of absconding with the couple’s two children and a danger to her former husband, Rick Crabtree, a financial adviser who was a vice president at Morgan Stanley.
The defense already has subjected Russell to a mental examination, which was conducted in the federal courthouse and in the Oldham County jail, where she is incarcerated.
The prosecution wants to send her to a federal prison for its exam, but her lawyers, Mike Mazzolli and Scott C. Cox, told U.S. District Judge David Hale it would be unfair to send her out of state to a prison when she hasn’t been convicted of anything.
Hale said he would rule later on the issue, delaying the trial. He did not set a new trial date.
The report of the defense evaluation will be filed under seal.
But in granting Crabtree permanent custody of the children, a Jefferson Family Court judge found Russell had fabricated abuse allegations against her ex-husband and had been diagnosed with a “personality disorder with narcissistic and anti-social traits.”
The allegation that Russell wanted Crabtree dead first emerged in 2018, when one of the couple’s nannies said Russell asked her to meet at a McDonald’s and told her she needed to "get rid of Rick."
In an affidavit filed later in court, former nanny Kim Steinbock said Russell asked about a week later if she knew any "really bad people" and how to get a silencer for a gun. Steinbock said she realized then that Russell was looking to have Crabtree killed.
About a week after that, Steinbock said in the sworn statement, Russell said she had "found someone" but still needed a "broker" to make the arrangements.
For subscribers:The hitman chronicles: 9 cases of murder for hire in Kentucky and Southern Indiana
Steinbock said she heard nothing more from Russell, but decided she needed to tell Crabtree of his then-wife's intentions because “I feared for his safety,” as well as her own.
The allegations were discovered by police when Louisville Metro Police Department's Crimes Against Children Unit was investigating Russell's claim that Crabtree had abused the children.
LMPD referred the case to the FBI, which was unable to substantiate the murder-for-hire claim and discontinued its investigation.
But on March 28, 2022, the investigation was revived after a private investigator alerted the FBI that Russell also had asked two employees in her medical practice to help her find a hitman.
One of them kept screenshots of text messages from Russell with her requests. In one, Russell asked for assistance in "delivering Christmas flowers" to her ex — her code for having him killed, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Mariola Hernandez.
Russell initially agreed to pay $4,000 for the hit but then agreed to throw in $1,000 more if it was done before Dec. 12.
One of the nurses, identified as Confidential Witness-2, said Russell wanted Crabtree dead so she could have sole custody of their children.
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One of Russell’s lawyers said she never had hurt anyone, but Magistrate Judge Regina Edwards order her detained pending trial.
Russell operated Kidz Life Pediatrics at Norton Commons, but the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has temporarily suspended her from practice.
Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Hitman trial of Louisville pediatrician won't start as planned
