LOUISVILLE, Ky. —
Court documents show that a Louisville pediatrician was involved in a years-long custody battle with her ex-husband before she was arrested for trying to hire a hit man to kill him.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Stephanie Russell, 52, contacted someone she believed she was hiring to kill her former spouse on May 15.
The "hitman" was actually an FBI Undercover Employee, the DOJ said.
They said Russell agreed to pay $7,000 for the hit, and on May 18, Russell placed $3,500 outside of her medical office in a dropbox as half of the payment, agreeing to pay the other half once the murder took place.
Court documents show Dr. Stephanie Russell made claims that her ex-husband was abusing her and her oldest child — claims that were found to be unsubstantiated.
"I felt like I was swinging in a tennis match, swinging at all these balls and they just kept coming and a lot of work went in by Laurel in family court fending off the EPO'S and the frivolous motions and then we were really busy meeting with crimes against children," her ex-husband's lawyer John Harralson said. "I'm trying to subpoena phone records for this weird phone that was calling and I'm giving those records to police."
The documents show that after an 18 month investigation into the claims of abuse, Russell was found to be lying.
Russell operated KidzLife Pediatrics in Norton Commons and lost custody of her children in 2020. She was only allowed supervised visits.
The court-appointed...
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