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Beloved Lady Kid Doc Hires Hitman After Losing Custody · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece, a beloved female pediatrician now
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Speaker 1: facing serious fallony charges of what hiring a hit man? Yes,
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Speaker 1: this so called beloved family doctor, a pediatrician that has
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Speaker 1: literally ministered to thousands and thousands of children, is now
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Speaker 1: charged with hiring a hit man to commit murder. I mean, Nancy, Grace,
0:48
Speaker 1: this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us
0:50
Speaker 1: here at Fox Nation and Serious M one eleven. You know,
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Speaker 1: when I take my children to the pediatrician, number one,
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Speaker 1: I don't leave the room, but number two, I got
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Speaker 1: to trust that doctor. I've got to trust that doctor
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Speaker 1: with my children's life. And you know what, we have
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Speaker 1: a lady doctor. We have a lady doctor. And she's
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Speaker 1: so warm, and she's motherly and empathetic and sympathetic and
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Speaker 1: talks to you for a long time to the point
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Speaker 1: where I'm thinking, I know she's got other patients. How
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Speaker 1: can she be spending this much time with my twins?
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Speaker 1: Because she loves children, right, That's the way this doctor is.
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Speaker 1: So how does that compete with hiring a hitman to
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Speaker 1: commit a murder? Again? Welcome, this is Crime Stories. I mean,
1:47
Speaker 1: see Grace, and I want to thank you for being
1:48
Speaker 1: with us here at Fox Nation in series six one eleven.
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Speaker 1: Let's Go, Jackie Hit It. Doctor Stephanie Russell is of
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Speaker 1: a loved pediatrician with over three thousand patients in her practice.
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Speaker 1: Kid's Life Pediatric's website shows a child's dream office think
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Speaker 1: Disney overload with promises of things like a live finding
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Speaker 1: Nemo fish tank. Russell, a graduate from the University of
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Speaker 1: Louisville School of Medicine, has been a licensed doctor for
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Speaker 1: nearly twenty five years. I wanted you to hear that
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Speaker 1: because that is exactly what the twins pediatrician's office looks like.
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Speaker 1: They have these giant They look real, but they are
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Speaker 1: three D pictures of fish tanks with the finding Nemo
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Speaker 1: fish swimming around, and tons of books for children of
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Speaker 1: all ages, just everything a child or even a twin
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Speaker 1: would want to keep them amused and their mind off
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Speaker 1: the fact they're probably about to get a shot. That's
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Speaker 1: what I thought of when I learned about this woman,
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Speaker 1: doctor Stephanie Russell. Now you heard about her kid friendly workspace,
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Speaker 1: her office, well listen to. Russell and her ex husband
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Speaker 1: Morgan Stanley, financial planner Rick Crabtree, have been in a
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Speaker 1: contentious custody battle for over two years. Allegations of abuse
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Speaker 1: were leveled against the husband, and allegations of a murder
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Speaker 1: plot levied against Stephanie Russell. In twenty nineteen, a detective
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Speaker 1: with the Louisville Metro Police Department was assigned to investigate Crabtree.
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Speaker 1: During that investigation, Crabtree told the detective that Russell wanted
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Speaker 1: him dead so that she could take full custody of
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Speaker 1: their two children. Crabtree's attorney gave police a sworn statement
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Speaker 1: from the couple's former nanny which said that she identified
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Speaker 1: as KS, had been approached by doctor Russell on multiple
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Speaker 1: occasions about getting rid of Crabtree. Ks assumed Russell was
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Speaker 1: joking until Russell specifically asked if Ks knew really bad people.
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Speaker 1: The FBI interviewed various people about the plot, but none
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Speaker 1: could colloborate Crabtree's allegations, and the case was closed soon
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Speaker 1: after Russell's claims of abuse were found to be unsubstantiated.
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Speaker 1: Crabtree was awarded custody of the children, with Russell getting
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Speaker 1: twice weekly supervised visits. Well, there's nothing to clinch your
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Speaker 1: custody case like trying to hire a hitman. With me
4:15
Speaker 1: and All Star panel to make sense of what we
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Speaker 1: know right now about this beloved female pediatrician out of Kentucky.
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Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, family lawyer joining us out of North Carolina.
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Speaker 1: She's at NC Domestic Law dot com. Renowned psychologists joining
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Speaker 1: us from Manhattan. Karen Stark at Karen Stark dot com.
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Speaker 1: That's Karen with a see Paul Zike special guests joining us.
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Speaker 1: Former police commander and Albuquerque author of Stop Him From
4:43
Speaker 1: Killing Them on Amazon. You can find him on Twitter
4:48
Speaker 1: at Workplace Threat. But first to Alexis Terreschuck, crime online
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Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter. You were just hearing from our
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Speaker 1: friends at crime Online. But alexis Terreschuk, let's to start
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Speaker 1: with hiring a hitman. I mean, I know we're going
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Speaker 1: to have to backtrack and talk about this mom losing
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Speaker 1: custody of her children. And you know what, you gotta
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Speaker 1: bend over backwards and do some sort of a contortion
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Speaker 1: for a mother to lose custody. Okay, we all know
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Speaker 1: that alexis terres Chuck, you have a baby, as I
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Speaker 1: like to call him, I have a baby. And as
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Speaker 1: many times as I would probably like to do my husband, harm,
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Speaker 1: I would never jeopardize being with the twins ever. Never. Plus,
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Speaker 1: I mean, you know David, he's very lovable. So Alexis Treschuk,
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Speaker 1: How do we get to hiring a hitman? What evidence
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Speaker 1: is there that she, this beloved pediatrician wanted to hire
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Speaker 1: a hitman? Now? What did I hear about coworkers? She
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Speaker 1: actually tried to hire a hitman two different times. The
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Speaker 1: first time she kept talking to her nanny, the couple,
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Speaker 1: the couple headed nanny, her husband, No, the pediatrician cousin,
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Speaker 1: Alexis Holton. Just a moment. I mean, really, Kathleen Murphy,
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Speaker 1: you want to hire a hitman? Murder, bloody, stinking, gooey,
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Speaker 1: sticky murder, and you go to of course, hitman Central.
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Speaker 1: You're nanny, really stupidest, stupidest, stupidest booth. Ever, this woman
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Speaker 1: has a medical degree. She is not an idiot. She's
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Speaker 1: got a practice of about three thousand children. She's rolling
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Speaker 1: in money. What a nanny. She's not stupid. Clearly she's
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Speaker 1: a Psychopathlet she thinks that her she's not connected. Obviously
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Speaker 1: she's missing some links. I don't know how Okay, Now,
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Speaker 1: when you say she's not connected to me. That means
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Speaker 1: you don't know anybody, any gang or a mom. If
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Speaker 1: you're not connected, what do you mean she's not connected mentally,
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Speaker 1: she's not all there. For her to be able to
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Speaker 1: think that nobody is going to speak about this is ludicrous.
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Speaker 1: Everybody loves to talk, especially if there's a custody trial
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Speaker 1: and they want to share the gossip, which they do,
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Speaker 1: and they will come into court. And that's exactly what
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Speaker 1: this nanny did. She came into court and gave a
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Speaker 1: deposition and spoke about how she had come to her
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Speaker 1: and approached her with a murder for hire. Wish you know,
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Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, I was expecting a little more from you.
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Speaker 1: Then she's not connected. Guys, hold on just a moment.
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear. I'm looking for proof, because
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Speaker 1: it's going to take a lot of proof from me
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Speaker 1: to believe that this mom, this mother, this beloved pediatrician
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Speaker 1: that has a client list of over three thousand children
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Speaker 1: that everybody loved, They all love her, would try to
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Speaker 1: commit murder. And that's what hiring him, man is, You're
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Speaker 1: commanding murder. In fact, it's even worse under the criminal
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Speaker 1: Code because murder for hire is an aggravating circumstance under
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Speaker 1: which the state can seek the death penalty. That is
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Speaker 1: not true. And every barbrawl that ends into death, but
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Speaker 1: this is murder with a pecuniary or money interest involved,
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Speaker 1: and that is taken even more seriously by the criminal codes.
8:28
Speaker 1: Take a less in hour cut seven see our friends
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Speaker 1: at w LKY. New documents show Russell used the code
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Speaker 1: flowers and text messages when discussing the murder with two
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Speaker 1: nurses at her practice. One of the employees told Russell
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Speaker 1: in December she knew someone who would commit the crime.
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Speaker 1: According to text messages, Russell wanted the murder to take
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Speaker 1: place before Christmas. Documents show when that employee told Russell
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Speaker 1: the alleged hitmen had died and couldn't commit the hit.
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Speaker 1: Russell then asked if the employee would pull the trigger themselves.
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Speaker 1: That employee said no and soon after left the practice.
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Speaker 1: I guess so, I guess she did leave the practice.
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Speaker 1: I mean Paul Zeye, former police commander in Albuquerque and author.
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in one
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Speaker 1: nanny that said, yeah, she told me she wanted her
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Speaker 1: husband dead. Did I know anybody that could kill him? No?
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Speaker 1: That's not enough to make a case. But now I
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Speaker 1: have an employee that says she was approached by the defendant,
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Speaker 1: the female pediatrician, and when that hitman didn't work out,
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Speaker 1: she asked, well, could you do it yourself? Can you
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Speaker 1: kill him? Well, the woman or man says no and
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Speaker 1: leaves the practice. Now we're cooking with gas, Paul Zeye,
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Speaker 1: Now I feel like we might have an investigation going.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely when you reach a pointed an investigation where you
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Speaker 1: have collaborative witnesses that have direct evidence things that they've
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Speaker 1: seen themselves or heard themselves, who have nothing to gain
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Speaker 1: from the situation. By telling the truth absolutely, you now
10:17
Speaker 1: are starting to build a foundation to move this case forward. Again,
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Speaker 1: one witness, an ear witness with no further corroboration. That's
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Speaker 1: not going to convince a Jerry. You gotta work this
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Speaker 1: case harder. But then another witness appears, an employee Crime
10:52
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace Karen Stark joining me, a New
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Speaker 1: York psychologist. Of course, the person left the practice because
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Speaker 1: not only does she pressure the employee to find a hitman,
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Speaker 1: find a hitman, then the hitman goes and dies. Did
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Speaker 1: she ask the employee to pull the trigger for Pete's
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Speaker 1: sake too. Two of the nurses that work for her, Nancy,
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Speaker 1: she had a code with them. Oh, I forgot that part.
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Speaker 1: She used the code word flowers and takes messages when
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Speaker 1: discussing the murder. And you're right, Karen, starting not one
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Speaker 1: but two nurses, we're talking about murder, and you know, Nancy,
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Speaker 1: that's how in these kind of situations they get caught
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Speaker 1: all the time because who do they know that they
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Speaker 1: can turn to To find somebody to do away with
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Speaker 1: the person they're trying to kill, they have to go
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Speaker 1: to people that are close to them because they're not
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Speaker 1: associating with people that would be hitman. But the irony
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Speaker 1: here is, though, Karen Stark, I mean, you're a healthcare professional.
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Speaker 1: You're asking a nurse who I know, doctor have to
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Speaker 1: take the Hippocratic oath where you vow to quote do
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Speaker 1: no harm, and I assume nurses take a similar oath.
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Speaker 1: You're asking a nurse, not one, but two nurses to
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Speaker 1: murder somebody. I mean, that's hard for me to believe,
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Speaker 1: which I'm actually starting to buy into. Kathleen Murphy zany
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Speaker 1: dare I say it. She's a veteran trial lawyer tough
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Speaker 1: as nails that she's quote not connected. I mean, Karen Stark,
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Speaker 1: how many times have we talked about that idiot O. J.
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Speaker 1: Simpson about a million and the possibility that it was
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Speaker 1: all just a big police cover up. Do you really think,
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Speaker 1: Karen Stark, that all those cops have stayed quiet, silent,
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Speaker 1: quiet as the grave for all these years when they
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Speaker 1: could have sold out for a big book deal and
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Speaker 1: made millions of dollars in granting movie rights if there
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Speaker 1: had been a cover up, if there had been a conspiracy.
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Speaker 1: People cannot keep their yap shut. We've discussed a million times,
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Speaker 1: Karen start for whatever reason, so there's no way these
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Speaker 1: nurses were not going to blab. Well, of course, that's
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Speaker 1: the whole point, Nancy. I mean, there's no judgment involved
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Speaker 1: in this, and no conscience, as we know, because not
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Speaker 1: thinking twice about the idea of killing somebody. I mean
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Speaker 1: that that's somebody who could you know, just go point
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Speaker 1: to somebody in the street and say, why don't we
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Speaker 1: shoot them? Because she has no conscience, it doesn't matter,
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Speaker 1: and her judgment is so us it's a little scary
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Speaker 1: because she's a medical professional. People will talk Karen start.
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Speaker 1: You've been with me from the beginning when I dreamed
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Speaker 1: of a family, and then when I got pregnant. I
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Speaker 1: think you were in on the secret for several months
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Speaker 1: before other people are you. I mean, I would want
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Speaker 1: to kill anybody that got between me and the twins,
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Speaker 1: but I certainly wouldn't say it out loud. Beats like,
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Speaker 1: but I mean nothing, Nothing could make me more angry
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Speaker 1: than if this were to happen to me. Take a
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Speaker 1: listen to our cut one a our friends at w
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Speaker 1: l k Y. Russell lost custody of her children in
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty and was only allowed supervised visits. The documents
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Speaker 1: also explain her ex husband's concerns about safety, saying he
14:38
Speaker 1: testified that Russell had quote main statements that she would
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Speaker 1: kill him in his sleep. That concern was also echoed
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Speaker 1: by a quarter pointed doctor who stated Russell could quote
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Speaker 1: escalate her behavior and presents a high risk for violence,
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Speaker 1: with the doctor phrasing it as quote I'm comfortably high.
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Speaker 1: Harrolson believes the evidence was mounting against Russell. They finally
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Speaker 1: did a war on her phone and found text messages
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Speaker 1: that or other evidence that corroborated the first attempt to
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Speaker 1: hire a headman. They found all these videos in the
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Speaker 1: phone where she was having the kids practice making false
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Speaker 1: allegations against If they didn't say it right, she'd start
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Speaker 1: over again. So she turned these videos over to authorities,
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Speaker 1: but all the failed videos were still on her phone. Oh,
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Speaker 1: dear Lord in heaven. This is a medical doctor that
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Speaker 1: graduated with high grades at the Louisville Medical School, and
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Speaker 1: she kept the videos on her phone of her children
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Speaker 1: practicing a script accusing their dad of wrongdoing. Wow, I'm
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Speaker 1: drinking from the fire hijrah here, I just don't even know.
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Speaker 1: It's more than I could take at once. I don't
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Speaker 1: know where to start, but I'm going to start at
15:57
Speaker 1: the beginning of what you were hearing from our friends
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Speaker 1: at Belky. First of all, she loses soul custody. She
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Speaker 1: lost custody of her children and only got supervised visits.
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Speaker 1: First of all, let me start there to you, Kathleen Murphy,
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Speaker 1: family lawyer joining us out of North Carolina, explain what
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Speaker 1: is a supervised visit. Typically, a supervised visitor is professionally supervised.
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Speaker 1: There are people that are paid and they can report
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Speaker 1: to the court any violations of the conditions of the
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Speaker 1: supervision and typically there for short periods of time. There
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Speaker 1: are two types of supervised visitation locations. One can be
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Speaker 1: a supervised visitation center and the children are inside and
16:44
Speaker 1: it's pretty weird. But the other one is where people
16:47
Speaker 1: will go to public parks or libraries or museums or
16:53
Speaker 1: swim pools and the parents can have more of a
16:56
Speaker 1: normal experience with their children. My understanding is that the
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Speaker 1: woman that doctor in question here had supervised visitation at
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Speaker 1: her office, which could be okay since the children may
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Speaker 1: have been familiar with the location, but it was inside
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Speaker 1: and it was only two times a week, which is
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Speaker 1: really really a harsh type of supervised visitation order. It's
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Speaker 1: a harsh order supervised visits. Kathleen Murphy joining me out
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Speaker 1: of North Carolina is the case of Josh Powell. Rang
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Speaker 1: a bell to you. Yes, the social worker was bringing
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Speaker 1: the children though to his house where he had control.
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Speaker 1: And that's why they do the supervised centers, and people
17:47
Speaker 1: are padded down and they have to go through a security.
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Speaker 1: They not rather to bring gifts and they are very controlled.
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Speaker 1: And for Josh Powell to be able to have those
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Speaker 1: children supervised by soul shore worker at his own home
18:02
Speaker 1: may have been a stale mistake, was a fatal mistake.
18:05
Speaker 1: Josh Powell murdered his two little boys during a supervised
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Speaker 1: visit because the social worker let the children run into
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Speaker 1: the home and then Josh Powell slammed the door, hacked
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Speaker 1: them with an axe, and set the home on fire
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Speaker 1: and blew up the home. He had already murdered their mother,
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Speaker 1: Susan Cox. Powell. Cox never did anything about it, even
18:29
Speaker 1: though the boys drew pictures of mommy in a trunk
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Speaker 1: the car trunk with the boys and dad driving the car.
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Speaker 1: That's a whole other can of worms. No doubt that
18:44
Speaker 1: he murdered his wife, but he was never prosecuted, so
18:48
Speaker 1: he was still out and somehow got supervised of visits
18:51
Speaker 1: with his children. That's what a supervised visit is. You're
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Speaker 1: either sitting in the room with a court official why
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Speaker 1: watching you with your children, or you are somewhere in
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Speaker 1: public like a park or a McDonald's, or in this case,
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Speaker 1: the pediatrician could only have two supervised visits a week
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Speaker 1: with her children. Karen Stark, do you know how crazy
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Speaker 1: that would make me? Even when I have to go
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Speaker 1: out of town to travel, which I have to do
19:21
Speaker 1: a lot for various criminal investigations. I go crazy. I
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Speaker 1: have a rule. I try to never stay away over
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Speaker 1: one night. The children are fine, Karen start because when
19:31
Speaker 1: I'm not at home they get to order pizza and
19:34
Speaker 1: watch TV during dinner while holding their cell phone staring
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Speaker 1: at it. See, none of that would happen with if
19:41
Speaker 1: I were home. Absolutely not. It's veggies around the table
19:45
Speaker 1: where you interact. You say a prayer first, and you
19:49
Speaker 1: talk about your day and your next day or anything
19:52
Speaker 1: else you happen to think of. Oh all that just
19:54
Speaker 1: goes to hell in a handbasket if I go out
19:56
Speaker 1: of town. But they're fine. It's me. I suffer, hate
20:00
Speaker 1: it to be away from the children. Can you even
20:03
Speaker 1: imagine you didn't like that from the very beginning, Nancy,
20:07
Speaker 1: right from the start, you would not spend a night
20:09
Speaker 1: away from them. Awful. It's I can attest to that
20:12
Speaker 1: appruciating and I mean, finally, by the end of it,
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Speaker 1: my son I do yet another Facei'm He's like, hi, Mom,
20:21
Speaker 1: this is like the faceside we've done. But anyway, how
20:28
Speaker 1: mad do you think this mom is? She's so smart,
20:33
Speaker 1: she's so educated, and somehow she's painted herself into the
20:37
Speaker 1: corner of two supervised visits a week at her office
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Speaker 1: with her children. That's it. And that's because she's a
20:46
Speaker 1: danger to those children. Nancy, She's not am I'm asking
20:50
Speaker 1: you how mad did that make her? I'm just making
20:53
Speaker 1: me madges saying it. Obviously she was mad to begin with.
20:58
Speaker 1: She was right right from this start. Who's jumping in
21:03
Speaker 1: This is Kathleen Murphy. And she was mad that she
21:06
Speaker 1: had supervised visitation. But as Karen said, she was mad
21:09
Speaker 1: before that. She was crazy before that, and that's what Look,
21:13
Speaker 1: do you know, you're you, of all people, Kathleen Murphy
21:16
Speaker 1: cannot throw around the term crazy at at will willy nilly.
21:22
Speaker 1: Crazy means something under the lawn to the old McNaughton
21:25
Speaker 1: test that we brought over to our country from Great Britain,
21:29
Speaker 1: all right, it means did you know right from wrong
21:32
Speaker 1: at the time of the act? That is crazy, That
21:36
Speaker 1: is insane. She clearly knew what she was doing was wrong.
21:40
Speaker 1: But that was the beginning of what we learned from
21:42
Speaker 1: our friends at w LK Y Time Stories with Nancy Grace.
22:09
Speaker 1: She was reduced to two supervised visits a week at
22:15
Speaker 1: her office. But then we go on to a court
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Speaker 1: appointed doctor who stated her behavior escalated and the doctor
22:25
Speaker 1: found it was quote uncomfortably high that Russell would spin
22:32
Speaker 1: out after these text messages were found on her phone
22:36
Speaker 1: and the videos, Alexis Treshak tell me about the videos
22:40
Speaker 1: on her phone, was she trying to frame the husband?
22:43
Speaker 1: So yes, as their divorce began, she accused her husband
22:47
Speaker 1: of sexually abusing the children. They were really young, because
22:50
Speaker 1: at this point now I think they are four and two,
22:52
Speaker 1: So this is a couple years ago, their little babies.
22:55
Speaker 1: And she had videos, she'd taken videos on her phone
22:59
Speaker 1: of them that she gave to the authorities where the
23:02
Speaker 1: children explained how they had been abused by the dad
23:05
Speaker 1: in little kid Verdens. But also on the phone were
23:09
Speaker 1: videos where she was coaching the children. So she would
23:12
Speaker 1: say to the little child, the little child Wood would
23:15
Speaker 1: give a statement, you know, this is what happened to me.
23:18
Speaker 1: Daddy did this to me. And she's wait, wait, you're
23:19
Speaker 1: not You're not doing it right. Let's back up, let's
23:21
Speaker 1: try again. Have to say it this dear lord and
23:23
Speaker 1: her and so she had videos. She didn't even delete
23:25
Speaker 1: those videos, they were still on her phone of her
23:28
Speaker 1: prompting the children and leaving them and making them say
23:30
Speaker 1: these things. So that was also given to the judge,
23:33
Speaker 1: Paul Zeke joining me former police commander and Albuquerque and author,
23:38
Speaker 1: I'll stop him from killing them on Amazon. Man, the
23:43
Speaker 1: cops just got handed a case on a silver platter.
23:47
Speaker 1: You might as well put that on top of the
23:48
Speaker 1: Christmas tree and open it up on Christmas morning. To
23:52
Speaker 1: have all that. One search of her phone reveals all
23:55
Speaker 1: that A lot of harder. Usually we don't have things
23:59
Speaker 1: served up to us so easily. We've got tons of
24:02
Speaker 1: software investigative means to find things that have been a race,
24:05
Speaker 1: but things that are actually still on the phone, Phones
24:08
Speaker 1: that are still you know, literally just have the data there.
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Speaker 1: You just have to look for it. We don't get
24:14
Speaker 1: it so easily, especially when you're looking at something as
24:17
Speaker 1: serious as this. And I think that speaks to another
24:20
Speaker 1: point that she just literally, you know, the whole the
24:25
Speaker 1: whole issue of having restricted access to her children. And
24:28
Speaker 1: we've seen this in cases with domestic violence and stalking
24:32
Speaker 1: over the years, is that that's a conduct inhibitor. It's
24:35
Speaker 1: something that makes people go a little more out of
24:38
Speaker 1: their mind, a little more extreme, and take more risk.
24:41
Speaker 1: To do harm. What did you call that? A conduct inhibitor?
24:46
Speaker 1: A conduct inhibitor, that's one of the things in like
24:49
Speaker 1: that that are that's things that I have a list
24:52
Speaker 1: of them in my book that when you remove them
24:54
Speaker 1: from rational people or even irrational people, and especially and
25:00
Speaker 1: you remove them in groups you know, like custody status
25:03
Speaker 1: in the community, you know, ability to take care of
25:05
Speaker 1: your children, you know, upcoming restraining restraining order hearings. There's
25:09
Speaker 1: a whole list of them that in my you know,
25:12
Speaker 1: ten years of work in those cases that I found
25:15
Speaker 1: caused people to do unexpected things. Right, you're starting to
25:18
Speaker 1: sound like the crazy old guys in trading places, you know.
25:22
Speaker 1: With adding Martine, Essentially you take away somebody's money, their credit,
25:26
Speaker 1: their home, their family, their loved ones, their status, their position,
25:31
Speaker 1: and they start committing crimes. Okay, dan Ackroy did not
25:35
Speaker 1: start Actually he did start committing crimes, never mind. So
25:38
Speaker 1: you're saying conduct inhibitors are when you take away what
25:43
Speaker 1: people value the most, they are more likely to commit
25:48
Speaker 1: a crime. Is that what you're saying? Paul's like absolutely
25:50
Speaker 1: not just a crime, especially a crime of passion, a
25:53
Speaker 1: crime where you you know, you somebody gets stabbed fifty
25:57
Speaker 1: eight times instead of twice. That are really out of
26:01
Speaker 1: the box things that you know, people go there. They
26:04
Speaker 1: were such a quiet, you know, neighbor quiet to this
26:06
Speaker 1: and that, and then we didn't expect any of this. Well,
26:09
Speaker 1: you remove enough conduct inhibitors from people, and you can
26:13
Speaker 1: just about get anybody to do anything if you remove
26:16
Speaker 1: enough of them, especially if it's done quickly. Paul Zyke
26:19
Speaker 1: is with me and he's saying that this information is
26:22
Speaker 1: in his book stop him from killing them on Amazon.
26:27
Speaker 1: You know, I see what you're saying, and I think
26:28
Speaker 1: you're right, Paul Zyke. You take away the chance of
26:33
Speaker 1: her being with her children, and she goes haywire. But
26:39
Speaker 1: when was it, Alexis Treschuk, was it before or after
26:43
Speaker 1: she lost It had to be before she lost custody
26:45
Speaker 1: that she was getting the children to create these videos
26:48
Speaker 1: accusing their dad of sex mostation, it was before she
26:50
Speaker 1: lost custody. That was their divorce started, and that would
26:54
Speaker 1: her attempt to have full custody of the children. Oh okay,
26:58
Speaker 1: I see what she means. She was threatened with losing
27:01
Speaker 1: custody as she started doing these videos. So Paul zikes
27:05
Speaker 1: theory dot conduct inhibitors is actually correct in this case. Guys,
27:10
Speaker 1: take a listen to our cut for our friends a wave.
27:14
Speaker 1: Russell was the one to lose custody in twenty twenty
27:17
Speaker 1: after a court appointed representative for the children claimed she
27:20
Speaker 1: was coaching the kids into making allegations about her ex husband,
27:24
Speaker 1: and in May twenty eighteen that she tried to hire
27:27
Speaker 1: a hitman to kill him. According to court records, Russell's
27:31
Speaker 1: attorney called the allegation preposterous in a lawsuit against the judge,
27:35
Speaker 1: writing in this complaint there have never been any criminal charges.
27:39
Speaker 1: They would come four years later, when the FED set
27:42
Speaker 1: up a sting on May fifteenth, twenty twenty two. Officials
27:45
Speaker 1: say Russell reached out to a hitman and agreed to
27:48
Speaker 1: pay him seven thousand dollars to kill her ex husband.
27:51
Speaker 1: On May eighteenth, Officers say she put half the cash
27:54
Speaker 1: in her dropbox at her office and promised to pay
27:57
Speaker 1: the rest once the murder was complete. According to records,
28:00
Speaker 1: the next day, she was behind bars because agents say
28:04
Speaker 1: the person Russell thought was a hitman was an undercover cop.
28:08
Speaker 1: Of course he was. You can't swing a stick around
28:13
Speaker 1: your head without hitting an FBI agent posing as a hitman. Oh, so,
28:19
Speaker 1: not only does she leave the videos on her phone,
28:23
Speaker 1: coaching her children to make claims of sex moallestation by dad,
28:28
Speaker 1: reach out to her nanny and two of her nurses
28:31
Speaker 1: in her practice to hire a hitman or commit the
28:35
Speaker 1: murder themselves. It just keeps getting worse. Now, what did
28:40
Speaker 1: I hear about a previous attempt to hire a hitman?
28:45
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our friends at crime online dot
28:48
Speaker 1: com our cut seven g. The investigation into a second
28:52
Speaker 1: murder for Higher Plant came after a Louisville Metro detective
28:56
Speaker 1: contacted the FBI. The detective had been contacted by local
29:00
Speaker 1: private investigator who had potential information, and that information came
29:05
Speaker 1: from someone who worked at Kids Life Pediatrics. The PI
29:09
Speaker 1: learned Russell had approached several employees about killing her ex husband,
29:13
Speaker 1: and then the PI urged the employee to contact the FBI.
29:17
Speaker 1: The informant met with agents, saying that Russell had been
29:20
Speaker 1: asking for help in killing Crabtree for the last ten months.
29:24
Speaker 1: One of the nurses provided screenshots of text conversations with
29:28
Speaker 1: her boss, doctor Stephanie Russell, discussing delivery of Christmas flowers.
29:33
Speaker 1: Russell's code word for murder. A screenshot of the exchange
29:37
Speaker 1: in part went like this, are you still looking for flowers?
29:41
Speaker 1: I actually do need flowers. Russell replied, Oh nice, Can
29:44
Speaker 1: I drop by your house tonight Tomorrow night, Friday night, Saturday, Sunday. Ultimately,
29:49
Speaker 1: Russell and the nurse met in person, but the nurse
29:52
Speaker 1: was wired for audio and video courtesy of the FBI. Yeah,
29:56
Speaker 1: you don't want to say no to an FBI agent
29:58
Speaker 1: if possible. I mean Kathleen Murphy joining US veterans trial
30:03
Speaker 1: lawyer out of North Carolina, Kathleen Murphy. So there's not
30:08
Speaker 1: just this attempt to hire hitman. There's another, a first
30:13
Speaker 1: attempt to hire hitman. There were three total attempts in
30:17
Speaker 1: my in my reading, First she wanted the nurse, or
30:22
Speaker 1: at first she wanted her nanny to help her hire hitman.
30:25
Speaker 1: Then the nurse in her practice, and then the second
30:29
Speaker 1: nurse in her practice, because the first nurse said that
30:32
Speaker 1: the hitman that she was going to send her way
30:35
Speaker 1: had died, and then that nurse left the practice, so
30:39
Speaker 1: she went to the second nurse in the practice. I mean,
30:41
Speaker 1: the evidence continues to mount. I'm just curious. Paul Zyke,
30:48
Speaker 1: former police commander in Albuquerque. The FBI must have a
30:52
Speaker 1: whole wing of agents that are posing as hitman. It's
30:57
Speaker 1: something they specialize in. I mean, they're really good at it.
31:00
Speaker 1: It's one of the you know, just like economic crimes
31:02
Speaker 1: type of thing where they can follow the uh you know,
31:05
Speaker 1: the breadcrumbs if you will. Um. A lot of these
31:09
Speaker 1: things cross state lines and um, you know, and generally speaking,
31:14
Speaker 1: there is some complexity to it. But yes, they have
31:17
Speaker 1: a lot of field agents that are highly skilled at this.
31:20
Speaker 1: They're looking, you know, the first time they looked at this,
31:23
Speaker 1: you know, it's not something you see a whole lot
31:26
Speaker 1: of Unfortunately, well I should say fortunately when when it
31:30
Speaker 1: was brought to their attention they kind of closed the case. Well,
31:33
Speaker 1: the second time around, it was enough to get their attention,
31:36
Speaker 1: and they got lucky because if it would have happened
31:39
Speaker 1: after the first time, they would have been you know,
31:42
Speaker 1: left holding the back because they had some of the
31:45
Speaker 1: information before. But obviously the second time they were given
31:48
Speaker 1: the case they grabbed downto it with both hands. That
31:50
Speaker 1: is not giving me a lot of confidence that they
31:52
Speaker 1: just quote, as you said, kind of close the case.
31:55
Speaker 1: The first time you try to hire a hit man, Hey,
31:58
Speaker 1: Alexis Terrez, Chuck, this happens to me at the dentist,
32:02
Speaker 1: and I hope my dentist. Who crazy story, Jackie. He
32:06
Speaker 1: hang them out and he was doing something goes you know,
32:09
Speaker 1: I was on one of your juris right, I'm like
32:13
Speaker 1: then then suddenly it all came rushing back to back.
32:17
Speaker 1: And even remember what he wore as a juror. He
32:20
Speaker 1: wore a ten pullover. It looked like cashmir V neck
32:25
Speaker 1: sweater with a kind of a brown shirt underneath. He's
32:30
Speaker 1: perfectly dressed, perfectly everything. This dentist, he's awesome, but he'll
32:36
Speaker 1: do whatever he's doing. And then it has to wait
32:40
Speaker 1: sometimes and I can sit there, I can't move, I
32:44
Speaker 1: can't get on my phone or anything else. I can
32:47
Speaker 1: hear the dental assistance talking, and they're always talking about
32:53
Speaker 1: like their vacation or this or that. It's never anything incendiary.
32:57
Speaker 1: They're not talking about other patients. They're just passing the time,
33:00
Speaker 1: don't you know. These nurses were all talking about she
33:05
Speaker 1: wants to hire a hit man, she wants to kill Crabtree,
33:10
Speaker 1: the husband. You know, they were all talking about it right, well,
33:14
Speaker 1: and then what they would have had to have done
33:15
Speaker 1: the end of the one says well, I'm so sorry
33:17
Speaker 1: it is a hitman that I tried to get you died.
33:20
Speaker 1: There's nothing like oh my gosh, how was he killed?
33:22
Speaker 1: What happened there? Or anything like that. Like that is
33:24
Speaker 1: also a huge red flag, like did they talk to
33:26
Speaker 1: the nurses talk to each other and say how can
33:28
Speaker 1: we get out of this? And she's like, just tell
33:30
Speaker 1: me died and then you'll get out of it because
33:31
Speaker 1: you think, oh, well, he died, okay. How many people
33:34
Speaker 1: know more than one hit man? It's absolutely crazy, And
33:38
Speaker 1: so she kept doing it again. The first time she
33:41
Speaker 1: was investigated for it, so she must have known that
33:44
Speaker 1: they were on to her, but yet so arrogant, so
33:48
Speaker 1: confident in her own ability to trick law enforcement and
33:51
Speaker 1: the judges and her ex husband who is a very
33:54
Speaker 1: smart finance guy, and that she could still hire a
33:58
Speaker 1: hitman to do it. Can we talk about him from
34:00
Speaker 1: can you imagine how his whole life would have been
34:04
Speaker 1: ruined with these allegations of molesting his own children? I mean,
34:10
Speaker 1: does that bother anybody but me? Kathleen Murphy, you're a
34:14
Speaker 1: family lawyer, and that is certainly a euphemism because family
34:18
Speaker 1: law sounds all cozy, is actually down and dirty. Have
34:22
Speaker 1: you ever seen that where one party tries to get
34:26
Speaker 1: the children to fabricate allegations against the other parent. I do,
34:30
Speaker 1: But Nancy, you know it's worse is when I have
34:32
Speaker 1: a client who believes that there's something going on, and
34:36
Speaker 1: they're damned if they do, and they're damned if they don't,
34:39
Speaker 1: if they don't say anything, and they have these realistic concerns,
34:44
Speaker 1: you know, that's not good. And then if they say something,
34:47
Speaker 1: then they're seen in this light of she's just making
34:50
Speaker 1: it up to get leverage in a custody age. It's
34:53
Speaker 1: very difficult, but people would always wonder did he do it?
34:57
Speaker 1: Did he molest his children? You know, just making a
34:59
Speaker 1: no to talk to you about Kathleen Murphy, high profile
35:03
Speaker 1: lawyer joining me out of North Carolina. To prove a conspiracy,
35:08
Speaker 1: you have to have more than just shop talk. You
35:11
Speaker 1: can't just hey, I want to kill him, you know,
35:13
Speaker 1: a hitman. You have to make what is called under
35:17
Speaker 1: the law and overt act. You actually have to do something,
35:22
Speaker 1: Otherwise you could just say it trial. Yeah. I dreamed
35:25
Speaker 1: about it, I talked about it. I knew it was wrong.
35:27
Speaker 1: I'd never do it. But here she's accused of putting
35:31
Speaker 1: nearly four thousand dollars in a drop box to pay
35:36
Speaker 1: the hitman, and under the law, that is an overt act,
35:40
Speaker 1: is it not. Kathleen Murphy not only putting the money
35:43
Speaker 1: in there, but then giving the individual a code to
35:48
Speaker 1: get in that medical lockbox to retrieve the money. That's
35:53
Speaker 1: how they were able to connect it because they didn't
35:54
Speaker 1: have a video of her during the surveillance of her
35:58
Speaker 1: putting the money in the drop box. But what they
36:01
Speaker 1: had to connect it was that she had provided the
36:03
Speaker 1: code for that individual to remove the money from the
36:07
Speaker 1: job box. And even wiring the nurse still may not.
36:11
Speaker 1: It may have been helpful, but it's still just talk.
36:14
Speaker 1: Does not a conspiracy make? There has to be that
36:17
Speaker 1: over Guys, take a listen to our friend Rachel Drose
36:21
Speaker 1: and our cut six from WHA S and I actually
36:25
Speaker 1: ran into one parent who was here today trying to
36:27
Speaker 1: pick up his children's medical records. She's been their primary
36:30
Speaker 1: caregiver for six years. So it's just freaking It's shocking
36:34
Speaker 1: to say the least, and it's very sad. The FBI
36:38
Speaker 1: arrested doctor Stephanie Russell last night and charged her with
36:41
Speaker 1: trying to hire someone to murder her ex husband. Instead
36:44
Speaker 1: of hiring a hitman, Russell actually hired an undercover FBI employee,
36:49
Speaker 1: according to court filings. The Louisville pediatrician works in the
36:52
Speaker 1: Norton Commons neighborhood at Kids' Life Pediatrics. I know several
36:55
Speaker 1: parents in this area that bring their children here, and
36:59
Speaker 1: like I said, I've only hard positive, wonderful things about them.
37:02
Speaker 1: When I went by there, a handwritten closed sign was
37:04
Speaker 1: posted on the door, and when I tried to call,
37:07
Speaker 1: there was no answer. With doctor Russell, everything was fine,
37:09
Speaker 1: like she was pleasant, she was sweeked, The girls liked
37:14
Speaker 1: her lance. Dueley, the dad trying to pick up his
37:17
Speaker 1: kids medical records, wasn't able to get in touch with anyone.
37:20
Speaker 1: We're right around the corner, and money drop offs were
37:24
Speaker 1: happening right around the corner. Like that freaks us out,
37:28
Speaker 1: I guess, So now I'll take a listen to this.
37:31
Speaker 1: After the arrest, she tried valiantly to get a bond
37:35
Speaker 1: and get out. Don't you know that husband was hiding
37:38
Speaker 1: under his bed. Take a listen to our cut seven
37:40
Speaker 1: b our friends a whas the judge ruled Russell will
37:44
Speaker 1: stay in custody, saying that the evidence presented so far
37:47
Speaker 1: shows she was persistent in her desire to execute that
37:51
Speaker 1: murder for higher plot. Doctor Stephanie Russell faces up to
37:55
Speaker 1: ten years in prison. Court documents show an employee at
37:58
Speaker 1: Russell's pediatric office came for word, saying Russell asked several
38:01
Speaker 1: people to help her find someone to kill her ex husband.
38:05
Speaker 1: Prosecutors argued the nature of the crime and her commitment
38:08
Speaker 1: or reason to keep her in jail. Russell's attorneys argued
38:11
Speaker 1: she'd never been convicted of a crime and needed to
38:13
Speaker 1: be released on home incarceration to keep running her pediatric practice.
38:18
Speaker 1: The judge ultimately said Russell needed to stay in custody,
38:21
Speaker 1: believing she could be a danger. In an affidavit, text
38:24
Speaker 1: between Russell and a witness show her seeking information about
38:27
Speaker 1: hiring a hitman, contacting the witness several times over the
38:30
Speaker 1: course of months. Central to this case as well Russell's
38:34
Speaker 1: contentious divorce, during which she accused her ex husband of abuse.
38:38
Speaker 1: Court documents show and investigation found no evidence, and he
38:41
Speaker 1: was granted custody, a decision that is currently being appealed
38:45
Speaker 1: to You Alexis Terreschuk. Now she's not getting bond as
38:49
Speaker 1: she awaits the resolution of this case. Can you imagine
38:53
Speaker 1: her and that sale oh my goodness, gnashing her teeth
38:58
Speaker 1: and switching her Tell no way is she going to
39:02
Speaker 1: get out on bond. She'll probably go kill the husband.
39:04
Speaker 1: And she is facing like at least ten years in
39:08
Speaker 1: prison for this, at least, oh ten years while you
39:13
Speaker 1: sit in a jail cell while your children grow up
39:16
Speaker 1: without you. Oh that is pure hell. H a double
39:20
Speaker 1: l right there to Alexi's Terrestchuk and the rest of
39:23
Speaker 1: the panel jump in. Remember this is not a tea
39:25
Speaker 1: party at High Grove with Queen Elizabeth. Jump. And when
39:29
Speaker 1: you have a thought, I'm looking at her mug shot
39:31
Speaker 1: and she is actually wearing her scrubs, her doctor's smock.
39:35
Speaker 1: I guess they arrested her right there at her practice.
39:38
Speaker 1: So Alexi's terrestchuck jump. I was gonna ask where the
39:42
Speaker 1: case stands, Alexis, So get that question in your mind.
39:45
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Kathleen. She's facing ten years, but they may
39:49
Speaker 1: be stacking some charges on her because of the fake
39:52
Speaker 1: videos and causing false testimony in court. They can have
39:57
Speaker 1: many more charges on this individual. Aside from the murder
40:01
Speaker 1: for higher pot. The only place she can go because
40:05
Speaker 1: she is caught red handed is depleted some kind of
40:09
Speaker 1: a mother insanity that the thought of losing her children
40:13
Speaker 1: pushed her over the edge. So alexis terresta crime online
40:16
Speaker 1: dot com. Where does the case stand? She is facing
40:20
Speaker 1: an indictment and she is behind bars. She is waiting
40:23
Speaker 1: for the next hearing, and she's not she has been
40:26
Speaker 1: denied vond she did, You were exactly right, she asked.
40:28
Speaker 1: She said, can I go work with my patients? They
40:31
Speaker 1: don't have anyone else to help them, which you heard
40:33
Speaker 1: from the local news reporting patients were showing up thing,
40:36
Speaker 1: I need my kids records, My kids need to see
40:39
Speaker 1: a doctor, and they were having trouble even getting that.
40:42
Speaker 1: But but Joe, she said, no way, You're staying locked
40:44
Speaker 1: up with him bar. She is awaiting indictment, which means
40:48
Speaker 1: that will be put before and and panel to grand jury.
40:52
Speaker 1: We wait as justice unfoalds Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off,
40:58
Speaker 1: Goodbye friend,