When popular vlogger Ruby Franke was arrested for child abuse in August 2023, it quickly became one of the biggest trending stories in America. For years, the Frankes’ YouTube channel had documented a wholesome, happy family life, with nearly 3 million subscribers tuning in at its peak. But happy families are rarely what they seem. Now, a harrowing new three-part Hulu docuseries called Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke unpacks the events leading up to both women’s arrests.
Directed by Olly Lambert, Devil in the Family marks the first time Franke’s eldest children, Shari and Chad, give a detailed account of their stories on camera. The three-part series also includes interviews with Ruby’s estranged husband Kevin, law enforcement officials, and former neighbors of the Franke family. This is the true story behind the fall of Ruby Franke, the once-successful family vlogger turned convicted child abuser.
This documentary isn’t the first on the downfall of Ruby Franke but it is the only documentary that the Franke family themselves - including Ruby’s estranged husband Kevin and her eldest children, 21-year-old Shari and 20-year-old Chad - took part in. Not only did the Franke family take part in the documentary, but they gave the documentarians over 1,000 hours of unseen behind-the-scenes footage of the vlog.
Who is Ruby Franke?
Ruby Franke, 43, is a Mormon mother of six from Springville, Utah. In 2015, Franke started a family vlog on YouTube titled “8 Passengers” where she documented the daily lives of her six children and husband, Kevin Franke. Franke’s channel became enormously popular; as of June 2020, the channel had climbed to around 2.5 million subscribers.
"Ruby's sole ambition was to be seen as the perfect mom,” Kevin Franke says in the series. “That's all she talked about. That's all she focused on. But she wasn't getting enough praise and attention for it. So she decided she was going to create a YouTube channel. And when she sets her mind to something, hell and earth combined could not stop her."
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Even before Franke's arrest in 2023, 8 Passengers had come under intense scrutiny due to Franke's parenting techniques. In June 2020, Franke's then-15-year-old son Chad was filmed saying he had been sleeping on a beanbag chair in the family's basement for seven months as a form of punishment. Other videos showed Franke threatening to take away meals or threatening to cut off the head of one child's teddy bear. Another showed some members of the family opening Christmas presents while the two youngest children were not given any gifts that year.
The docuseries alleges that, according to those around her, Ruby was privately upset about the criticism from viewers. In public, however, she dismissed critics, telling The Wrap in 2021 that she was only demonstrating “what a responsible mother looks like.”
The Influence of Jodi Hildebrandt
Jodi Hildebrandt is a therapist who had her license suspended in 2012 after she reportedly told Mormon church leaders about a patient's "porn addiction." Through the recommendation of a family friend, who attended Hildebrandt's ConneXions curriculum, the Frankes hired Hildebrandt to counsel a then-teenage Chad Franke, who had been acting out at home and in school.
As the Frankes started doing weekly counseling sessions with Hildebrandt, Ruby began training as a coach in ConneXions. She and Hildebrandt also posted to an Instagram account called “Moms of Truth.” Meanwhile, Shari started to research Hildebrandt online and found that the counselor had lost her therapy license and was the subject of numerous complaints by former patients. Ruby shrugged off those concerns, believing Hildebrandt had been sent to the family for a reason.
In August 2021, Hildebrandt moved in with the Frankes; Ruby and Kevin had become convinced that the counselor was under the influence of demonic possession. "Jodi would go into these possessed trances,” Kevin tells filmmakers. “She would start speaking in other voices." Ruby was so concerned that she began sleeping in Hildebrandt’s bedroom.
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Not long after, Ruby instructed Kevin and Chad to move out of their house. Ruby also disowned Shari, who was attending Brigham Young University, after finding out that she had tried to contact Kevin.
Failed Attempts to Intervene
After Kevin moved out, more YouTube viewers and neighbors in Springville began to voice concern about what might be happening in the Frankes’ home. At this point, Ruby appeared to be spending more and more time at Jodi's house in Ivins, leaving the young kids-whose ages ranged approximately between 9 and 15-alone. Shari, who was still in touch with the neighbors, called the police and asked for a welfare check on the kids. However, the police were unable to enter the Franke home without a warrant, which a judge declined to sign off on.
A Change.org petition from May 2020 calling for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to check on the children's wellbeing garnered more than 18,000 signatures. CPC said they were unable to intervene because they could not see any physical signs of abuse on the Franke children, who had been instructed not to answer the door.
At the time, Kevin told filmmakers that he was holding out hope Ruby would let him move back into their home and pledged to respect her no-contact wishes until that point; he even continued to attend the weekly online ConneXions mens’ group led by Hildebrandt.
The Arrest and Aftermath
One day in late August 2023, a worryingly thin 12-year-old boy approached a neighbor’s front door in Ivins, Utah. He rang the doorbell and waited for a response. “I was just wondering if you could do two favors?” the boy asked. “If you could take me to the nearest police station?” A woman walked outside and gave the boy some water, while the man who answered the door called the police to report an “emaciated” child with “tape around his legs” who was “hungry and thirsty.”
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When Ruby and Jodi were arrested, Ruby called Kevin after a year of not speaking to him, asking if he’d pick up their two youngest children at the police station, framing it as a way to “redeem” himself. Upon searching Hildebrandt’s home, police found rope, handcuffs, medical gauze, and a mixture of cayenne pepper and honey in a safe room. They also found a handwritten journal where Ruby had chronicled the day-to-day series of events as she tried to “exorcise” her children.
Both Ruby and Jodi pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. On February 20, 2024, Franke received four consecutive sentences of between one and fifteen years' imprisonment, meaning she must serve a minimum term of four years. Although the maximum term that could be imposed for all sentences would be 60 years, the Utah Code dictates that the time served by a defendant upon whom consecutive sentences are imposed must not exceed 30 years, except in circumstances of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
the truth about family vlogging, from the kids themselves 👀 | Internet Analysis
Where is the Franke Family Today?
On Jan. 7, Shari Franke published a memoir, The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom, which has become a New York Times bestseller. She uses her platform to campaign against family vlogging. She tells filmmakers that she has resolved never to speak to her mother again.
Chad Franke is a social media influencer. In July 2024, Chad posted to Instagram that he’d started attending real estate school.
Shari and Chad’s younger siblings were taken into custody by the Division of Child and Family Services after Ruby’s arrest and have reportedly “undergone medical care and been subjected to psychological assessments and ongoing mental health treatment,” according to a court filing.
Kevin Franke has filed for divorce from Ruby. In Feb. 2025, Kevin cited feelings of “regret” about vlogging his children and asked Utah lawmakers to pass a bill that would protect children financially online. "Vlogging my family, putting my children into public social media, was wrong, and I regret it every day,” Kevin said.
The documentary did an amazing job of explaining the complex story of Ruby Franke; however, there were a few holes that were never filled, such as where the two middle children are and their stories. Aside from that, the editing was very engaging. In this three-part documentary series, it is clear that viewers were being deceived by the Ruby they saw online, as Hulu was given a thousand hours of unedited footage by the Franke family.
In the documentary, Kevin said that in the Latter-day Saint faith, one of the highest callings is becoming a parent. He also said Ruby wanted to be the “perfect mother,” so she thought that by recording daily vlogs of her happy family, she could express the Latter-day Saint faith, making others join.
Here's a summary of the key people involved:
| Name | Role | Current Status |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby Franke | Mother, YouTuber | Incarcerated for child abuse |
| Kevin Franke | Father | Divorced, advocating against family vlogging |
| Shari Franke | Eldest daughter | Author, campaigning against family vlogging |
| Chad Franke | Eldest son | Social media influencer, real estate student |
| Jodi Hildebrandt | Therapist, business partner | Incarcerated for child abuse |
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