Ruby Franke, formerly known for her popular "8 Passengers" YouTube channel, was arrested on August 30, 2023, along with Jodi Hildebrandt in Washington County, Utah. Both were charged with multiple counts of felony aggravated child abuse.
The case has garnered national attention due to the stark contrast between the seemingly idyllic family life presented online and the horrific reality of abuse that was uncovered.
Mommy vlogger Ruby Franke holds a camera with one hand and places her other hand around her son.
The Initial Discovery
The events leading to the arrest began when Franke's 12-year-old son, R, escaped from Hildebrandt's home in Ivins, Utah. He arrived on the doorstep of a neighbor's home. He is 250 miles away from his family home in Springville, Utah.
Newly released Ring camera footage shows the moment R approaches a neighbor's home. The boy's appearance was markedly different from what was shown in the vlogs. He was described by first responders as "stoic" and was markedly thinner, without shoes.
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When the elderly homeowner opens his door, R asks him for a favor: "Can you lead me to the nearest police station?"Investigators told "20/20" they believe that R asked this not so he could receive help, but rather so he could complete the repentance process that his mother and Hildebrandt told him was required to absolve his sins.
The neighbor who met R after his second escape dialing 911 to get help, as his wife steps in to bring R water and a snack. This is when he describes R's condition for the first time: "He has duct tape around each ankle, there's sores around them." His voice breaks with emotion as he continues, "This kid has obviously been - I think he's been, he's been detained. He's obviously covered in wounds."
Newly released Ring camera video shows the moment R approaches a neighbor's home.
Investigation and Evidence Uncovered
That camera video is just one piece of evidence that was released by the Washington County Attorney's office today. This comes 30 days after Franke and her former friend, therapist, and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were each sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Body camera footage captures the moment EMTs arrive at the scene and make their initial assessment of R. "That first look at him," Maddee Ickes, an EMT with Santa Clara-Ivins Fire and Rescue, said, "it just hit that there was something wrong."
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Evidence photos taken by officers that day show the severe open wounds on R's wrists and ankles that were underneath the duct tape. Clarke said the wounds had been dressed in a honey, cayenne pepper mixture.
Santa Clara-Ivins Police Officer Simon Pikyavit said that, upon questioning, R told him that his mom and Hildebrandt had "bound his arms and his feet to weights on the ground" that restricted his movement. Officers later learned that R also had been handcuffed at his wrists and ankles before the duct-tape had been applied.
While R is being treated, he tells officers that two of his siblings are still in Hildebrandt's home. A group of officers, including Pikyavit and Sgt. Nick Tobler, quickly drive down the block to Hildebrandt's home.
Officers enter without a warrant, citing exigent circumstances based on the tip from R that his siblings were still inside the home. They quickly make their way through a maze of multiple bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways. Minutes later, they discover a child with a buzzcut sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor of an empty closet.
"We at first thought it might've been a little boy sitting there," Tobler told Juju Chang, "just staring up at us." The child would not say who they were or how they ended up in Hildebrandt's closet. Hoping R could help identify the child, Tobler called his colleague, Detective Jessica Bate, who was still with R.
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"I began asking R, 'Hey, do you have a little brother?'" Bate told Juju Chang. "He said, 'No, I have a younger sister there." That was when officers realized: the child in the closet was R's sister E - the spunky, youngest Franke child who was known by fans for speaking her mind in the “8 Passengers” videos. But the child that is seen on body camera footage is quiet and reserved. Officers told ABC News that she seemed scared and was initially unwilling to leave her spot on the floor.
E is timid to eat at first, but eventually she eats an entire personal pizza and half of a large one. Finally, after 4 hours, she leaves the closet with the EMTs.
The newly released evidence includes never-before-seen body camera footage, interrogation tapes, crime scene photos and jail calls. It paints a picture of, as Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke describes it, "horrific abuse" perpetrated by both Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke.
Franke chronicles her and Hildebrandt's actions in a journal - a collection of unlined pages covered in neat handwriting. It's a manicured, day-by-day account detailing how the women isolated E and R from the outside world, stripped them of food, water, and shelter, and physically and emotionally abused them.
In her journal, Franke describes the children as "possessed" and refers to the abuse that she and Hildebrandt inflicted on them as their chance at repentance.
Investigators say that R attempted to escape for the first time in July. Before leaving the property, though, Franke writes in her journal that he took the time to spell out in small pebbles: "Jail. I will call when I get there." Forced to sleep outdoors, he’d left the message next to the spot where he had been sleeping on the concrete.
Weiland said this action shows that R was both convinced he needed to be locked up and that whatever he would experience in jail would be better than the conditions at Hildebrandt's home.
The Charges and Sentencing
Franke and Hildebrandt were each charged with six counts of felony child abuse by the Washington County Attorney in Utah. They had previously pleaded guilty to four felony counts of second-degree, aggravated child abuse in December 2023. On February 20, 2024, both women were sentenced to four consecutive one to 15 year sentences, which will be capped at the 30-year max in Utah.
Franke agreed to serve a prison sentence and to serve her respective sentences consecutively rather than concurrently.
Franke was expected to testify against Hildebrandt in Hildebrandt's upcoming trial, but Hildebrandt separately pleaded guilty to four counts of felony aggravated child abuse on December 27, with two charges dropped as part of another plea deal.
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.
Consequences and Aftermath
Following the arrest, Ruby Franke's YouTube channels were removed, and she is no longer allowed to create new accounts. Many have expressed concern for the well-being of the Franke children, even before the arrest.
A Change.org petition from May 2020 called for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to check on the children's wellbeing. It cited punishments that Ruby spoke about in her videos, including taking away bedroom privileges for her eldest son, Chad, and forcing him to sleep on a bean bag chair for months after he pulled a prank on a sibling. That petition garnered more than 18,000 signatures.
Investigators learn that Kevin Franke had moved out of the family home and had not seen his wife or children in over a year. He says that under Hildebrandt's guidance, Ruby Franke had asked him to move out in July 2022.
Nearly seven months later, Kevin Franke is seeking to regain custody of his four minor children, and he's filed for divorce. Kevin officially filed for divorce from the Utah influencer, according to a domestic relations injunction obtained by NBC News.
"20/20" has learned that R and E have been placed in foster care together and Bate told Juju Chang that they are doing much better.
But Chad isn't the only one of Ruby's kids to speak out amid her incarceration. As she described her experience living under the parenting YouTuber's roof, "It felt more like a set than a house."
Ruby and Jodi-who each pled guilty to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse-have not publicly commented on the docuseries. "To my babies, you are a part of me. I believed dark was light and right was wrong," she continued in an address to her kids. "I would do anything in this world for you. "He slithers & sneaks around looking for opportunities when no one is watching & then he scurries," she wrote in an entry from July 10, 2023, which was her son's 12th birthday. "If he wants to emulate the savior, he needs to be 100% obedient with exactness. "
"There were all these rules now placed on me, like I can leave when I want but I couldn't come back until Ruby gave me permission," Kevin said in an audio clip obtained by E!. "I couldn't come into the kitchen to eat until Ruby gave me permission and the upstairs where Jodi was was completely offline. I couldn't go upstairs anymore in my own house. And Ruby would dictate all of the terms of how our interactions would be, when we would talk. And that was hard."
| Event | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Arrest of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt | August 30, 2023 | Both charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse. |
| Guilty Plea | December 18 & 27, 2023 | Franke and Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse each. |
| Sentencing | February 20, 2024 | Both sentenced to four consecutive sentences of 1 to 15 years, capped at 30 years. |
| Divorce Filing | November 29, 2023 | Kevin Franke filed for divorce from Ruby Franke. |
This Family Vlogger Is Disgusting... | Ruby Franke Update
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