THE LIFE OF RUBY FRANKE

Introduction

Two months after entering guilty pleas to multiple accusations of child abuse, Ruby Franke, a mother of six from Utah, who had previously run a life-documenting YouTube channel, received a prison sentence. In 2015, Ruby Franke and her husband Kevin Franke’s YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, gained notoriety for Franke’s contentious parenting advice.

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The channel included the Ruby Franke children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve. Speculation and alarm started to build in 2020 regarding the family’s everyday activities on the now-deleted channel, which had over two million members. The mother from Utah continued to publicize her partnership with Jodi Nan Hildebrandt on a newly created YouTube channel named ConneXions two years later; the channel has since been terminated.

Their videos, including one in which they made assertions about what it meant to love children without conditions, were another source of controversy caused by the pair. During August, both Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt were taken into custody after Franke’s son, who was 12 years old at the time, ran away from Hildebrandt’s residence and ran to a neighbor, who had then contacted 911. The youngster was suffering from malnutrition and had evident injuries, which were covered with duct tape on his limbs.

Who Is Ruby Franke?

Ruby Franke was born in Utah in January 1982. She had three sisters growing up. After marrying Kevin Franke, a former engineering professor at Brigham Young University, she started a large family of her own. Eve, Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, and Russell are the six children of the couple who are now divorced. The dates of their children’s births range from 2003 to 2013.

The Frankes’ family dynamic was profoundly impacted by their strong religious beliefs as devoted members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In an interview with the Salt Lake City television station KSL in 2016, Ruby mentioned that her family’s faith was not something they were particularly outspoken about, but that they did find a way to convey their ideas through the group’s social media presence.

In her private reflections, Ruby increasingly concentrated on religious motifs, often incorporating mentions of the devil, demons, and possessions within her journal entries. In one entry, she characterized one of her children as “Satanic” and, in another, detailed how the child moved stealthily, seeking opportunities when unnoticed.

Ruby Franke first started the 8 Passengers YouTube channel in January 2015 to share stories about her life in Springville, Utah, with her family. She told KSL, a local news station, a year after she shared the channel that it had been a way for her to relax and take pleasure in being with the kids in the present time. She went on to say that she realized the significance of her family even more when her children grew older.

Ruby Franke expressed that her intention was for women who were currently nursing, managing family responsibilities, and experiencing sleepless nights to gain insight into the end result. She expressed her desire for them to recognize the existence of a light at the end of the tunnel, which she described as beautiful, powerful, and deserving of the effort that families invest in their relationships.

Ruby Franke began cooperating with Jodi Hildebrandt and her coaching business, ConneXions, shortly after she separated from her husband, Kevin, and the 8 Passengers channel was stopped in 2022. Hildebrant founded ConneXions in 2007 to offer relationship and parenting counseling in addition to her expertise in sex and porn addiction. According to NBC News, several former clients had stated that the services were based on LDS doctrines and that Hildebrandt, who is now 55 years old, employed “an extreme approach” that occasionally involved shame.

Appearing in videos with Hildebrandt, Franke developed a working relationship with him and finally got the title “certified mental fitness trainer” on the ConneXions website. She later asserted that she was never paid by Hildebrandt or the firm and that she was never a partner in the business. The YouTube channel, which Franke became a member of in June 2022, had over 4,800 subscribers and its videos accumulated thousands of views before being deleted.

Ruby Franke Kids

Ruby Franke ignited a bit of a firestorm when she revealed in a video that her son, Chad, had been cozying up in a beanbag for seven months, all thanks to a prank gone awry with his sibling. In June 2020, viewers expressed their concerns by reaching out to local child protective services, alongside the creation of a Change.Org petition aimed at prompting a CPS investigation of 8 Passengers.

In response to the criticism, Franke informed Insider that the sleeping arrangement was a decision made by Chad, following his cessation of sharing a room with his younger brother due to behavioral issues. The allegations were unfounded, according to a letter seen by Insider, which stated that the case against Franke had been concluded.

After her kid said she had forgotten to bring lunch to school in August 2022, Franke came under fire again for allegedly neglecting to feed her six-year-old. Franke claimed she would never let anyone feed her kid lunch because she wanted her to learn the “painful” lesson of being hungry all day and would therefore always bring her own lunch. Someone commented on Franke’s TikTok post, claiming that if he were a teacher, he would report a parent whose reaction to his request that they meet fundamental needs was so strong.

In a now-deleted video from December 2022, Franke and Hildebrandt caused controversy on their joint channel by discussing love and providing examples of how youngsters supposedly don’t love their families without conditions. The mother from Utah asserted that her child is not showing unconditional love if they do not “love” or “trust” her after receiving the gift of truth. It was hardly love, she said, if her child could only love her if she catered to their every whim.

During the months of May to August of 2023, one of Franke’s sons was subjected to dangerous physical labor for long periods of time, as stated in her plea deal. He worked outdoors barefoot and experienced multiple instances of sunburn, resulting in blistered and peeling skin. In addition to punishing him for drinking water without her permission, she denied the boy enough food.

Hildebrandt bound the 12-year-old kid with ropes and handcuffs, inflicting injuries to his ankles and wrists, including damaged muscle and tissue. The youngster informed the authorities that the injuries were subsequently poorly bandaged with duct tape after being treated with honey and cayenne pepper. One of Franke’s daughters also worked outdoors barefoot and did not receive sufficient food and water. Documents from the case report indicate that she was consistently labeled as “evil and possessed.”

Suspicions and Detention

A fortnight later, on August 30, Franke’s kid made another daring escape attempt and managed to scale Hildebrandt’s house. The lad knocked on two neighboring doors, but nobody answered. Because he assumed the outcome would be the same, he rang the doorbell of a third house and started to leave when a guy answered. Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety released a statement on August 31st stating that they had received a report of a minor requesting assistance. The caller reported the infant to authorities, saying the child looked severely underweight, had open sores, and had duct tape wrapped around his limbs.

The footage from the doorbell camera revealed that the neighbor, upon observing the boy’s emaciated condition and the wounds on his body, provided him with water, a banana, and a chair to sit on prior to contacting the authorities. The man sobbed as he detailed the boy’s condition, mentioning that he was thirsty and hungry. He waited on the phone until an ambulance came minutes later.

Police were directed to Hildebrandt’s residence by Franke’s son, and a search of the premises was conducted in accordance with the exigent circumstances. Once inside, they discovered the boy’s 9-year-old sister in a closet, her head freshly shaven. Six counts of child abuse were filed against Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke upon their detention. Foster care was instituted for four of Franke’s children.

Repercussions

The consequences of Franke’s arrest were immediate. According to YouTube’s creator responsibility guidelines, Ruby Franke was banned and her two channels were canceled on September 6. Shari, her eldest daughter, who severed relations with her family in 2022, shared a photo of Franke’s arrest on Instagram with the remark “Finally.” In a subsequent post, she indicated that the mistreatment of her siblings could have been extended, expressing relief that justice had been achieved for her family. She stated that they had been attempting to inform the police and Child Protective Services for years about the situation, and they were pleased to have finally taken action.

On September 13, Franke’s sister Bonnie Hoellein, who is also a family vlogger, published a video in which she explained that she and her other siblings, Ellie Mecham and Julie Griffiths, were not in contact with Ruby and her family and were unaware of the violence that had occurred. Nevertheless, the judicial system was still required to weigh in. Both Franke and Hildebrandt were going to have their cases heard in court.

The Verdict

After being taken into custody, Ruby Franke proceeded to reveal even more unsettling details regarding her family. Her accusation that her little child had sexually abused as many as twenty individuals, including a sibling, was made during a September 2023 court appearance from behind bars. Nevertheless, she failed to present any evidence to support the charges, and no further investigations have been publicly acknowledged.

Prosecutors asked for a waiver hearing in December, suggesting a potential plea deal, and Franke and Hildebrandt stayed in jail without bond until then. That is precisely what took place on December 18, when Franke entered a guilty plea to four counts of serious child abuse, which are considered to be felonies. Just like that, Hildebrandt entered a guilty plea. Franke received four consecutive sentences ranging from one to fifteen years in jail on February 20, 2024. The exact length of her prison term will be decided by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, although due to a statute about consecutive terms, it will not exceed thirty years.

At her hearing, Ruby Franke stated, through tears, that she wanted to show her sorrow and regret without assigning blame. It was her desire to serve a prison term, she said, and she accepts full responsibility for her actions. As a result of her guilty plea, Hildebrandt received the same four consecutive terms, however, Kevin Franke, who formally divorced Ruby in November 2023, has not been prosecuted with any charges related to the case.