Former family vlogger of the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, Ruby Franke, Mormon mother of 6, was arrested alongside Jodi Hildebrant, a coworker of Franke, on August 30th. They are both facing 6 counts of aggravated child abuse. The two were coworkers at ConneXions, a company which provides counseling services, and, “they often worked on parenting classes together,” according to thetab.com.
On August 30th, 2023, Ruby Franke’s son, Russell, escaped from the residence of Jodi Hildebrant, located in Ivins, Utah. Russell, 12 years old, ran to a neighbor of the Hildebrant home, asking for food and water. In addition to being malnourished, Russell had duct tape around his wrists and ankles, along with visable lacerations. The neighbors called the police promptly.
Russell was then examined and put on medical hold. The boy’s lacerations were determined to be from being tied up with rope. Shortly after, the county police entered Hildebrandt’s residence and found another Franke child, 10 year old Eve, in similar conditions. This was confirmed by a Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department Press Release (August 31st).
Held without bail, on September 8th, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildenbrandt had their first appearance in court. Technical issues caused the hearing to be cut short and moved to another date. The set date was September 21st, but Franke’s lawyer is now requesting it be moved to early October instead, due to Hildenbrandt having a “life-threatening injury,” while incarcerated at the Washington County jail.
During this initial hearing, Ruby Franke made an accusation against one of her six children… alleging that the child “abused a sibling and molested ‘several’ other family members and neighbors for ‘years,’” which was shared by pagesix.com, as well as the dailymail.co.uk.
In holding, Ruby Franke’s cellmate, Debra Monsen, alleges that Ruby seemed rather emotionless, and that she teared up, saying she missed her kids only once. Monsen also said that Ruby Franke seemed more concerned about herself and Hildenbrandt, than her children – 4 of which are now in CPS custody, and 2 are still being treated at the hospital.
During the time when Franke was recording the vlogs for her YouTube channel, which had gained over 2 million subscribers before being taken down, there were several concerned calls from viewers about the safety and wellbeing of the Franke children. When one of her children were sick, she would force them to sleep on the bathroom floor, and then record a video about it.
Her now 18 year old son, Chad, had his bedroom taken away, and was forced to sleep on nothing but a beanbag for seven months. Ruby Franke also told Eve that she would have to wake up for preschool on her own. In one episode, she shared that one of Eve’s teachers texted her, asking if she would bring her daughter lunch. Franke refused. She instead expressed how she sometimes withheld food from her children as a form of discipline.
Shari, another one of Franke’s children reportedly spoke out, posting an instagram story captioned, “finally,” at the time of her mothers arrest. Independent.co.uk shared that Shari released a separate statement saying, “Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We’ve been trying to tell police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
Coinciding with the arrests, the Mormon Stories Podcast interviewed the niece of Jodi Hildenbrandt, Jessi (they/them). Jessi revealed that Jodi abused Jessi in their childhood, after convincing their parents to leave Jessi as a child and presuming full ownership of Jessi. Jessi shared that the Mormon community she grew up in was very, “put my blinders on, not my problem,” when issues were occurring.
Jessi also shared that Jodi had her therapist license taken away at one point. Insider.com says it was because Hildenbrandt ignored confidentiality, and shared sensitive information about one of her clients. If convicted, Franke and Hildenbrandt will be facing 1 to 15 years in prison, and a fine up to $10,000.
