‘Momfluencer’ Ruby Franke became an internet sensation thanks to her YouTube channel 8 Passengers in which her millions of viewers watched how she and then husband, Kevin Franke, raised, and disciplined, their six children.
On Monday, Franke admitted in a Utah court to abusing and starving two of her kids as part of a plea deal in which she pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse.
Among other things, Franke, a Mormon, was accused of starving her children and restraining them with duct tape.
Franke attempted to divert most of the blame to her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who in search of online success had ‘distorted her sense of morality.’
In late August, both Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with six counts of child abuse after her 12-year-old child crawled out of a window in Hildebrandt’s home, malnourished and with tape on his ankles.
The popular YouTuber was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt in August and charged with six counts of felony child abuse after one of her sons was discovered with open wounds and duct tape on their limbs
Ruby Franke, (left) who ran the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right) on August 30
He made it to a neighbor’s house.
The subsequently released 911 call was harrowing.
‘I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here in my front door asking for help.
‘We know there’s been problems at this neighbor’s house. He’s emaciated. He’s got tape around his legs. He’s hungry and he’s thirsty,’ a neighbor told the operator.
The child accused ‘Jodi’ of tying him up and using cayenne pepper as well as using honey to treat the wounds caused by the tape.
He was rushed to a local hospital. Not long after, his 10-year-old sister was found in the same home, malnourished and also treated.
Despite the instances occurring at Hildebrandt’s home, officers said that there was video evidence of her at the home around the time the abuse was occurring.
Four of Franke’s minor children were all immediately put in protective custody.
Franke (left) is also engaged in a custody battle with her ex-husband (right) over the placement and welfare of their six children
In 2022, police were called to the Franke’s home after a neighbor alleged she had left her children unsupervised for four days
Ruby’s eldest child, Shari (seen in May), revealed in April that she was no longer in contact with her mom
In 2022, police were called to the Franke’s home after a neighbor alleged she had left her children unsupervised for four days. An officer said that the children refused to answer the door when he knocked.
The YouTuber’s eldest daughter, Shari Franke, also made contact with the police around this time.
While in 2020, people who viewed Franke’s content on YouTube began a petition for have her investigated by Child Protective Services, the allegations were thrown out.
That came after years of people calling out Franke’s style of disciplining her kids.
Franke first launched her infamous YouTube channel in 2015, a demonstrated her parenting techniques with the backdrop being the family’s Mormon faith.
It vanished from the internet in January 2023 with a around 2.3 million subscribers.
One particularly controversial incident was when one of Franke’s sons said that he was sleeping on a beanbag in a hallway after being kicked out of his room for making fun of his other sibling.
In an interview with Business Insider, Franke said sleeping on the bean bag had been the boy’s choice.
Kevin Franke’s lawyer claimed that the 44-year-old was told that his ‘attitude was infesting the family’
Kevin only spoke to Ruby ‘three or four times’ in the year after they split and was ‘shocked’ to hear of the circumstances surrounding her arrest
Franke, right, has shifted the blame to Hildebrandt, alleging that she was inspired the child abuse
Perhaps the most famous incident saw Franke punish her daughter, 6, for forgetting her school lunch at home and refusing to bring it to her.
A common theme on the channel saw the mother allow children personal freedom and would regularly throw away their belongings.
After the August 2023 arrests, multiple neighbors came forward to express their concern at Franke’s parenting.
‘Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,’ a neighbor told NBC News in August 2023.
‘I remember that she took away their Christmas one year and she would says things like: “They’re not repenting correctly,” which is a Mormon term for “they’re sinning.” Just complete insanity,’ he added.
At the time, Hildebrandt and Franke ran another YouTube channel, ConneXions, in which they claimed to be able to help followers create positive relationships.
Hildebrandt is the founder of ConneXions, which also pushes harsh parenting.
The pair made an appearance together in court on September 8. Following that, both were held without bail.
Ruby’s eldest daughter Shari, 20, posted about her mother’s arrest on Instagram, sharing an image of police officers outside the home captioned ‘Finally’
Hildebrandt and Franke are seen during a virtual court appearances in Utah
So many attempted to watch the proceedings online, it caused tech issues.
YouTuber, Tezzmosis, who provided a livestream of the hearing said in an interview with NBC that the interest likely stemmed from people seeing the truth about Franke’s life as opposed to the ‘perfect image’ she tried to project.
‘They’ve been on [authorities’] radar for a couple of years. But being from an affluent family and having this notoriety in such a way, I think it was so hard for people to believe that something so bad could be going on beyond the surface,’ he said.
In the fallout, Franke’s sister, Bonnie Hoellein, made an appearance in a YouTube video, distancing herself from the crimes and saying that she had been ‘cut off’ from the family.
Hoellein claimed that members of the family had done ‘everything legally that we could do’ in order to help the children.
Franke’s other sister, Ellie Mecham, made the same claims in an Instagram post.
Another of her frequent critics, was her daughter Shari. ‘We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up,’ she said.
Hildebrandt surrendered her counseling licenses shortly after the arrest while Franke’s husband formally filed for divorce.
His lawyer said in an appearance on Good Morning America in September that the couple had been living separately for 13 months.
‘No one’s ever made any allegations that he’s ever physically abused those kids, or anyone else,’ the lawyer said.
Hildebrandt will appear in court on December 27.