"His family had also been victimized by Jodi”: Ruby Franke's husband breaks silence amid child abuse allegations 

On Tuesday, September 12, Ruby Franke's husband released a statement regarding the child abuse allegations against his wife. Earlier, on August 30, Ruby Franke and her partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested after they allegedly subjected the Frank children to cruel treatment on a YouTube channel called 8 passengers.

Addressing the allegation,s Ruby Frank's husband, Kevin Franke, had his legal team state that both he and his wife had been manipulated by Jodi Hildebrandt.

Kevin Franke's lawyer, Randy Kester, alleged that Jodi Hildebrandt was the mastermind of the online channel, which regularly depicted the Frank children being harshly punished. He said:

“she manipulated him in conjunction with Ruby, that she’s kind of the spearhead toward essentially destroying his life and destroying his family. We’re hearing other information that she’s done this to a number of families. And it wasn’t until all this came to light that Kevin came to realize that his family had also been victimized by Jodi.”

Both Ruby Frank and Jodi Hildebrandt have been charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. Their YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, has since been deleted.

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What are Ruby Franke's husband's allegations against Jodi Hildebrandt?

In 2015, Kevin and Ruby Franke started the YouTube channel 8 Passengers, in which they documented their lives with their six children. In 2020, Ruby Franke began working as a mental health coach at ConneXions, which was the company of counselor Jodi Hildebrandt.

Kevin Franke claimed that after his wife and Jodi became close, they began using abusive disciplinary methods on their channel. As reported by People News, methods allegedly included binding the children with rope, as well as depriving them of food and water.

As per Insider, Kevin Franke claimed that Jodi Hildebrandt constantly manipulated the couple, even going as far as to cause a rift in their marriage. Randy Kester said that while they never directly hit the children, they caused them severe physical and mental distress. He further said on behalf of Kevin Franke:

"No physical abuse had never been a part of their family. But lot of the dynamics between he and his wife changed after Jodi Hildebrandt partnered up with Ruby."

Acknowleding the fact that Kevin Franke did not speak out to protect his children, Randy said that the father's priorities had been twisted due to the situation. He continued:

"But what people don't understand is that he was trying to preserve his marriage. He was taking direction from her. She's the one who asked him to leave the house."

On September 21, 2023, Ruby Franke will be due for a court appearance. As the case is currently pending, Kevin Franke and Randy Kester have expressed their intention to co-operate with authorities.