What does emaciated mean? Aggravated child abuse charges against Ruby Franke explained in wake of YouTuber's arrest

On Wednesday, August 30, Utah-based YouTuber Ruby Franke of the channel 8 Passengers fame was arrested alongside her associate Jodi Hildebrandt, the founder of a parent counseling service named ConneXions. They were taken into custody over charges of aggravated child abuse. Both were arrested from Hildebrandt’s Ivins home in Utah.

Ruby Franke is a mother of six and was indicted for allegedly tying up two of her children with duct tape and then starving and abusing them, to the point where they looked “emaciated” and malnourished. In fact, one of the kids narrowly escaped through an open window and ran to a neighbor’s house, asking for food, water, and help for her and her younger sister.

For those uninitiated, the term “emaciated” means abnormally thin or weak, especially due to lack of food.

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Ruby Franke’s children were both emaciated and malnourished as per their neighbor

Utah-based vlogger Ruby Franke, who is famous for her channel 8 Passengers, was arrested on Wednesday, along with her associate Jodi Hildebrandt, the founder of ConneXions, a self-help parent counseling service aimed at creating “joy in your life and your relationships”. They were charged with two counts of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse, as reported by Law & Crime.

As per the report, 41-year-old Ruby Franke tied up two of her daughters, one aged 12 and another 10, with duct tape and held them in the basement of Jodi Hildebrandt’s house where they were starved and abused for weeks before the elder sister climbed out an open window and sought help from the neighbors.

According to the press release by the Santa Clara-Irvine Public Safety Department, the Ivins Police Department received a call on Wednesday around 10:50 am local time about a “possible case of child abuse.”

The caller was one of Hildebrandt’s neighbors from whom the older kid, who had managed to escape, sought help. As per the responder, the caller said that the minor “appeared to be emaciated and malnourished” and even had “open wounds and duct tape around the extremities.”

The word “emaciated” means becoming a haggard due to acute hunger.

As soon as the cops arrived at the scene, they identified the 12-year-old girl as one of Ruby Franke’s kids and saw her having “deep lacerations” that were most likely the result of being tied up with rope and duct tape for several days, as reported by Page Six.

The juvenile escapee informed the police that her younger sister, who was 10 years old, was also being held captive at the same place.

When officers arrived at the residence of Hildebrandt and searched the place, they realized that the other girl was telling the truth and located another minor in a similar physical state, exhibiting signs of abuse and malnourishment.

Both the young girls were later transported by Emergency Medical Services to the nearby St. George Regional Hospital for medical care and treatment.

When the investigators further searched the place, they recovered multiple pieces of evidence “consistent with the markings found on the juveniles,” reported Law & Crime.

While both perpetrators were arrested and were transported to and booked at the Washington County Jail and were currently being held without bond, the two children still haven’t spoken to the police.

As per Page Six reports, the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) is now in charge of their welfare and requested the authorities to wait till the kids were in better shape, recovering, and stable, to answer their questions.

Not only that, but the DCFS in collaboration with the local police is now investigating the child abuse case. The former has also gained custody of the two victims, alongside two of Ruby Franke’s other minor children, although her husband Kevin Franke's representative told Page Six that his kids were his "number one priority" in the wake of his wife's arrest.

The police have discovered that two days before their arrest, Ruby Franke posted a video on her YouTube channel which was filmed in the basement of Hildebrandt’s home, in the latter’s presence, meaning they were in on the crime together.

They are facing aggravated child abuse charges which according to Utah state law include starvation, broken bones, head injuries from hitting or shaking, and suffocation among others, as reported by Page Six. If deliberately inflicted, one can face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

In the aftermath of Ruby Franke and her co-conspirator’s arrests, her estranged sister released a social media statement expressing how “justice needed to happen” and how for the last three years they have “kept quiet on the subject” but did everything they could “behind the public scene” to ensure the kids’ safety.

Franke’s estranged daughter, Shari, also took to her Instagram Story to share how “glad” she was that her mother was “finally” in police custody.

“Today has been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”

The 20-year-old also mentioned how the kids were now safe but there was still a long road ahead.

The rumors of child abuse against Ruby first emerged in 2020 when her second child Chad shared on a vlog that his bedroom was taken away after he played a trivial prank on his younger brother.

Speculations further worsened when Ruby herself admitted on camera that she did not bring her 6-year-old daughter’s lunch to school because she forgot it at home. Back then, the Franke family told the Insider that they were teaching their children about the actions and their consequences and blamed the viewers for creating “drama.”

Vlogger and momfluencer Ruby Franke’s YouTube Channel, 8 Passengers, which has been taken down by the platform since the incident, had over 2.5 million subscribers and featured videos of herself, her husband Kevin, and their six children Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve, and focussed mainly on their family life. It first rose to fame in 2015.