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Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke is a three-part crime docuseries directed by Olly Lambert, which is set to release on February 27, 2025, on Hulu. The docuseries narrates the story of Ruby Franke, a family Youtuber, who was found guilty of child abuse in 2024.
With her husband, Kevin Franke, Ruby ran a successful vlogging channel named '8 Passengers.' In her videos, she captured moments from the daily lives of her family and children. Ruby shared and discussed parenting tips with her subscribers, and the channel quickly rose to popularity.
However, slowly, another side of her personality began to show when audiences saw Ruby subjecting her children to harsh punishments. Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke is set to explore the entire investigation behind her crimes. The official synopsis of the series reads:
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"Follows Ruby Franke, a former YouTube mom blogger with millions of followers who was sentenced to prison for child abuse."
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5 disturbing details surrounding Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke
1) Franke exposed her children to harsh punishments
As per a February 20, 2024, article by People, Ruby and her husband, Kevin, started their YouTube channel named '8 Passengers' back in 2015.
They consistently posted five videos every week, documenting their lives with six children. Soon, their channel began to rise in popularity, gaining 2.5 subscribers by June 2020. However, her viewers soon began to notice that Ruby had some extremely strict parenting ideals.
In one instance, she made her 16-year-old son sleep outside of the bedroom in a bean bag for seven months as a form of punishment. Additionally, she threatened to chop off the head of a stuffed toy and even went to the extent of sending her child to a wilderness survival camp.
2) Ruby Franke collaborated with counselor Jodi Hildebrandt to promote their stern parenting ideologies
With questions raised about Ruby's treatment of her children, the YouTube channel "8 Passengers" slowly began to decline in popularity. As per an Associated Press article published on September 2, 2023, Ruby separated from Kevin in 2022 and deleted their YouTube channel.
This was when she joined as a mental health coach at a company named ConneXions. It was run by Jodi Hildebrandt, with whom she soon developed a close connection. Jodi was a Utah-based counselor whose license had earlier been suspended for exposing a client's personal information.
According to a BBC article published on February 21, 2024, Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt started a video podcast called ConneXions and an Instagram account named Moms of Truth.
The duo collaboratively shared parenting advice in their discussion, which involved promoting their disciplinary methods. The duo expressed several controversial opinions on se*uality, religion, race, and socio-political issues.
3) Ruby Franke moved in with Jodi Hildebrandt and started torturing her kids
Ruby Franke moved in with Jodi Hildebrandt at her residence in Ivins, Utah. The duo started raising the Franke's children together and exposed them to stern punishments.
As per the People article, Ruby would punish the children, even for the most minor mistakes. As complained by Eva's teacher, Ruby denied lunch to her six-year-old daughter as a way to teach her a lesson.
Ruby Franke also believed that her children were possessed by evil and made them work under the blazing sun for hours and prevented them from drinking or touching food. Ruby even went to the extent of suffocating her boy by drowning him.
4) Ruby Franke was exposed after her 12-year-old son ran away from Hildebrandt's residence
As per a Washington Post article published on September 1, 2023, the span of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt's tortures were exposed when the Franke's son, Chad, escaped from the house through the window.
The child ran away to the neighbor's house, covered in duct tape and looking visibly malnourished, and asked for food and water. The neighbor called law enforcement officers, who arrested Ruby and Hildebrandt on August 30, 2023.
As per the Associated Press, the authorities retrieved Franke's children from Hildebrandt's residence. They were found in a malnourished condition, with open wounds and deep lacerations, due to being tied with ropes.
5) Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were found guilty of child abuse
As per People, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested on August 30, 2023. In the next two days, both of the culprits were charged with aggravated child abuse.
Law enforcement officers from the Santa Clara Public Safety Department attained a search warrant into Hildebrandt's residence and discovered the children. They were rushed to medical assistance, where they slowly recovered.
Both of the culprits were charged with six counts of felony child abuse. Both the Instagram account and YouTube channel were taken down. Ruby Franke was sentenced to four prison terms, for 1 to 15 years, by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole on February 20, 2024.
She won't be serving more than 30 years as per Utah's Law Code. At the same time, Hildebrandt was sentenced to the same prison term consecutively.
Catch Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke on Hulu on February 27, 2025.
