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Ruby Franke was a YouTuber who ran a family vlogging channel called 8 Passengers with her husband, Kevin Franke, and had a massive following. She had six children, and her YouTube channel covered parenting and motherhood themes.
However, Ruby's life came crashing down when she was found guilty of abusing her children, along with her relationship counselor, Jodi Hildebrandt. The Curious Case of... Episode 5 covers the span of crimes committed by Ruby Franke, along with Hildebrandt, which sent them behind bars. The episode was released on February 10, 2025.
It was on August 30, 2023, when Ruby and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse. As per a People article published on October 26, 2024, Ruby Franke is currently incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.
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What is the story of Ruby Franke
As per The Washington Post article, published September 1, 2023, Ruby first rose to popularity in 2015, when she started her YouTube channel named 8 Passengers, with her now separated husband, Kevin Franke.
As per the People article, Ruby was a stay-at-home mother at that time and a child of six. Her husband, Kevin, worked as an assistant engineering professor at the Birmingham Young University in Provo, Utah. The couple, living in Springfield, Utah, soon began to document their daily lives through vlogs and began posting them on their YouTube channel.
As per a KSL article published on January 16, 2016, Ruby Franke soon began to post consistently, uploading videos five days a week at 6 a.m.
The vlog channel quickly began to gain popularity, and by 2020, it had 2.5 million followers and more than a billion views. However, the couple then began to receive criticism from their followers, mainly for Ruby's constricted and stern parenting ideology.
As per an Associated Press article published on September 2, 2023, the followers even went to create an online petition, where they urged the child protective services to inquire and take action on the parents.
As per the People article, Ruby's eldest son, Chad, was made to sleep on a bean bag for seven months because he played a prank on one of his siblings. Reportedly, some other punishments included sending a child to a wilderness camp and refusing to bring a tiffin when the daughter Eve forgot to pack it herself.
Other punishments include starving the child with very little water or food, threatening to chop off the head of a stuffed toy, and refusing to bring any Christmas presents. Though the Franke's posted videos justifying their actions, the YouTube channel soon began to collapse.
As per The Salt Tribune article published on October 4, 2023, Ruby Franke got separated from Kevin Franke in 2021. Their YouTube channel was soon put down, and Ruby went on to join Hildebrandt's company, ConneXions, as a mental health coach.
Ruby Franke moved to Jodi Hildebrandt's residence with her children
After joining ConneXions, she soon began to get along with Hildebrandt. In 2022, she even joined Hildebrandt to start a YouTube channel for ConneXions, where she served as the co-host for its podcast. The two jointly opened an Instagram account called Moms of Truth, which was dedicated to providing parenting classes, which often involved some very strict ideologies.
As per the People article, in May 2023, Ruby took four of her youngest children and moved into Hildebrandt's residence in Ivins, Utah. There, the duo forced the children to undergo severe physical labor. They were often subjected to cruel punishments for the most minor mistakes.
Ruby's journal entries revealed that she declined to provide food for the children for multiple days and made them stand in the sun for hours on a stretch. However, in August 2023, Ruby's 12-year-old son, Chad, escaped the house through a window. He reached the neighbor's house in a malnourished condition and revealed his story.
They immediately called 911, and the police broke into the Hildebrandt's residence. As per the People article, they retrieved Ruby's son and daughter, in a starving condition, with open wounds and duct tape covering their bodies.
It was on August 30, 2023, when Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with six counts of child abuse. The children were taken to the hospital, where they slowly recovered. As per the People article, Ruby Franke's eldest daughter Shari, who had earlier escaped her captivity, expressed her relief after her mother was arrested. In an Instagram post, she wrote,
“Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” she wrote on Instagram. “We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
During the investigation of the culprits, the authorities found more grueling details. As per another People article published on December 19, 2023, Ruby forced her 12-year-old son Chad's head underwater as a form of punishment.
Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse on December 19, 2023. Later the same month, Jodi Hildebrandt also pleaded guilty to the charges of abuse. On February 20, 2024, both women were sentenced to four prison terms of 1 to 15 years. However, as per Utah's law, the women won't serve more than 30 years behind bars.
Both of the culprit's YouTube channel and Instagram accounts had been banned. Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services has taken custody of four of the Franke's children. Ruby Franke is incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. She won't be eligible to apply for parole till 2026.
To know more details about the story of Ruby Franke, watch The Curious Case Of… Jodi Hildebrandt. All the episodes are available on Max.
