Before she was jailed for horrifically abusing her children, Ruby Franke was a YouTuber who rose to fame for handing out harsh parenting advice.
Her social media channel, 8 Passengers, was launched in 2015, initially documenting the Utah resident's life with her six children.
In 2020, long-term viewers began questioning Franke’s parenting methods after she documented ‘punishing’ their children by taking Christmas away, and subjected them to capturing ‘embarrassing’ moments on the regular.
Other eyebrow-raising events captured on the vlogs included one of the children mentioning he had to sleep on a bean bag, and another moment when the Mormon mother said she would chop the head off a toy stuffed animal.
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Both Franke and her husband, Kevin Franke, refuted the criticism.
In 2022, 8 Passengers came to an end, with the 43-year-old becoming entangled with Jodi Hildebrandt, a licensed counsellor in Utah.
The same year Franke stopped her own YouTube channel, she started a new one with Hildebrandt called ConneXions. They also created the joint Instagram account, Moms of Truth.
In August 2023, the pair were arrested and charged two days later with six counts of aggravated child abuse after Franke's 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt's house and ran to a neighbour's house for help.
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Their relationship, court case, and aftermath are the subject of the new Netflix documentary, Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story.
The true crime show, directed by Skye Borgman, traces Hildebrandt’s rise within her community and the events that led to the heartbreaking discovery of abuse and eventual rescue of the Franke children from Hildebrandt’s home.
‘New’ footage shows the moment police are called after child's escape
In the Netflix documentary, footage shows Franke’s son escaping Hildebrandt’s house in 2023 and informing neighbours of his condition.
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The clip, initially released last March by the Washington County Attorney’s Office, saw the YouTuber’s 12-year-old son asking Hildebrandt’s neighbour to take him ‘to the nearest police station’.
After hearing how the kid needed to see officers on ‘personal business’, the neighbour explained to police that he’d noticed the child was ‘emaciated’ and that he’d had duct tape tied around his ankles and wrists.
“He’s hungry and he’s thirsty,” he said.
Another woman who was at the property chimed in, explaining that she needed someone to come to the address ‘immediately’.
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In the clip, captured on a Ring doorbell, officials could be seen pulling up to the home.
They would later rescue the child’s nine-year-old sister and arrest both Franke and Hildebrandt on suspicion of child abuse.
“If that young boy hadn’t escaped that day,” Borgman reflected. “I think those kids probably wouldn’t be with us today.”
Where is Jodi Hildebrandt now?
In 2022, Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to and was convicted of four counts of aggravated child abuse. The Utah resident was sentenced to four consecutive terms of one to 15 years in February 2024.
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Currently behind bars in Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Hildebrandt’s first parole hearing is set for December 2026.
Her coaching company, ConneXions, is no longer in operation, but the business's Instagram profile is still up, though it hasn't posted anything since 2023.
Where is Ruby Franke now?
Like Hildebrandt, Franke also pleaded guilty and received a similar sentence to Hildebrandt. She was similarly sent to serve her sentence at the Utah State Correctional Facility; however, the pair are in separate wings.
Her first parole hearing is scheduled for December 2026.
According to his interview with Netflix Tudum, Borgman has used audio recordings from prison to illustrate that Franke had perhaps ‘begun to distance herself’ from her former friend.
Although he isn’t sure if the ‘separation has lasted’, the director claimed: “I think this separation helps Ruby recognise where she was and what Jodi was doing.
“I also think it’s a form of self-preservation. She’s looking at the potential time that she could be spending in prison. I think that she’s kind of going, ‘Wait a minute, if I separate myself, maybe I won’t get judged as harshly'.”
As for her children, the youngest kids are living with their father and Franke's ex-husband, Kevin Franke, as Borgman added: "I think they’re moving on and trying to find some form of normal."
The couple's two eldest children, Chad and Shari, have previously spoken out about the abuse they'd experienced at the hands of their mother, with Chad claiming that she'd 'slap us, flick our lips, whatever'.
Meanwhile, Shari said that she still had 'bad dreams' about her mother, but she was 'getting better'.
You can stream Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story on Netflix now.
Topics: YouTube, Crime, True Crime, Netflix, Documentaries
Ella Scott