Daughter of YouTube mother Ruby Franke who was jailed for child abuse speaks out about arrest for first time
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
The eldest daughter of Ruby Franke, a YouTubing mother who was sent to prison for child abuse, has spoken out.
Franke had set up the parenting YouTube channel '8 Passengers' with her husband Kevin and gained a large number of subscribers, though some of them became suspicious of abuse.
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Her channel stopped getting new videos in 2022 as she instead joined the ConneXions podcast with Mormon therapist Jodi Hildebrandt.
The pair were arrested in August 2023 after one of Ruby's sons fled from Hildebrandt's house in Utah and started knocking on doors for help.
According to police, the 12-year-old boy had lacerations on his body and duct tape around his wrists and ankles, and an investigation found other children suffering in similar conditions.
After being arrested Franke confessed to holding her son's head underwater, covering his mouth and nose with her hands and kicking him while wearing boots.
She also said she'd forced her young son to work outside in scorching conditions without sunscreen and with little food or water.
Hildebrandt said she was complicit in the abuse Franke's children suffered, and that she forced Franke's youngest daughter to 'jump into a cactus multiple times' and walk barefoot on dirt roads until her feet broke out into blisters.
Speaking to ABC, Franke's oldest daughter Shari spoke out about being the daughter of the convicted child abuser.
"Sometimes I'll, see myself in the mirror and I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, I look like her,' or 'I sound like her,' but I don't wanna be anything like her," Shari told Good Morning America as she spoke about her book The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom which goes into detail about allegations of abuse.
"When I was younger, around, like, five-six, Ruby was really physical.
"Whether it was like a slap to the lip or-- a slap to the cheek… when I would practice the piano, her hand would slam and it was really scary."
Shari said that after Hildebrandt moved in the abuse became more psychological than physical, and she found it 'strange' that she had moved into their home.
Shari said she had contacted the authorities about her mother several times before Franke was arrested, and says she thinks her mother cannot 'fully comprehend the guilt' of what she admitted to in court.
She said: "I think that she's as sorry as she can be.
"What she has done is so bad that I don't think her mind allows her to kind of fully comprehend the guilt of all that. And so I think that she probably genuinely believed everything she said. I don't believe it though.
"Forgiveness is something I've had to study a lot and kind of think about what it means.
"But for me, forgiveness would look like not letting that consume every moment of my life and all of my thoughts. I am just trying to move on with my life and trust that things are gonna work out the way they're supposed to."
Shari's focus now is on building relationships with her siblings and her father, who moved out shortly after Hildebrandt moved into the family home.
Full timeline of the Ruby Franke case:
Starting a YouTube channel and initial suspicions
Franke started her parenting YouTube channel '8 Passengers' with now ex-husband Kevin, amassing over 2.5 million subscribers before it was deleted in 2023 following the arrest.
Several subscribers became suspicious of child abuse, with a petition being signed for the police to investigate the family, citing the numerous questionable videos uploaded.
Franke joins ConneXions with Jodi Hildebrandt
The mum told critics in a 2021 interview for The Wrap that she was showing everyone 'what a responsible mother looks like'.
She stopped uploading videos to the channel in 2022, joining Mormon therapist Hildebrandt's ConneXions podcast.
Their divisive opinions on subjects such as eating disorders, blaming rape victims and criticising immigrants drew the wrong kind of attention.
The arrest
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on child abuse charges in August 2023.
The Santa Clara Public Safety Department were called to the Ivins neighbourhood in Utah after a neighbour was alerted by Franke's 'emaciated' 12-year-old son, who escaped to knock on their door to ask for help.
He had visible marks and wounds from duct tape put around his ankles, and asked for some food and water.
Police found his 10-year-old sister in a 'similar physical condition of malnourishment' in Hildebrandt's house.
Family members speak out
Franke's oldest daughter, Shari, wrote on Instagram on the day of the arrests: “Today has been a big day."
She continued: "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."
In November, Kevin also officially filed for divorce from Franke, and called her actions to their children 'horrific and inhumane'.
Franke and Hildebrandt are charged with six counts of child abuse
Just one week after their arrests, the pair were charged with six counts of felony child abuse.
YouTube banned Franke, deleting both 8 Passengers and ConneXions channels and blocking her from the social media platform.
Franke blames the abuse on Hildebrandt
Her attorneys released a statement that said: “Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous," according to Fox13.
It blamed Hildebrandt solely for isolating Franke from her family completely, distorting her morality.
Franke pleads guilty
Just three days after the statement was released, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. A court had heard how she had tried to convince her youngest children they were 'evil and possessed'.
Franke and Hildebrandt are sentenced to prison for child abuse
On 20 February 2024, Franke and Hildebrandt were convicted and given four separate prison sentences for one to 15 years, with the length of each sentence decided by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
During sentencing Franke apologised to her children and said she would 'never stop crying for hurting their tender souls'.
She said: "My willingness to sacrifice all for you was masterfully manipulated into something very ugly.
"I took from you all that was soft and safe and good."
The two women will not serve more than 30 years in a Federal Penitentiary because of a Utah law about consecutive sentences.
Additional words by Anish Vij.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Topics: Crime, US News, Ruby Franke
Joe Harker