Haunting police footage of 'panic room' YouTube mum used on her children as daughter speaks out on abuse
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Haunting police footage shows the ‘panic room’ a YouTube mum used as her daughter speaks out on abuse.
Ruby Franke was given the maximum sentence for child abuse last February after pleading guilty to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse alongside her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt.
The influencer had initially made her name with the parenting channel ‘8 Passengers’ before joining up with the Mormon therapist for the ConneXions podcast in 2022.
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The women’s abuse came to a head when one of Franke’s sons fled from Hildebrandt’s house and sought help.
Police say the 12-year-old boy had lacerations on his body and duct tape around his wrists and ankles, with an investigation finding other children suffering in similar conditions.
Franke often sent her kids to say at her partner’s in Irvin, Utah, and it's there that authorities found the panic room in the basement, behind a floor-to-ceiling safe door. Footage shows the police entering slowly as they reveal the bare ‘panic room’ with just cabinets, a fridge, a sink, toilet, a pull down bed, and cleaning supplies.
Franke’s eldest daughter Shari recently spoke out for the first time about growing up as the daughter of the convicted child abuser.
"When I was younger, around, like, five, six, Ruby was really physical,” she told Good Morning America.
"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 explained the abuse became more psychological when Hildebrandt moved into their home, something she had found ‘strange’.
The woman also added that she had contacted the authorities about her mum several times before Franke’s arrest, becoming cut off from the family when she left for college.
Now, Shari says she is just ‘trying to move on with her life’ and attempting to find ‘trust that things are gonna work out the way they're supposed to’.
Her focus 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.
Jess Battison