"Take me to the nearest police station": Newly released video shows Ruby Franke's son pleading for help after escaping abusive home

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of child abuse. Readers' discretion is advised.

On August 30, 2023, former YouTube vlogger, Ruby Franke, and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were apprehended and charged with aggravated child abuse. The arrests were made after one of Ruby's emaciated children escaped Jodi's residence in Utah through the window and went to a neighbor's residence seeking assistance.

A home security video from August 30, 2023, showed that following the escape, Ruby Franke's 12-year-old son asked a neighbor for two favors. When the neighbor enquired what the favors were, the child replied,

"Take me to the nearest police station. Well, actually just one is fine."

In a case summary, the Washington County Attorney's Office stated that the neighbor noticed duct tape on the 12-year-old's ankles and wrists, severe wounds, and malnourishment. After that, he promptly reached out to the authorities.

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Authorities found Ruby Franke's 9-year-old daughter "petrified and hiding in a closet"

Washington County Utah mentioned on their website that after the neighbor's report, authorities arrived and learned that there was a possibility of more child victims being present inside Jodi Hildebrandt's residence. Authorities searched her residence and located Ruby Franke's daughter. The case summary read:

"The officers responded to Ms. Hildebrandt's home, placed her under arrest, and conducted a search of her sizable property where they found Ms. Franke’s 9-year-old daughter, petrified and hiding in a closet."

As the investigation progressed, authorities learned that Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt kept Ruby's 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter in a work-camp-like setting, where they were consistently deprived of food, water, beds to sleep in, and virtually all forms of entertainment.

Both children were also restricted from interacting with others and were hidden in the residence when anyone paid a visit. They were made to do physical labor like carrying loaded boxes up and down stairs and sitting against a wall without a chair or stool for hours at a stretch.

The Washington County Attorney's Office further stated that the children were forced to do manual labor outdoors in the severe summer heat without shoes or socks. They were also compelled to stand on a cement patio, in the scorching heat for hours, and were beaten up. Following an earlier attempt at escaping, the 12-year-old son was restrained by hand and foot.

The case summary also mentioned that Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt also emotionally maltreated the children, to the extent that they started believing that they deserved the abuse.

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Authorities claimed Ruby Franke and her business partner were motivated by “religious extremism”

Ruby Franke was formerly best known for her popular YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, in which she documented family life with her husband and six children. Meanwhile, Jodi Hildebrandt is a licensed therapist who operated an online self-improvement program with the former family vlogger. Jodi was also the founder of a parent counseling service, Connexions.

According to the Washington County Attorney’s Office, the investigation revealed that Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt's abuse was motivated by "religious extremism." The case summary read:

"The investigation found that religious extremism motivated Ms. Franke and Ms. Hildebrandt to inflict this horrific abuse. The women appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary to teach the children how to properly repent for imagined “sins” and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies."

On February 20, 2024, both women were sentenced to serve four to thirty years in the Utah State Prison.