What did Ruby Franke do to her kids? YouTuber sentenced to minimum four years in prison for child abuse

On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, popular parenting YouTuber and Utah resident Ruby Franke was sentenced to 4 to 60 years behind bars after charges of child abuse were filed against her. Her therapist and ex-business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who, according to Ruby, convinced her to commit the crimes, was also sentenced to 4 to 60 years.

The charges against the vlogger were filed in 2023, and she pleaded guilty on December 18. Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt both have four convictions each for aggravated child abuse.

Trigger warning: The article contains references to child abuse. Readers' discretion is advised.

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Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to several child abuse charges in connection with her mistreatment of her two children

Franke started the YouTube channel 8 Passengers with her husband in 2015 and has been a popular figure in the parenting influencer circuit. According to Fox 59, Ruby Franke had been trying to convince her two youngest children they were evil, possessed, and needed to be punished to repent.

In the plea agreement on December 18, Franke confessed that she abused her son from May 22 to August 30, subjecting him to hours of physical labor, summer work outside without proper water, and "repeated and serious sunburns." He was refused food or given extremely bland meals, and he was secluded from others, with no access to books or electronic devices.

After attempting to flee in July, his hands and feet were sometimes bound with handcuffs. She also admitted that ropes were often used to knot together handcuffs that tied his hands and feet as he lay on his stomach, elevating his arms and legs off the ground and damaging his wrists and ankles.

Ruby Franke also admitted to kicking her son while wearing boots, submerging his head in water, and using her hands to cover his mouth and nose. She admitted to similar acts of torture against her 9-year-old daughter. Both the children were told that these were “acts of love.” The plea agreement further described how Franke would tell them that they are evil and punishment is necessary to keep them “obedient and repentant.”

Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt were finally arrested on August 30 when Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins and begged a neighbor to contact police, according to a 911 call released by the St. George Police Department. During the hearing, Franke cut a stark figure, handcuffed and dressed in gray and white. While pleading guilty to the fourth charge, she said,

"With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty."

In her defense, her lawyer, Winward Law, claimed that the abuse occurred while Franke was influenced by Jodi Hildebrandt, who led her to "a distorted sense of morality."

According to the son’s statement in the arrest warrant, Jodi Hildebrandt, who ran a group called ConneXions along with Franke, was complicit in the acts and allegedly put the ropes on his ankles and wrists. They used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the wounds caused by the ropes.

On February 20, both Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were sentenced to 4 to 60 years behind bars for child abuse.

Ruby and Kevin Franke, her husband, first met Jodi Hildebrandt for marriage counseling. It was Hildebrandt who suggested that the couple separate to save their marriage before starting an influential “friendship” with Ruby. Kevin filed for divorce not long after the arrest.