A once-popular YouTube parent vlogger was arrested in August after her son was found emaciated and with duct tape on his limbs by a neighbour. 

Ruby Franke faced six child abuse charges in the US state of Utah. She has admitted four of them.

Who is she, what controversy has she stirred before and what led to her arrest? Here is everything you need to know.

Who is Ruby Franke and what was her YouTube channel?

Ruby Franke and her husband launched their family YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, in early 2015.

The channel chronicled the lives of the parents and their six children and focused on parenting style, the children’s upbringing and discipline.

The parents, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (known as the Mormon Church), also shared their children’s home-schooling.

The channel gained 2.3 million subscribers before it was removed earlier this year.

What is Ruby Franke charged with?

Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were both charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse.

Each count carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000 (£8,044).

In Utah, aggravated child abuse is defined as an act that “inflicts upon a child serious physical injury” or “causes or permits another to inflict serious physical injury upon a child”.

“Each defendant is accused of causing or permitting serious physical injury to the victims in three different ways: (1) a combination of multiple physical injuries or torture, (2) starvation or malnutrition that jeopardises life, and (3) causing severe emotional harm,” the Washington County Attorney in Utah told Sky News’s sister outlet NBC News.

What did Ruby Franke admit to?

Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse.

Franke’s plea agreement described new details of the abuse. She admitted torturing her son by forcing him into hours of physical tasks and outdoor work between May and August without adequate water and with “repeated and serious sunburns” that blistered.

He was denied food or given very plain meals, and he was isolated from other people, without access to books, notebooks or electronics.

After he tried to run away in July, his hands and feet were regularly bound, sometimes with handcuffs.

At times, ropes were used to tie together handcuffs that secured his hands and feet as he lay on his stomach, lifting his arms and legs off the ground and injuring his wrists and ankles, the plea agreement said.

Franke also admitted to kicking her son while wearing boots, holding his head under water and smothering his mouth and nose with her hands, according to the plea agreement.

“He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love,” the agreement said.

Franke acknowledged similarly abusing her 9-year-old daughter by forcing her to work outside, run on dirt roads barefoot, and go without food and water.

“She was also repeatedly told she was evil and possessed, the punishments were necessary for her to be obedient and repent, and these things were being done to her in order to help her,” the plea agreement said.

The girl “was convinced” what her mother said was true, the agreement said.

Under the plea agreement, Franke agreed to serve a prison term and the sentences will run consecutively. She will be sentenced on 20 February.

She pleaded not guilty to two other counts of child abuse.

Who is Jodi Hildebrandt?

Hildebrandt founded the controversial life counselling organisation ConneXions, which Franke became a key part of.

The two women created advice videos that critics say promote a harsh style of parenting.

Hildebrandt has agreed not to see patients until the allegations against her are addressed by state licensing officials.

Her next court hearing is set for 27 December, according to court records.

What led to Ruby Franke’s arrest?

Franke’s arrest came after her 12-year-old son escaped out of the window of Hildebrandt’s house and ran to a neighbour asking for food and water.

The local police department released the audio of the neighbour’s 911 call.

“I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here in my front door asking for help,” he said.

He added: “We know there’s been problems at this neighbour’s house. He’s emaciated. He’s got tape around his legs. He’s hungry and he’s thirsty.”

The boy’s condition was judged by police to be so severe he was taken to hospital.

Franke’s 10-year-old daughter was later found malnourished and was also taken to the hospital.

The children were found at Hildebrandt’s house, but Franke had been seen on a YouTube video filmed there and posted two days earlier, indicating she was at the home and had knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment and neglect, arrest records said.

Four of Franke’s children are under 18 and have now been placed in care.

Previous reports to authorities

Police were called to Franke’s home last year after a concerned neighbour said her children had been left home alone for several days, according to NBC’s account of a police report.

A police officer who visited wrote in the report that he saw children inside, but they refused to open the door.

When police returned, Franke was there with her children, but would not talk to them.

Franke’s eldest daughter, Shari Franke, called the police wanting to make sure her siblings were safe and had food after the neighbour alerted her to her mother’s absence, the report said.

In 2020, viewers of 8 Passengers launched a petition to get child protection services to investigate Franke. Insider reported that officials visited the house but closed the case “because the claims were unsupported”.

How did Franke cause controversy with viewers?

Viewers had been calling out Franke’s parenting style and discipline choices for several years before her arrest.

The incident that prompted the petition was a video in which Franke’s eldest son revealed he slept on a beanbag for seven months because he had been moved out of his brother’s room for teasing him.

Franke defended herself in an interview with Insider, saying her son had chosen a beanbag over an airbed or a pullout guest bed.

She also angered viewers with a video about her 6-year-old forgetting her school lunch. In the video, Franke said she would not drop any food at school and her daughter should use the “pain” of being hungry as a lesson not to forget her lunch in future.

Franke was also criticised for threatening to throw away her children’s possessions and denying them personal space.

Neighbours also accused Franke of withholding food as a punishment for her children.

They also claimed that, after her husband was out of the home, Franke would leave the house for weeks at a time, with the children inside.

“Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,” one neighbour told NBC.

“I remember that she took away their Christmas one year,” he said, “and she would say things like ‘They’re not repenting correctly,’ which is a Mormon term for ‘they’re sinning.’ Just complete insanity.”

Read more:
Neighbours say they tried to warn child services
Sisters ‘did as much as we could’ to help kids

Franke’s time in court

When Franke and Hildebrandt had their first court hearing on 8 September it was derailed by tech issues as more than 1,000 people tried to join virtually.

YouTube commentator Tezzmosis provided a live commentary of the hearing to people who couldn’t get on the live stream.

He later told NBC he believed the intense public interest stems from the clear disconnect the case illustrates between the “perfect image” a parenting influencer can present online versus their family’s reality.

“They’ve been on [authorities’] radar for a couple of years,” he said, referring to the news police had previously visited Franke’s house due to concerns about her alleged treatment of her children.

“But being from an affluent family and having this notoriety in such a way, I think it was so hard for people to believe that something so bad could be going on beyond the surface,” Tezzmosis added.

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‘I am not my sister’s crimes’

Two sisters of Franke used YouTube vlogs to distance themselves from her, both uploading videos on 14 September.

In a video titled “I am not my sister. I am not my sister’s crimes”, Bonnie Hoellein said she was “cut off” from the family and “did not have access to anyone”.

She said she disagreed with what she called her sister’s “extreme” parenting tactics and “did everything legally that we could do” to help the children.

Ellie Mecham, another of Franke’s sisters, also said in an Instagram post they had done “everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe”.

Franke’s eldest daughter has also spoken out. Shari Franke, 20, said in an Instagram story after her mother’s arrest: “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”

Other influencers have also shared their shock at her crimes.

Julie Deru, who has a family channel called Deru Crew Vlogs, said she last spoke to Franke three years ago.

“We are kind of in complete shock, still, as to what she had done, because we had no idea of what was happening,” she said.

What about the father, Kevin Franke?

Kevin Franke’s lawyer appeared on Good Morning America to distance Ruby Franke’s husband from the child abuse allegations she faces.

The lawyer said the couple had been living separately for 13 months and Kevin Franke was “distraught” after hearing about the alleged abuse.

“No one’s ever made any allegations that he’s ever physically abused those kids, or anyone else,” he told the programme.

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