Some people may be familiar with the YouTube channel Eight Passengers. It featured a mother with her eight children making family fun videos. Her videos showed a typical suburban family, home-schooling her kids, cooking, and eating together. Behind closed doors, there was a disturbing truth that was discovered with the mother Ruby Franke.
The Beginning
Ruby Griffith Married Kevin Franke and had their first child back in 2003. In total, they had six children, Sherry, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve. They all lived in Ivins Utah. Fast forward to 2015, they decided to start a family on YouTube called Eight Passengers. Their channel became so popular that it gained more than two million subscribers. But then Ruby’s parenting style started to gain negative attention.
In one video her then-six-year-old daughter Eve forgot to pack a lunch for school. Eve’s teacher contacted her mother requesting that she bring Eve lunch. Instead of Ruby bringing her daughter lunch, she instead told the teacher that it was Eve’s responsibility to pack herself a lunch. She then said that she was “just going to have to be hungry.”
In another video, Ruby said, “My kids are literally starving. I hesitate to say this because I’m going to sound like a mean barbarian but I told the kids I’m not even going to let you eat breakfast until you get your chores done.”
When Ruby made videos with her kids, viewers started to become very suspicious around 2020 when one of her sons mentioned that he had been forced to sleep on a bean bag for seven months. Since then the viewer went digging for more proof of any sort of neglect and abuse.
Revealing the Truth
In August 2023, police received a 911 phone call from Franke’s malnourished 12-year-old son Russell. He climbed out of a window, Police said the child then ran to a neighbor’s house asking for them to call the police. The man who called the police said that it was clear the boy was being neglected. Russell had open wounds around his body, duck tape around his legs, and was clearly malnourished.
When first responders arrived they found his sister, ten-year-old Eve inside the home in a similar state as Russell. Both were taken to a hospital and put in the care of Utah’s Department of Child and Family Services. Ruby Franke and Jody Hildebrandt were both arrested.
Police noted that Ruby was seen in a YouTube video filmed in Jody’s home, posted two days before the kids were discovered. Police said that the observations point to Franke being in the home and having knowledge of the abuse that was going on behind closed doors.
Authority
Ruby Franke was sentenced to one to 15 years for each crime of child abuse. At most Franke will serve about sixty years in Utah prison. the Utah district court on Tuesday due to her crimes. ending a months-long child abuse case brought against the mother of six.
According to The Cut, “In a statement inquiring about arrests, the Washington County Office in Utah accused both of the women for “causing or permitting serious injury” to the two children. “A combination of multiple physical injuries or torture, starvation or malnutrition that jeopardizes life, and causing severe emotional harm.”
In December, Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse towards her two children.
Then Ruby confessed more of her horrific crimes against her children, including binding her son’s (Russell) feet with handcuffs, attempting to drown him while holding his mouth and nose underwater, and kicking him while she was wearing boots. Franke’s business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, was also sentenced to four one-to-15-year prison (about 60 years) on Tuesday. Both women will serve their sentences consecutively.
More
Franke tried to convince her son that he was ‘evil and possessed’. Franke would make it seem like her actions were “acts of love” and that he would not be punished if he did what he was told.
Ruby also committed similar acts towards her daughter like making her run barefoot or dirt roads and making her do outdoor labor without food or water.
Franke’s parents and brother both filed statements with the court on behalf of her sentencing Tuesday. In their statements, they blamed Hildebrandt’s influence on her actions. Franke’s brother Beau Griffiths said that he was also involved in Hildebrandt’s program.
While in jail both women were placed under medical observation, and away from the general population.
By: Layla N
Sources:
BBC: Ruby Franke: Parenting advice YouTuber given maximum sentence for child abuse
The Cut: All the abuse allegations against Ruby Franke by Andrea Cavallier
NBC: Ruby Franke formally charged with 6 counts of felony child abuse
Inset Image Courtesy of Carl Thornton – Creative Commons License
Featured Image Courtesy of Jobs For Felons Hub’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
