Once a beloved family vlogger with YouTube fame, now facing years behind bars. This is Ruby Franke’s unexpected downfall. Franke, born in Springville, Utah, in 1982, became well-known as a family vlogger on YouTube. The channel was called “8 Passengers,” referring to herself, her husband Kevin, and their six kids. The goal of “8 Passengers” was to showcase the wholesome moments of parenting and the bonding moments as a Mormon family. The channel was very successful, and it even inspired fans to turn to a Mormon lifestyle. At the channel’s peak, the youngest siblings were as young as 5-7 years old. Even though every child had screen time, the main children being showcased were the two eldest, Shari and Chad. Franke very heavily exploited the younger children, and they are not even old enough to be shown on the Hulu documentary, “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.” Their faces were blurred and their identities were completely hidden for their safety.
As time went on, their channel started to die down as soon as it was revealed that Franke had made Chad sleep on a bean bag, instead of a bed, for 7 months. Franke explains that this was a punishment for Chad’s behavior and that this decision was prompted by his therapist, Jodi Hildebrant. Hildebrant, born in 1969 in Utah, was part of a group called “Connexions Classroom,” which was based in Orem, Utah. Franke had initially reached out to Hildebrant for guidance on her son Chad, as she believed that his behavior started to get out of line, and Hildebrant eventually became his life coach. While Hildebrant was a resource for Chad, Hildebrant and Franke became very close quickly because of their religious ideas aligning. After the beanbag incident, Hildebrant, Franke, and “8 Passengers” as a whole started to receive immense amounts of hate for this, and the channel ultimately stopped posting.
“8 Passengers” was done posting, but Franke wasn’t; she and Hildebrant started a religious YouTube channel about finding guidance in sinful acts. Franke described herself as “Hildebrant’s sidekick.” The pair became very close as time went on, and there are even suspicions of their relationship being more than just a close friendship. During Hildebrant and Franke’s time together, the older children and her husband started to leave the picture. First, the husband was kicked out of the house, then Shari, and then Chad. This leaves the younger children with just Franke and Hildebrant looking after them.
After the multiple kickouts, this is when the physical abuse started occurring. A Ring Camera video was released from one of Hildebrant’s neighbors, as the kids were now staying at her house. The video shows the 12-year-old son, Russell, asking for a favor from the neighbor. The man asks what the favor is, and he says, “Taking me to the nearest police station, it’s personal business.” After hearing this, the neighbor immediately called the authorities. During the phone call, Russell was described as “extremely dehydrated and malnourished. With duct tape around his legs and wrists, with sores surrounding the tape.” The police were then sent to search the Hildebrant house. The Washington County Attorney’s office released a video of this search, and inside the search, they found Russell’s siblings, who were also enduring abuse. The children were held in a work-camp-like environment. They were denied food, water, and beds, with nonstop manual labor in these conditions. It is revealed that Russell was able to get help for himself and his siblings by slipping out of a window and then running to the neighbor’s house. On the same day, Hildebrant and Franke were arrested.
On December 18th, 2023, Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to four 1-30 year terms in Utah District court. Jodi Hildebrant was given the same sentence, and the two are to serve their sentences consecutively. In February of 2024, both were officially incarcerated, and parole could still benefit them. The children have been in DCFS custody from 2023 to the present day. Franke had started with YouTube, parenting praise, and is now facing up to thirty years in prison. All from a span of ten years, this was how Ruby Franke ruined her relationship with her fans and her family.
