The curious case of Ruby Franke & her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt
On Aug. 30, 2023, home CCTV systems of an affluent neighborhood showed a skinny legged boy without shoes ringing doorbells, as nobody was answering the boy kept going door after door until finally one of the neighbors answered ‘yes’ right when the boy was already leaving for the next door. On hearing the neighbor’s voice the boy turned around and politely asked the man inside that house,
‘Hi, I was wondering if you could do two favors’.
The man asked, ‘Well, what are they?’,
and the boy replied ‘take me to the nearest police station. Well, actually just one’s fine’
‘What’s going on son?’ the man asked surprised, ‘have a seat there’ the man said as there were chairs and a table in the front door porch. Walking slowly back to the neighbor’s porch, the boy politely replied in an austerely calm voice, ‘it’s just personal business’.
The dialogue above seems to be taken out of a thriller movie or book, a work of fiction, however too often reality is as chilling as a piece of horror fiction intended to disturb, frighten or scare. In this case, it was the harrowing reality of this boy who came to be referred to as RF in the media and in documents of this horrific case of child abuse. The boy escaped from a house in Ivins, a city in southwestern Washington County, Utah, United States, owned by the now notorious Jodi Hildebrandt, friend and business partner of Youtuber Ruby Franke, the infamous mother of the child who managed to escape from Jodi’s home.
What follows is a heart-wrenching account of the events after the emotional 911 call from the neighbor who answered his door that day and saw the emaciated state of this child. And this is what the neighbor described to the emergency operator:
“I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help, and he said he had just come from a neighbor’s house. He’s emaciated, he’s got tape around his legs, he’s hungry and he’s thirsty. He has duct tape around each ankle, and big injuries. There’s sores around them. I think there’s a good chance he’s been detained. And he has them [duct tape] around his ankles and his wrists as well. Okay, this boy needs immediate assistance. I think this boy has been detained, so he escaped.” As the neighbor described the state of this child, he was interrupted by his own sobbing and sorrow for this boy who stoically sat there waiting for the police and emergency response officers to come and rescue him.
The boy, who police confirmed had visible wounds and marks from tape around his wrists and ankles, asked the man for food and water. While he was being treated for his injuries by emergency responders, he was questioned who put the “ropes” [duct tape] on him, the child was so scared he was replying evasively to the questions, the police officer had to assure him that he was not in trouble, that he was there to help and needed to figure out what happened, that he could talk to him and tell who did this to him. The boy said that he wasn’t the only one who needed help and that he thought that he still had 2 sisters in the house in the same conditions as himself. Soon after, police went to Jodi Hildebrand’s house, searched and found Ruby Franke’s 10-year-old daughter, who came to be referred to as EF, allegedly in a similar physical condition of malnourishment in a bathroom closet inside Jodi’s home. The girl just sat there silent, she was visibly too terrified to speak to the police officer, who told her if she didn’t want to talk it was okay, but he was there to help her not to hurt her, and showed her his badge and sat with the girl. More than an hour later the girl was too afraid to speak or leave the closet. The police officer asked if she was hungry and brought her some food and drink. It took her several minutes before she slowly leaned towards the pizza box to take a bite. The officers took turns to sit with the girl as she was still too afraid to leave the closet. Finally after 4 hours EF stood up with emergency responders and slowly walked out of the closet. She was taken to a hospital.
Business Partners & Partners in Crime
Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke were both arrested on aggravated child abuse charges at Jodi’s home on the same day the two children were found and rescued by police officers.
The mother of the children, Ruby Franke from the moment she was arrested at Jodi’s home never talked or responded to questions asked by police officers, she just sat there unfazed, blinking at the officers as they questioned her about her children. She obviously was very aware that what she and her friend Jodi Hildebrandt did to her children was wrong and criminal. After a long time of not saying anything, and as the officer insisted on questioning her on what happened and why it happened, Franke smirked and said she would wait for an attorney, and then she continued sitting silently blinking at the officers who continued to ask questions to which she blinked continuously and finally spoke to repeat she wanted an attorney.
Jodi Hildebrandt reaction was the opposite of Franke’s, she was quite talkative, saying that she’s a psychologist, that she watched people flip things all the time, and that she didn’t know what was going to happen with what she would say to the police officers, so she didn’t want to answer any questions without the presence of her attorney whose name she couldn’t remember, but she remembered he was “very honest” and that she’s also “very honest”. Then she uttered a name: Adam whose father and brother were also lawyers.
Initially Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were charged with six counts of felony child abuse. In December 2023 the attorneys from the firm representing Ruby, had sent a statement saying she had agreed with prosecutors to plead guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in exchange for two others to be dropped. In a statement to the outlet, Ruby’s attorneys blamed Jodi for taking “advantage” of her and influencing her to abuse her two youngest children. The attorneys claimed Jodi Hildebrandt “systematically isolated Ruby from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Franke. This prolonged isolation resulted in Ms. Franke being subjected to a distorted sense of morality, shaped by Ms. Hildebrandt’s influence.”
Victim of manipulation or narcissistic manipulator?
Ruby Franke before meeting her partner in crime was quite a successful youtuber, her channel called “8 Passengers” documented her family life with her husband, and their six children. The channel had more than 2 million subscribers, however, for years, viewers raised concerns about Ruby’s controversial parenting methods, and the family became the subject of harsh criticisms, including allegations of child abuse. Viewers reported their behavior to the authorities for child abuse and exploitation of their underage children for views. In June 2020 Utah Child Protective Services were reportedly called on the family to be investigated after a petition. The petition cited examples of child abuse such as the now-deleted video that showed their then-15-year-old son sharing that he had slept on a bean bag for seven months as a punishment for behavioral issues. Ruby has also been criticized for refusing to bring to her then 6-year-old daughter lunch at school. She explained on a video uploaded on her channel that her daughter forgot to prepare and pack her lunch before going to school, so the punishment would be going hungry that day, and that she was hoping that nobody gave her daughter food otherwise she wouldn’t learn the lesson. Ruby punished her children with limited meals, forced exercise and on-camera shaming, all of which she filmed and published on her YouTube channel.
According to documents filed to the court including Ruby Franke’s plea agreement described the physical torture of her two youngest children. Her son was made to carry boxes of books up and down stairs, perform wall-sits and stand in direct sunlight for days. The boy was kicked, his head was held underwater and his oxygen was restricted with hands on his nose and mouth. Her daughter had to work outside under the hot sun without shoes and run barefoot on dirt roads for an extended period of time. The children were told they were “evil” and their punishments were acts of love, according to the plea agreement. The above punishments described are just one or two examples of the horrific abuse going on for years.
Sentence
Both Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt have been sentenced to four 1-15 year terms in prison to be served consecutively for each of the four counts of child abuse to which they pleaded guilty. Although the sentences total up to a far greater amount, Utah state law says the maximum time either woman could serve in prison is 30 years. How much time they actually spend in prison will depend on the state parole board.
Who of the two is the worst?
Jodi Hildebrandt, the “friend” who abused someone else’s children or Ruby Franke, the mother of the abused children who was supposed to care and protect her own children?
Ruby Franke is an example of a woman who should not have had children, she simply lacks the necessary motherly instinct to love, protect and nourish her own children. A Mother is more than just birthing babies, it’s about loving another human being more than yourself or anything else in the world, it’s about putting your child before you, your own wants, needs, and desires; often giving up on things and plans that do not include your child, you’ll have to adapt your life and plans to accommodate your child’s wellbeing while they are young and defenseless. It is the mother’s duty and obligation to protect their child from wicked people and dangerous situations.
If you suspect child abuse or any form of abuse, be it a child, an adult – man or woman – or an elderly, report it to your local Abuse Hotline or to the local Police. And bear in mind that child neglect is also a form of child abuse.
Source: Law & Crime Network
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