All language subtitles for abused.by.mum.the.ruby.franke.scandal.2024.1080p.web.h264-cbfm

POLICE OPERATOR:

MAN:

VOICE BREAKS:

TO CHILD:

Ruby Franke was made in a factory
to be a mommy vlogger,

and she posted these videos
that were incredibly popular.

OK, you guys,
it is back-to-school season.

There is this candid nature
to some of her videos

that led to her having
such a large following.

To have over two million subscribers
on YouTube,

that's astronomical success.

Viewers began to pick up on
some of Ruby's parenting techniques.

Nothing is off-limits.

OK, so we're here
at Lindquist's Mortuary.

KNOCKING

Police officers! Open up!

It just became darker
and darker and darker.

Many people believed
that she was in a cult.

In my 26 years of law enforcement,

I haven't seen
anything worse than this.

Police Department.
To the left, to the left.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
FEMALE OFFICER: Police Department!

Make yourself known.
MALE OFFICER: Go right.

FEMALE DETECTIVE:

This is beyond anything we thought
this woman would do to her children.

NARRATOR: It's mid-morning
in an affluent suburb

in southern Utah.

SHARP KNOCK AT DOOR

A wounded and malnourished boy
has been rushed to hospital.

Police officers. Open up!

Law enforcement
have been led to the home

of therapist Jodi Hildebrandt,
where the boy's mother was staying.

On that afternoon, Sergeant McCoy
received a phone call

from the Ivins Police Department

and had learned some very disturbing
details about Ruby Franke...

Hey. You OK?

It's just you in here?

..that there was a child,
very emaciated,

and it appeared that
she'd been confined in the home.

I'm Sergeant Tobler. Are you OK?

Also,
there's some type of panic room.

The children had been confined,
abused, malnourished, neglected.

It caused us great concern.

There were two other siblings
unaccounted for.

OFFICER: OK. Just place your hands
behind your back for me.

We dedicate all of our personnel
that day

to trying to locate the children.

In police work, sometimes
you always hope for the best,

but expect the worst.

They could potentially
have been dead.

But how did such a horrifying
series of events come to pass

to a seemingly idyllic
all-American family?

Springville City
is an awesome city in Utah.

It is a population
of about 36,000 people.

We're right at the foot
of the mountains.

We have a nearby canyon,
a creek running through town.

It's just a great place to live
and to work and to raise a family.

It's a very close-knit community.

There's a lot of people
who have been here

for many generations.

In our neighbourhoods here,
most everyone is the same religion

and we all go to church together.

The predominant religion in Utah's

The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints,

which is known by most people
as the Mormon religion.

And there are a lot of people

who use their kind of...

tie in their faith
with parenting advice.

One such parent,
living happily in Springville,

was 33-year-old Ruby Franke.

She came from a Mormon background.

She had three sisters
and one brother.

Ruby was married to Kevin,

and the pair met back when
Ruby was 18 and Kevin was 21.

Pretty quickly after the pair met,
they got married.

Ruby said all she ever wanted to do
was be a stay-at-home mum

and have lots of babies.

And actually, she and Kevin went on
to have six children together.

CHILDREN CHEERILY: Goodbye!

With six children
under the age of 12...

RUBY: I love you.
..and a strict religious background,

Ruby was a busy and hands-on mum.

RUBY: Be good. Be kind to people.

Ruby began documenting
her hectic family life

and posting videos online.

KEVIN: What are we doing?

What is this?
CHILD 1: It's a videotape.

CHILD 2: It's a cake, and inside
is the colour of the baby.

OVERLAPPING CHATTER

The first video that they actually
posted to the channel

and the way
they introduce themselves

was through the gender reveal
of their youngest child.

And this is such an intimate moment.

RUBY: So we're gonna find out
if it's pink or if it's blue.

CHILDREN SQUEAL

But Ruby and her family decided

that this was how they were
going to launch themselves

into the social media atmosphere.

Ruby was following a popular,
new online trend - family vlogging.

Oh, we thought for sure
it was a boy.

KEVIN: Staring at it
won't make it turn blue, pal.

Family channels, you know,
started to pop up around,

I would say, the mid-2010s.

There were lots of people
that were coming out

sharing their family's lives
day to day

with strangers on the internet

and amassing these huge gatherings
of followers because of them.

OK, so the kids are on the bus,
the kids are in school,

and I am ready to just...
SIGHS DRAMATICALLY

..sit down...
EXHALES

..take a breather.

Ruby continued posting videos
of her family

across several
social media platforms

under the name 8Passengers.

The image portrayed
was idyllic -

a large, happy family
living in Western American suburbia.

Hi, guys, I'm Kevin.
I'm Ruby.

We're the drivers of the
eight passengers. We're Mom and Dad.

We thought it'd be fun to just
say hi and introduce our family.

And if you're not good, I will turn
this car around and we will go home.

Seriously.
Behave.

She was this beautiful woman.

She had a beautiful home.

She has six, you know,
gorgeous children and a husband.

THEY SING: Happy birthday to you.

Ruby would have the camera rolling
for every family milestone.

'They're smiling, they're happy,
they're healthy, they're fit.'

The image that they put out to the
world was one of almost perfection.

Oh, my word. Seriously?

TOT GIGGLES

We have hit 5,000 subscribers,
and I am beyond excited.

Daddy, look!
I did a ponytail by myself.

It's a real sort of, I guess,
a fly-on-the-wall documentary

around what it's like
within their family.

And nothing, nothing is off limits.

OK, so we're here
at Lindquist Mortuary

for Kevin's grandma.

Yep.

She really opened up

and showed every aspect
of their lives together.

And the kids
were in almost every video.

CHILD CRYING: I want my bow...
I want my bow tie.

RUBY: Go get...

I know, you want your bow tie
and I can't find it anywhere.

In less than a year,
Ruby had uploaded

over 120 videos of her family
to the internet.

There was something
very approachable about them,

something that a lot of people
could relate to.

At its peak,
the 8Passengers YouTube channel

had around 2.5 million subscribers,

and with that, came all the
advertising and sponsorship deals,

which would then
bring in income for the family.

Ruby and her family
have been catapulted

into a new-found level of fame,

with her parenting style
on full display.

You cannot
just get into the cupboard

and take yoghurt...

and crackers.
CHILD MUMBLES

You can't come in the kitchen

and take whatever you want,
whenever you want.

Ruby was a real disciplinarian,

and she was not afraid
to show that on her channel.

And when the camera's
always rolling,

people are going to have remarks
on the things that you share.

There's no sort of consideration
of the children's ages,

or even any aspect about consent
and gaining their permission.

It's almost as if she's cultivating

the star-of-the-show persona
and everybody else,

her children and her husband
included, are simply extras.

They're props.

Despite some comments online
over her strict parenting,

Ruby Franke's popularity
continued to skyrocket

for the next three years,

eventually accumulating
over three million followers

and over a billion views.

As time went on, some of her viewers
began to pick up on

some of Ruby's parenting techniques.

One of those videos in particular

revolved around
one of her younger sons.

He lost one of his socks and so she
made him go outside and look for it.

RUBY: Put 'em in your pocket so
you can take 'em down to the hamper

and drop and give me ten.

CHILD: One...
RUBY: Put your hand straight out.

They're in.
They're not supposed to be out.

Shape your hands forward.
There you go.

In another video, Ruby reprimanded
her younger daughter

for going round
and cutting up things in the house.

RUBY: If you cut...
one more thing in my house...

NERVOUS LAUGHTER
..I'm going to take the scissors...

Look at me.
..and I'm gonna cut its head off.

OLDER CHILD:
Grandma will be so mad.

LITTLE GIRL CRIES

So what are you gonna do?

Threatening to destroy something so
sentimental to one of your children

really quite often goes against
the nature of many mothers.

But there's also an element
of it being disturbing in that

Ruby's decided that
throughout this moment,

she sees it as an opportunity
to film.

She sees it as an opportunity
to make content.

Are you gonna cut anything else?
TODDLER: No.

You promise?

Many of Ruby's followers
were starting to grow concerned.

Her videos caught the attention
of online influencer Kendra Bryan.

Ruby Franke's story
really gripped me,

because I saw a woman
exploiting her children for money,

and did the children benefit
from any of it? No.

Not... Children didn't benefit
anything from that,

and that's pretty terrifying.

I've noticed
that you've been hiding from me,

and you are feeling
a lot of embarrassment and shame.

You're treating them like
they're a piece of property.

LITTLE BOY:

OK. So I hear you.

That sounds
like a lot to be taken away.

That sounds like
it's gonna be a miserable summer.

But the sinister reality
was far worse than anyone imagined.

I just knew in my gut,
"Oh, this is gonna be bad."

You weren't responsible.

You were lying
and being manipulative with them.

And unfortunately, it was.

NARRATOR: Four years on
from posting her very first video,

Ruby Franke's online stardom
has made the family over $2 million,

thanks to the views and sponsorships
through their YouTube channel.

So how does an admired influencer
go from picture-perfect family life

to serving a possible
30-year prison sentence

for horrific child abuse?

As other YouTubers and influencers

began to take notice,
and their viewers

began to pour into Ruby's channel,

that's when we started to see
the relationship between Ruby

and her audience sour.

We started to see that friction
between the commenters, the viewers,

and Ruby and her parenting style.

After experiencing behavioural
issues with their teenage son,

Ruby and Kevin
sought professional help

from local therapist,
Jodi Hildebrandt.

Jodi Hildebrandt

was a licensed counsellor
in the state of Utah,

and she was actually the founder
of this programme called Connexions.

Welcome to Connexions.

I'm Jodi Hildebrandt.
So glad you're with us.

Connexions was a therapy
organisation that Jodi had set up,

and according to her website,

she was there to offer counselling
to couples, families, individuals.

If you're like me,
you've had pain in your life.

It could be from a divorce,
work conflicts,

relationship issues with children,
grandchildren, spouse.

Connexions is the solution.

Jodi Hildebrandt's company,
Connexions,

was a multifaceted life coaching
business, and it was successful.

Jodi was estimated
to be worth over $4 million.

She worked with hundreds of clients
across Utah,

charging up to $200 an hour.

So I was introduced to
Jodi Hildebrandt by a family friend.

I met with her, did some
one-on-one sessions with her.

And honestly,
I have to tell you, like,

I was quite impressed
with what she had to say.

She kinda just learned about
my background, my upbringing,

and, um, I actually enjoyed it.

Ruby's son began taking part
in therapy sessions with Jodi.

I had a phone call yesterday
with my therapist,

and she taught me about
truth and distortion.

Mom probably talks about Jodi
all the time, but...

I've mentioned Jodi a few times.

She has a podcast called Connexions
- with an X.

But there was more to Jodi
than met the eye.

She'd at one time had
her licence suspended as a therapist

for revealing information
to members of the church

without her patients' consent.

Ruby was undeterred,

and soon Jodi became Kevin
and Ruby's marriage counsellor.

Then, controversially,
Jodi moved into the family home.

Jodi and Ruby
were growing closer and closer.

They were spending
more and more time together

and their lives
were becoming more intertwined.

And it was at this time that things
really began to go from weird

to downright bizarre.

Once Jodi entered the picture,

things really escalated
on Ruby's channel.

Still posting several videos a week,

Ruby's behaviour
became even more unsettling.

She shared in a video

that she had received a call
from her daughter's teacher

informing her that her six-year-old
had no lunch with her that day.

I know that her teacher is
uncomfortable with her being hungry

and not having a lunch,
and it would ease her discomfort

if I came to the school with lunch.

Um, but I responded and just said...

..was responsible for making
her lunches in the morning.

So the natural outcome is she's just
going to need to be hungry.

And hopefully, hopefully,
nobody gives her food

and nobody steps in
and gives her a lunch.

Ruby was punishing
a six-year-old child

for not making their own lunch

and letting her starve
in order to teach her a lesson.

Unless you find a friend

who's willing to share some of
their food with you, I don't...

I don't think
you're gonna be able to eat.

But if you're not responsible
for your lunch and your lunch money,

that's the natural consequence.

And I'm really sorry
you're learning this the hard way.

This made people's stomach turn.

In another clip posted by Ruby,

it was revealed that her teenage son
had been banned from his bedroom

after playing a prank
on his brother.

He was made to sleep on a beanbag.

My bedroom was taken away
for seven months

and then you give it back, like,
a couple of weeks ago.

I don't think our viewers know that.
JODI: Sleeping on a beanbag.

I've been sleeping on a beanbag
since October.

This video sparked outrage.

It just blew up online.

A week after that beanbag video
went up,

a Change.org petition was started
by people who had seen the video

and seen Ruby's behaviour,

that gathered almost
20,000 signatures.

A friend of Ruby and Kevin's

witnessed their behaviour
first-hand.

She's appearing anonymously
in order to protect her identity.

'She was a strict mother.'

She did have some ways
of handling the children

that people did disagree with.

The two youngest are showing
long patterns of selfishness.

They have been showing, um,
through their choices,

their unwillingness to repent.

She was getting a lot
of very hateful, negative comments,

and I do remember
her mentioning that

sponsors were beginning to pull out,

and it did take a dark turn.

The online criticism against Ruby
had escalated to the point

that it caught the attention
of local police.

I am Lance Haight, the chief
of police in Springville, Utah.

Concerns had been raised
in social media about Ruby Franke

and her parenting style.

And we were aware
of some of those concerns,

but we looked into them

and there was no evidence
of criminal conduct at that time.

Ruby Franke is withholding
privileges from a child,

but otherwise, all of their
physical needs are being met

and they're
not being physically abused,

then that would not constitute
child abuse.

And so we're unable
to take enforcement action.

After years of crafting the image
of a perfect family,

Ruby and Kevin hit back at those
openly criticising them.

The things that we show and share,

and the things that many of you
are criticising and calling abusive,

are actually things
that mental health professionals

have counselled us to do.

Both Ruby and Kevin really
kind of take an adversarial stance

to some of the criticism
that they were getting.

Clearly, they were, you know,
impacted by this controversy

and the criticism,

and it starts to seep its way into
their content that they're making.

In an attempt
to silence the critics,

Ruby and Kevin disabled comments
on their social media channels

and hired a lawyer to send
cease and desist letters to vloggers

who were making content about them.

Ruby Franke appeared to be able
to continue to act with impunity

on the internet,
and the great irony of it all

is she was still giving
parenting advice

to other parents on the internet.

Although still in the spotlight,

Ruby's star power
was beginning to wane

under the weight
of immense public scrutiny.

And internet sleuths,
hooked on the story,

had noticed
another concerning detail.

NARRATOR: In January 2022,
Ruby Franke posted an intimate video

of her youngest daughter's baptism
on the 8Passengers YouTube page.

Good morning, Passengers.

How are you guys today?

Today's vlog is a big one.

ALL: # We have been taught

# And we understand
That we must do as the Lord... #

Then, the channel goes silent.

After that last video was uploaded
in January 2022,

things went quiet,
there was nothing new.

The channel went dark,
Ruby went dark.

There was no content posted
of the kids online.

There is this thought that maybe

she had taken the criticism
to heart...

..and had stopped posting videos.

People began to wonder
if the petitions had finally worked.

They began to wonder if their
complaints had gotten through

to law enforcement.

And there was the sense online,
was this the end of Ruby Franke?

But four months later,
Ruby was back.

And this time, on a new platform,
and with a new partner.

Turns out that
she had actually gone into business

with Jodi Hildebrandt
in Connexions.

Hello, and welcome to Connexions.

I'm Jodi Hildebrandt.
And I'm Ruby Franke.

Ruby Franke
had joined Connexions Classroom,

the life coaching business
of Jodi Hildebrandt.

They did YouTube videos.
They had a podcast.

They would go to talks.

She was no longer
the girl-next-door mummy blogger

in her sun dresses and cardigans,
but she appeared more business-like.

And actually, at this point,
she had rebranded herself

as a mental fitness instructor

and seemed to really be going
for this whole life coach look.

This is my passion,
is to invite you to stand in truth

and put your opinions to the side
for a minute,

because your kids
are the target of distortion.

And they were giving advice to moms,
specifically Latter-day Saint moms,

who were struggling
with their relationships

and struggling
with how to discipline their kid

and approach their husband.

We need you. We love you.

We know what power exists
inside you.

And we want you to be here.

So, please, humble yourself.

Become curious
about what we're saying.

Now, not only was Jodi
living with the Franke family,

but she was creating content
with Ruby.

After originally being hired
as a therapist for Ruby's son,

the two women
were growing ever closer.

Jodi Hildebrandt, I think gave, um,

this level of legitimacy
to Ruby Franke.

And she had the credentials.
She had a master's degree.

Ruby was bad on her own,

but Jodi came with this toolbox
of experience as a therapist.

As a therapist, but also just
kind of an expert at mind games.

People who had seen her
on 8Passengers

moved over to Connexions
and became wildly concerned

about the sort of advice
she was offering to parents.

JODI: Do children
have a right to privacy? No.

Everything in their life
is open to you. Everything.

Um, journals.
Um, they're, you know,

if... if you've graciously given
them a room, that room is yours.

It's not theirs.
Your drawers.

Everything is up to investigation

whenever you wanna
go and investigate.

They were deeply concerned about the
way she discussed evil in children.

Ruby Franke
had not just changed channels,

she had amplified and accentuated

the extremeness
of her parenting techniques.

If your kid came to you on fire,
would you say,

"But if I put out the fire,
that's gonna really hurt

"and you're gonna end up with scabs
anyway,

"so I'm just gonna love you
where you are right now"?

No! You throw them on the ground
and you start rolling them.

And they're gonna say,
"You're hurting me.

"You're beating me,
you're controlling."

It's like, "No, dear, hold still.
I'm getting the fire out."

Many lay the blame
for Ruby's darker attitude

squarely at the feet of Jodi.

I think Jodi,
for a long period of time,

has been very clever and very crafty

and twisted things
in a very dark way.

I think Ruby
slowly started to subscribe to that

after exposure to Jodi.

As criticism of the
Connexions platform was mounting,

more unsettling revelations about
Jodi Hildebrandt came to light.

As people began to dig
into Jodi Hildebrandt's past,

what they found
was deeply concerning.

The more Jodi Hildebrandt
and Ruby Franke

were in the public eye,

the more criticism
started to kind of surface,

especially
with former clients of hers.

So, I personally saw Jodi
for about...

..roughly for a year,
maybe a little bit more.

There was one specific group meeting

that she said something that
was just absolutely out of line.

She outed a very close friend
of mine

that hadn't come out as gay,

and she outed him
in front of a group setting.

It just about destroyed him.

And I stood up,
it was in a men's group,

and I said, "This is off.

"There is something inside of you
that is evil. It's heartbreaking."

JODI: 'Men and men can marry
and women and women.

'When that law was passed,'

it opened the floodgate
for every other devious, vile,

um...

..sexually permissive
and destructive behaviours

to be engaged upon.

TREY: And you were seeing this woman
kind of becoming a cult leader,

using religious tactics
and shaming tactics.

She makes you feel like
you're evil

and that you really, really need
a ton of help.

So glad you're with us.

There's something here for you.

Despite concerns
over her beliefs and attitudes,

Jodi's life coaching business
was successful and lucrative.

There's a lot of individuals

that were spending a ton of money
on this woman.

Jodi Hildebrandt's house in Ivins
was like around 10,000 square feet.

That's a big house.
Clearly, she was successful.

Clearly, she had a following.

Clearly, they were making
a lot of money.

It was very difficult to see
that this woman

was living in this type of home,

knowing very well
the destruction she has caused.

People began to really sort of see
the cracks in Jodi's armour

and her questionable practices
as a therapist.

I started to see Jodi Hildebrandt
kind of like, have this, um...

a God complex.

She was like a possessed woman.

And other people began to talk
online about how she had

deeply and irrevocably
affected their marriages.

They talked about how she had
separated men from their wives.

With Jodi having already moved
into the Franke family home,

Ruby and husband Kevin separated.

Jodi moved in with
Ruby and her family,

and by summer 2022, Kevin,
Ruby's husband, had moved out.

Jodi's coming in,
using and leveraging

all of those religious beliefs
about sexual impurity

and saying,
"Well, Kevin's this, Kevin's that."

And then Kevin
gets kicked out of the house.

He was asked to leave,
and just suddenly, he wasn't there.

Which was surprising
because, prior to that,

he and Ruby
seemed to get along quite nicely.

Again, it appeared that Jodi
had continued her typical practice

of separating husbands and wives,
and that included with Ruby Franke.

Jodi was quite the puppeteer,
that's for sure.

Like, this woman
is a master of manipulation.

It just seemed like Ruby's world
got smaller and smaller.

As Ruby and Jodi grew closer,

others in the community
kept Ruby at arm's length.

In the neighbourhood,

there were many people
that pulled back from Ruby

and said they believed
that she was in a cult,

and that had been expressed to me.

Some people think she's in a cult,
some people think she's too extreme,

but there was definitely talk
in the neighbourhood, and concern,

and splitting opinions.

Then in early 2023,

Ruby made a decision to take
her youngest children out of school.

I'm excited, because I'm...

I'm home-schooling all my kids now,

and it's fun.

We're keeping it super simple.

That's when everything
made a drastic change,

because we no longer saw the younger
children in the neighbourhood,

and we would see them in
the neighbourhood many times a week,

walking their dog,
riding their scooters.

And then, suddenly, we quit
seeing all of them altogether.

Although Jodi had been living
in the Franke family home,

she and Ruby
now spent most of their time

at Jodi's $5 million home,
four hours' south in Ivins.

She spent all of her time in Ivins,

sometimes leaving her kids
in Springville,

like, 250 miles away.

Ruby's 19-year-old daughter
had cut ties with her parents

due to her mother's increasingly
concerning behaviour.

She became so worried

that she even made a 911 call
to the police.

RINGING TONE

In September of 2022,

our police department
received a call

from the adult daughter
of Ruby Franke.

At the time,
I believe the youngest child

would've been about
eight years old.

The next oldest child
would've been about 12 years old,

and she was concerned
about the children's welfare

and asked if an officer
could go by and check the house.

He knocked on the door,
could see children in the home,

but they didn't answer the door.

Our officers, over the course
of just a couple of weeks,

made five attempts to go back
to the home and try to make contact.

Even the allegation itself

that the children
have been left home alone

is not criminal conduct,

so there wasn't enough evidence
for the court

to grant that search warrant
to speak to her.

A year after Ruby's daughter
called the police,

another 911 call was made.

This one would set in motion
a chilling chain of events.

RINGING TONE

WOMAN:

MAN:

Ruby Franke's 12-year-old son

had turned up
at a house in Ivins, Utah.

As a journalist, you hear a lot
of really horrific stories.

It just comes with the territory.

But this 911 call
absolutely chilled me to the bone.

If a child shows up at your door,
asks you to call police,

and you can't talk
to the operator without crying,

I think that underscores
how serious the abuse was.

OPERATOR:

NEIGHBOUR:

He's blaming himself,
and then he asks the neighbour

to take him to jail,
to take him to the cops.

He didn't just run away from home
to get help,

he ran away from home thinking
that he was going to be put in jail.

NEIGHBOUR:

OPERATOR:

NEIGHBOUR:

Within moments, the police descended
on Jodi's house.

NEIGHBOUR: 'I never imagined

'anything close to that
was going on.'

SIRENS

NARRATOR: On August 30, 2023,

Ruby Franke's son escaped
from Jodi Hildebrandt's house.

RINGING TONE

MAN:

Within minutes, police
and paramedics arrived at the house.

This is a lot.

Oh, boy.
MAN: I know.

We learn just how terrible
these wounds actually were.

This was deep, deep wounds,

and then they were wrapped in
like a saran wrap

with cayenne pepper
and honey mixture.

And then that was covered, you know,
additionally, with more tape.

This was torture.

MAN:

The 12-year-old boy told officers
that the people who tied him up

were Jodi Hildebrandt
and his own mother, Ruby Franke.

And he thought that
two of his sisters,

aged 9 and 14,
were in danger back at the house.

The question for law enforcement
then became

where are her other children,

and what condition are they in?

We need to identify that house,
and if there's two other kids there,

we need to go through
a security sweep of that house.

The home of Jodi Hildebrandt
was quickly surrounded by police.

Front door, left. To the left.

Once the police arrived...

..all hell broke loose.

She was very combative,
aggressive almost to a point,

suggesting that they had no right
to be there at the home.

Officers began an urgent raid
of the 10,000-square-foot property.

OFFICER:

JODI:

OFFICER:

Reality is, they don't even need
a search warrant,

because the situation is so severe.

'They're concerned for immediate
safety of the children right now.'

This was less of a home
and more of a compound,

with rooms upon rooms upon rooms.

It spans acres,

to the point that law enforcement

had to really search
throughout this home,

worrying about the condition
of her other children.

Desperate attempts to find
the young girls continued.

And not long after,
250 miles away, in Springville,

police stormed the home
of Ruby Franke.

MALE OFFICER:

Just the verbal report
that we received

from the Ivins Police Department
caused great concern

for our officers and our department.

'I was home when the police
came to their Springville house.'

We all sat outside and watched
over a dozen police cars show up,

and we had no idea
what was going on.

We were very concerned
about the condition

of the children,
whose whereabouts were unknown.

FEMALE OFFICER:

With the clock ticking,

officers went to desperate measures
to find Ruby's other young children.

MALE OFFICER:

FEMALE OFFICER:

We certainly didn't rule out
that the children

could've been being held captive...

..abused, malnourished...

..and potentially have been dead.

But the house was empty.

Police in Springville
searched for answers,

but officers
at Jodi's house in Ivins

had made a disturbing discovery.

Eventually, police find a girl
in her... in her room in the dark,

who also appears emaciated.

There's this little girl

with a shaved head,
sitting in the middle of the room.

Quiet, stoic, won't say anything,

won't look at them.

Refuses to leave for hours.

She appeared frightened,

terrified to answer
police questions.

And eventually,
police had to bring her food

in order to get her to trust them.

She was so scared of the police
that they had to spend a long time

actually trying to coax her
to come out

and convince her that
they were taking her somewhere safe.

Fearing that there could be
more children still in Jodi's home,

the police continued their search.

The story goes
from scary to terrifying.

You see what looks like a panic room

that law enforcement is adamant
they need to get into,

out of fear
that a child could be in there.

In their search
of other rooms in the home,

police found what looked like
evidence of torture.

Rope, adult diapers, duct tape,

and wound dressings
covered in cayenne pepper.

The two youngest children
were taken to hospital,

and the severity of their injuries

would keep them there
for three days.

When we learned the details of
what had happened to those children,

I never imagined
anything close to that was going on.

It was sickening,

it was shocking,
it was heartbreaking.

It made me cry.

I know those children.

We loved those children,
and we still do.

VOICE BREAKS:
It's gonna make me cry now.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

Things were really bad,
and we understood

that children were being abused,
but the extent of that abuse

was something far worse
than we imagined.

Police knew that Ruby's two eldest
children had already moved out,

but her two middle teenage daughters
were still missing.

'We were very concerned
about the welfare of the children.'

We dedicate all of our personnel
that day

to trying to locate the children.

After two-and-a-half hours,

police received the warrant
to unlock the safe.

They discovered rope,
handcuffs and a bed,

confirming suspicions
that a child had been locked inside.

Finally,
four hours after the raid began,

Ruby Franke turned up
at Jodi's home.

FEMALE OFFICER:

But neither
of her two missing daughters,

aged 14 and 16, were with her.

When Ruby arrived at the house,
she appeared completely unfazed.

'The house was swarming with police,
and Ruby just sat down on the couch.

'She at no point asks,
"Where are my children?" '

Ruby didn't say anything
to the police.

She didn't try
to offer up any defence.

She didn't ask any questions.

Instead, she goes quiet,

and at this point,
the cops put her into handcuffs.

Ruby Franke was now in custody,
but uncooperative.

In Springville, police officers
received intel from locals

that Ruby's 16-year-old daughter

was seen at a sports club
earlier in the day.

So we spoke to their employees
at the rec centre,

and they said that
the Franke daughter

had left with an adult woman,
who was not her mother,

but they didn't know who she was.

We retrieved a surveillance video
from the rec centre

and could see an adult woman

taking the Franke daughter
with her in a car.

We found out who the vehicle
is registered to,

and it's a woman who lives
20 miles north of Springville.

So that's the next location
that we went to search.

She seems almost unaware
of why they may be there,

surprised that they would be there
looking for Ruby Franke's children.

Both girls
appeared physically unharmed,

but noticeably troubled.

Ruby's friend explained
to the police

that she had been asked by Ruby
to take care of the children

for the evening.

Police verified the friend's story

and eventually
cleared them of any wrongdoing.

For Child Protective Services
and law enforcement,

their mindset is,
"Let's take the children,

"make sure they're safe,
make sure they're healthy,

"and then we'll figure out
the rest."

With all four minor children
under child protection,

Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt
were taken into custody

and charged with six counts
of aggravated child abuse.

Three years after she was
first reported to authorities,

Ruby was finally in custody.

'And I think that's when
it all kind of hit us.'

Like, this is beyond anything

we thought this woman
would do to her children.

If that youngest son
had not run away,

100% believe that these children
would not be alive right now.

But in my 26 years
of law enforcement,

I can say that I haven't seen
any worse circumstances

of children being mistreated,

abused, held captive,
and malnourished.

I haven't seen
anything worse than this.

NARRATOR:
Within hours of Ruby Franke

and Jodi Hildebrandt's arrest,

police were uncovering
the full extent of their abuse.

We received details
from the Ivins Police Department

about how the children
had been abused, malnourished

and held captive in Ivins.

And those details
are absolutely just heartbreaking.

Chris, you open the door.

After Ruby and Jodi were arrested,
they were taken into custody

and questioned by
the Ivins Police Department.

MAN:

WOMAN:

In my experience in law enforcement,
their reaction to questions

from law enforcement is strange

and bizarre that
they appeared to show no emotion

and seemed to be detached
from what they had done.

MAN:

WOMAN:

MAN:

WOMAN:

WOMAN:

WOMAN:

MAN:

Ruby and Jodi were both charged

with multiple counts
of aggravated child abuse.

MAN:

As Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt
were taken to jail,

law enforcement
continued an extensive search

of both their homes.

Officers quickly discovered
a crucial piece of evidence -

Ruby's personal journal,

which laid out in graphic detail
the extent of the abuse.

One of the major pieces of evidence
was Ruby Franke's own diary.

Weaved into this diary
is this kind of undertone

of this need to reform the children,
because they were innately evil.

Ruby Franke's own words
from her diary entries

have been voiced here
using AI technology.

'And once the lies and sin
is revealed,

'the body must engage in good work,

'and the good work
needs to be painful.'

KYLE DUNPHEY:
We learned in her diary

about forcing her kids
to work outside,

do chores without shoes on.

I mean, it gets really hot in Utah.

It's a pretty sinister picture
of what was happening.

BRIAN BUCKMIRE:
Some of the hard labour

that they were forced to do as ways
of humbling themselves under God...

..and correcting past behaviour.

She is very descriptive
in these journals

about covering
the youngest son's face and nose

and holding him underwater.

'I now know the demon he harbours
in his heart is so sick

'that, in order to keep my son,

'I will need to put him back
under sedation,

'like stitching up a patient knowing
you didn't get all the cancer out.

'And it's only a matter of time
before your patient keels over.'

She's sedating her children
in order to control them.

As disturbing details of the abuse

continue to be unravelled
by police...

officers turned their attention

to the children's father,
Kevin Franke,

who had previously
separated from Ruby,

in order to establish
whether he had any involvement.

Law enforcement
begins questioning Kevin Franke,

asking him
about the state of his children.

MAN:

WOMAN:

Many of us looked at this
and thought,

"How could you not know
the conditions of your children?

"Not have a phone call,
a text message,

"an email, a letter, something,

"knowing how your children are doing

"under the care
of your separated wife?"

MAN:

A really kind of striking part
about this whole case

is that I think a lot of the abuse

and allegations of abuse went on

without Kevin Franke
knowing about it.

And he was clearly really surprised
to learn of some of the details.

MAN:

That's when law enforcement

perhaps stopped
looking at Kevin Franke

as a potential suspect

and started looking at him
as a potential victim.

Kevin later claimed
he had been deceived,

and that Jodi had destroyed
his family.

He cooperated with police,

and there were no charges
brought against him.

Ruby Franke made several
phone calls to her husband, Kevin,

where she appeared unrepentant,

painting herself as the victim.

She almost seemed
to blame her children

for the situation more than herself,

and she had this mentality

that she would soon be out of jail,

that this...
some grand mistake had been made.

At the end of 2023, Ruby Franke
finally faced her day in court.

Ruby Franke's name was everywhere.

There was just this really palpable,
uh, rage against her.

She was abusing her children.
That's one of the cardinal sins.

Good morning,
welcome to District Court.

We're here in the matter

of State of Utah versus Franke,
case number 2-3-1-5-0-1-7-6-4.

NARRATOR: In December 2023,
Ruby Franke appeared in court

facing several counts
of aggravated child abuse.

Journalists flooded the courtroom
in anticipation

of finally hearing
what Ruby would say.

In court, television cameras

broadcast her every move
to the nation.

The Ruby who arrived in court
is a very different Ruby

than the one that we got to know

through 8Passengers
and Connexions.

There's none of the confidence,
that's all lost.

We've gone from this bubbly,
confident blonde

to this meek, almost subservient,

almost silent, um, individual

that almost looks like

if she could make herself any
smaller, she would be doing that.

There was an absolute frenzy
around her case.

When she first went to court,

this case was like
the crime of the century,

and everyone
wanted to be witness to it.

News cameras captured
the astonishing moment

that Ruby Franke stood up
and finally addressed the court.

Ms Franke,
how do you plead to count one,

aggravated child abuse,
a second-degree felony?

Guilty.

To count three,
aggravated child abuse,

a second-degree felony?

Guilty.

To count five,
aggravated child abuse,

a second-degree felony?

Guilty.

And to count six,
aggravated child abuse,

a second-degree felony?

With my deepest regret and sorrow
for my family and my children,

guilty.

There are a lot
of people that felt vindicated.

Finally, there's some sort
of justice for this woman.

Ruby Franke took a plea deal first.

Days later, Jodi Hildebrandt
also took a plea deal.

I'm relieved to see that Ruby Franke

and Jodi Hildebrandt pled guilty,

rather than having to put
the children, or the family

or anyone else through a trial.

So in that regard, it feels as
though now justice has been served.

Two months later, in February 2024,

Ruby and Jodi were back in court

for sentencing hearings.

Again, cameras captured their
staggering statements to the court,

and prosecutors laid out
the extent of their crimes.

We're here for sentencing

in the matter of State of Utah
versus Ruby Franke.

She committed horrible acts
of child abuse.

From May to August in 2023,

Miss Franke and her business partner
held her two children,

ages 9 and 11, turning 12,

in a concentration-camp-like
setting.

In her address to the court,
Ruby said that she had been led

to a dark delusion that she
was living in a distorted reality,

and she blamed Jodi for isolating
her from her friends and family.

For the past four years,

I've chosen to follow counsel
and guidance

that has led me
into a dark delusion.

Ruby talked about being duped
and almost hoodwinked,

and kind of pulled apart
from her family, isolated,

and made to feel
that this was the only way

to protect her children.

I was led to believe
that this world was an evil place,

filled with cops who control,

hospitals that injure,

government agencies that brainwash,

church leaders who lie and lust,

husbands who refuse to protect,

and children who need...

..abused.

There's no direct
or definitive ownership

of the choices that she made,
of the behaviour.

It comes from her being naive enough
to be deceived

into this notion that the world
is full of evil people,

and that she was brainwashed rather
than acting from her own agency.

I still question whether or not
she's taken full accountability

and responsibility for her actions.

This is torture
of another human being,

but not just any human being.

This is torturing a child
that you have birthed,

that you have carried,

that you have fed,
that you have loved.

Court is back in session...

Cameras also captured

Jodi Hildebrandt's statement
to the court

as she finally addressed
what she had done.

I sincerely love these children.

I desire for them
to heal physically and emotionally.

One of the reasons
I did not go to trial,

so I did not want them to
emotionally relive the experience,

which would have been
detrimental to them.

Jodi said, like, she loves the kids

and she wants them to have,
like, a great life or something.

I was like...

the audacity,

the absolute audacity of this woman.

You love these children.
What do you think love is?

Is love duct tape and handcuffs
in the basement?

I could never classify that as love.

News outlets broadcast
the judge's sentencing

and damning assessment of the case.

Your conduct in this case
was disastrous for these children.

Adults are supposed
to protect children.

Adults with specialised training,
in particular,

are supposed to protect children.

You didn't do that in this case.

In this... In this case,
you terrorised children

and the results have been tragic.

Ruby and Jodi received sentences

of between 4 and 30 years
for their crimes.

The Utah Parole Board will review
their behaviour in prison

to determine when they are fit
for release.

After the arrests,

the four youngest Franke children
were placed into state care.

Kevin Franke filed for divorce
from Ruby in November 2023.

He has continued to fight
for full custody

of his children in the courts.

These are not just...

These weren't strangers.

These were children that we know,

and these were...

..happy, talkative,
engaging, silly children.

There is a compassion
and a love for those children.

As a community,
I think the focus needs to be

on what do we do
to build them up

and make them feel that the world
is not a horrible place.

Ruby Franke's fall from grace
was catastrophic.

She was a former YouTube star.

She had everything that seemed
like the new American Dream.

To become a convicted child abuser,

the world could not look away.

Throughout my time as a journalist,

I've covered some pretty dark,
bleak and grim cases.

But there's something
about this one that stands out.

And to me, that's the fact that
it becomes this cautionary tale.

It was horrific abuse...

all being done by somebody

who had marketed themselves
as this ideal family,

and it really does shed a light
on what can really be going on

behind closed doors
in some of these influencers' lives,

especially when it comes
to content involving children.