At the end of August 2023, a painful event took place in Ivins, Utah. A 12 -year -old boy, visibly badly nourished, approached a neighbor’s house. Desperate of the help, he called the doorbell. At first, no one answered, but as he was about to leave, someone on the camera of the ring of the ring called him. “Can you make two favors for me?” Asked the boy. “Take me to the nearest police station?”
The woman who answered the door gave her water, while her husband contacted the authorities, signaling a child who was “emaciated” with “band around her legs” and “hungry and thirsty”. When the police arrived, they discovered that the boy was the youngest son of Ruby Franke, a local youtuber. He had escaped from the home of Franke’s trading partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, where he and his 10 -year -old sister were detained in captivity. The children had been hungry, isolated and physically attacked. Ruby Franke, the mother behind the popular Vlog 8 passengers family, had become convinced that her children were possessed by “bad spirits”.
Following the escape, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested for the abuse of several accusations of children. The two women are now serving consecutive prison terms, ranging from 4 to 30 years, after pleading guilty.
The new Docuseries in three parts of Hulu in the family: the fall of Ruby Franke, which will be presented on February 27, plunges into frightening events leading to their arrests. Directed by Olly Lambert (known for Ukraine: The People’s Fight and Aftershock: Everest and the Treatrice of Nepal), the series offers exclusive ideas of separate children of Ruby, Shari and Chad, while they share their stories for the first time at the camera. The documentation also presents interviews with the police, the neighbors, and the ex-husband of Ruby, Kevin Franke. This is the real story behind the fall of Ruby Franke, the Vlogger of the former popular family has become an attacker for condemned children.
Who is Ruby Franke?
Ruby Franke, 43, mother Mormone of Six children from Springville, Utah, was renowned for the first time in 2015 with her YouTube Passengers Channel 8. The channel documented the daily life of her family and quickly reached 2.5 million subscribers by June 2020. However, as her popularity increased, it was the same with concerns about her parental methods. In an infamous video, the son of Ruby, 15, Chad, revealed that he was sleeping on a bag of beans in the basement for months as punishment. Other videos have shown that Ruby threatened to hold the meals or even cut the head of a child’s plush. She also made the headlines when the family opened Christmas gifts while the youngest children received nothing.
In the docuseries, Kevin Franke explains that Ruby’s obsession to appear as the “perfect mother” was an engine behind the success of his channel. But growing criticism, in particular with regard to its difficult disciplinary tactics, deeply disturbed it. Despite this, Ruby continued to reject concerns, saying in 2021 that her approach simply presented “what a responsible mother looks like”.
Who is Jodi Hildebrandt?
Jodi Hildebrandt, a therapist who revoked his license in 2012 after disclosing the personal information of a patient to church leaders, was presented to the Franke family through a family friend. Ruby and Kevin hired Hildebrandt to advise their teenage son Chad, who had acted. However, as the Docuseries reveals, Chad was not the only one to feel more and more controlled by the public image of the family. While the Vlogging pressure rose, Ruby turned to the extreme discipline methods of Hildebrandt, believing that they were the key to “saving” his children.
The teachings of Hildebrandt focused strongly on the concept of “demonic possession” and soon, Ruby and Kevin have become convinced that their whole family was affected by the forces of evil. In August 2021, Hildebrandt moved into Franke’s house and the relationship of the two women approached. According to Kevin, it became more than a simple friendship – Ruby started sleeping in Hildebrandt’s room, and their link seemed much more intimate than what he was initially expected.
Attempts to intervention
While the concerns about the well-being of Franke’s children have mounted, the neighbors and the YouTube viewers have started to act. Shari Franke, still in contact with the neighbors concerned, called the police to request a wellness check on children. However, the authorities could not enter the house without a mandate, which the judge refused to sign.
In 2020, a change.org petition calling for a well-being check on children collected more than 18,000 signatures. However, the authorities could not intervene because they found no physical evidence of abuse, and the children had been invited not to answer the door. Meanwhile, Kevin Franke continued to keep the hope that Ruby would let him go home and did not respond to growing concerns in the outside world.
Arrests and consequences
The arrest of Ruby and Jodi was a turning point. After more than a year without contact, Ruby called Kevin, asking him to recover their two youngest children at the police station. She said the children were “possessed demonic” and accused them of lying to the police.
When searching for Hildebrandt’s home, the authorities found disturbing items such as strings, handcuffs and medical supplies. In a safe play, they also discovered a newspaper that Ruby had held, documenting her daily attempts to “exorcise” her children. Police learned that only the two youngest children had been detained at Hildebrandt, while the two intermediate girls were later found at the home of a neighbor.
Ruby’s escaped son told the authorities that he and his sister had been forced to support exhausting physical punishment, in particular by being attached and forced to jump on a trampoline all day. They were also taken to the desert and run for hours.
Ruby and Jodi pleaded guilty to four charges for mistreatment of aggravated children. In emotional public apology during the conviction, Ruby expressed her deep regret for the pain she had caused to her children, blaming Hildebrandt for manipulating her actions.
The Franke family today
Ruby’s eldest daughter, Shari Franke, has since published a memoir entitled The House of My Mother: A Dill’s Quest for Freedom, which has become a bestseller of the New York Times. She now uses her platform to educate the dangers of family vlogging. Shari also promised never to speak to his mother again.
Chad Franke went to influence social networks and, in 2024, shared that he had started attending a real estate school. Meanwhile, the younger children of Ruby are in detention, receiving medical care and continuous psychological treatment.
Kevin Franke asked for Ruby’s divorce in February 2025, invoking his regret to have vlog his children and call for the legal protection of children in the online world. “Vlogging my family, put my children in public social networks, it was false, and I regret it every day,” he said.
The true story of the fall of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt is that of manipulation, abuse and deception. The devil of the family family highlights this horrible story, losing new details on the life of a family once idolized on Youtube.
