Inside YouTube mum's house of horrors after she admits abusing her own kids

21 December 2023 , 11:52

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Ruby Franke was laughing at her children as they described the various punishments they'd been subjected to (Image: Youtube)

Bodycam footage from inside abusive YouTube mum Ruby Franke’s house of horrors where she starved her children has emerged.

Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree child abuse for abusing and starving two of her children - who once regularly recorded for her popular YouTube parenting channel, 8 passengers. Franke, 41, faced the accusations after her son escaped her home to ask the neighbour for water and food.

She claimed she pleaded guilty "with my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children", and is set to testify against a business partner believed to be involved in the crimes. Franke will be sentenced on February 20, 2024.

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Around a dozen armed police stormed the house searching for Franke's children (Springville Police Dep)

Footage revealed on ABC News revealed the moment what appeared to be a dozen law enforcement officers swarmed Franke’s home in Utah, showing them approach the large house with their guns drawn. They force the door open before thoroughly searching the property room-by-room for Franke’s children after one son escaped.

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The body cams show a large open-plan downstairs room and a cluttered garage, before the news report cuts to an audio recording of a phone call from one of the eldest of Franke’s children.

Police had their guns out as they thoroughly searched the house (Springville Police Dep)

“Hi, my name is Shari Franke,” the caller begins in the 911 call.

“My four younger siblings are living in Springville and my neighbours have been telling me that they have been left home alone for about four or five days,” she adds in the call which dates back to 2022, months before Franke’s arrest.

In the last few years, police attended the Franke home over a dozen times (Springville Police Dep)

In the last few years, police attended the Franke home over a dozen times according to records, first in 2018 before a wellness check was most recently done in 2022.

Franke previously had over two million subscribers for her parenting blog which her children would take centre stage in.

But in August this year she was arrested while at the home of her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, after her son’s escape from the house.

Hildebrandt, 54, has also been charged with child abuse after Franke appeared in videos on her life-coaching YouTube channel, ConneXions Classroom. Franke’s 12-year-old son alleged that Hildebrandt had tied up his wrists and ankles before he escaped the home in August.

In August this year she was arrested (Springville Police Dep)

The plea agreement was agreed by Judge John J. Walton and leaves sentencing, which will likely include prison time, entirely up to the judge. Franke’s lawyers argued that Rube Franke had been “led astray” by relationship counsellor Hildebrandt which left her with a “distorted sense of morality”.

In a statement, Winward Law, representing Franke, said: “Ruby Franke is a devoted mother and is also a woman committed to constant improvement.

The large home was the site of much of the abuse from Franke on her children (Springville Police Dep)

Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrant had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrant took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous.

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“Over an extended period, Ms. Hildebrant systematically isolated Ruby Franke 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.”

Alex Croft