YouTuber mum arrested after 'malnourished child tied in duct tape runs for help'

01 September 2023 , 02:20

1156     0

Mother-of-six Franke came under fire in July after footage resurfaced of her seemingly allowing her daughter Eve to go hungry (Image: 8 Passengers/Youtube)

YouTuber mum Ruby Franke has been arrested after an "emaciated, malnourished" child allegedly ran for help while tied up with duct tape.

The devout Mormon blogger, from Utah, has been arrested along with her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, for child abuse, with Franke's oldest child saying she's "glad justice has been served". Franke, who had over 2.2million subscribers on her previous 8 Passengers channel, was detained on suspicion of two counts of child abuse, with the news coming after she and Hildebrandt had both faced criticism for how they went about parenting the children.

Mother-of-six Franke came under fire in July after footage resurfaced of her seemingly allowing her daughter Eve to go hungry after she forgot to make her own lunch. In a now-removed video posted to YouTube in February 2020, Ruby reportedly explained she had received a text from her daughter's teacher, telling her that the youngster didn't have anything to eat for lunch.

However, Franke reportedly had a less-than-sympathetic response, claiming all her children were responsible for preparing their own lunches each morning, then refusing to drop off any lunch to the school. In the clip, Franke claims taking lunch to her daughter at school would not help in "teaching her a lesson".

Ruby Franke regularly came under fire while discussing her parenting choices online (8 Passengers/Youtube)

Franke's arrest comes after it's alleged that concern was raised by a neighbour who dialled 911 after one child reportedly asked for help at their home. A report of a child needing care on Wednesday was filed to the Santa Clara-Irvins Public Safety Department in Utah. The two women were subsequently arrested and authorities described how one child was "emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities".

Tragedy as 13-month-old boy dies after the stolen car he was in crashed

A statement released by the department read: "The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital. Information was obtained by police that other juveniles in similar conditions may be in a nearby home. Officers arrived at the home and searched the residence, locating another juvenile in a similar physical condition of malnourishment. They were also transported by EMS for hospital treatment."

Ruby Franke with some of her children (8 Passengers/Instagram)

It's said that four minors were taken into the care of Child and Family Services following the investigation, although it's not yet clear whether they were related to the two women. Franke's oldest daughter Shari took to Instagram on Wednesday to share what appeared to be a message regarding the situation. On her Instagram Stories, Shari shared an image of a police officer alongside the word "finally".

She followed it up with a message reading: "Hi all. Today has been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up. Kids are safe, but there's a long road ahead. Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy."

Shari seemingly broke contact with her family in April and went on to ask her followers for help in finding any concerning examples of behavior from her mom's channel.

Franke and Hildebrandt hosted a mom's "support group" podcast together. Franke started her channel in 2015 and in 2020 viewers called child protective services after their son Chad, 15, had said he had been sleeping on a bean bag for seven months.

Abigail O'Leary