Attention has shifted once more to Ruby Franke and Jodi Hilderbrandt, two women who were sentenced to prison for child abuse in 2024. A new movie titled “Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story,” which tells the shocking story of the two religious women, was just released.
The film has got people wondering about Ruby Franke’s story again, including the whereabouts of both women. Trouble started for the two Mormon women in 2023 when cops arrested them on suspicion of child maltreatment.
The police received a report from one of Ruby Franke’s children who escaped from Hilderbrandt’s home and asked a neighbor for help. The neighbor got the cops involved, leading to the arrest of both women.
Following an investigation, the cops uncovered inhumane practices that both women subjected some of Ruby’s children to. The children suffered starvation and other forms of mental and physical torture intended to keep them in line. Eventually, both women were charged for their crimes and were sentenced to prison.
Ruby Franke and Jodi Hilderbrandt are presently serving prison sentences ranging from one to 30 years at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. However, the women could get an earlier release depending on the discretion of the prison’s parole authorities.
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Who Is Ruby Franke?
Ruby Franke is a 42-year-old Utah-based Mormon woman who was a vlogger and social media influencer. She attained popularity in 2015 after her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, became Hotcake, attracting billions of views. She ran the channel alongside her husband, Kevin Franke, before they separated.
Back then, Ruby Franke was 32 years old and was a stay-at-home mom with six children. The vlog documented the daily lives of the 8-member family every weekday in their Springfield, Utah home. Kevin was an assistant professor of Engineering at Bringham Young’s University in Utah. The Mormon couple’s children were Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve.
Along the line, viewers became concerned with some of Ruby Franke’s disciplinary actions towards the kids. In one such case, Chad revealed in one of the videos that Ruby denied him access to his bed for several weeks as punishment for pranking one of his siblings.
Viewers were so worried that they signed an online petition, which garnered 18,000 signatures, requesting authorities to investigate the children’s welfare. In another instance, the YouTube mom denied her then 6-year-old daughter lunch at school because the kid didn’t pack it before she left for school.
Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services responded to the petition and paid the Frankes a visit. They interviewed the children but couldn’t find sufficient evidence with which to build a solid case. Ruby Franke insisted that her parenting methods were misunderstood.
She gave an interview in 2020 where she spoke about the issue. “What people aren’t understanding is that we give our children choice in everything. We are teaching our children to be self-governing,” she argued.
The New Ruby Franke Documentary
A newly-released Ruby Franke documentary on the treatment of her children depicts her as a callous and careless mother. “Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story,” which dropped on October 28, 2024, detailed the story of Ruby and Kevin Franke’s family as well as Jodi Hilderbrandt from the YouTube vlogs to the women’s incarceration.
Renowned actress and star of “Melrose Place,” Heather Locklear played the role of Hilderbrandt. The actual Hilderbrandt is a therapist based in Utah and the founder of ConneXions, a therapy program for mending fences in relationships between couples and between parents and children.
Ruby Franke reached out to Hilderbrandt, who was a church member in 2019. A short while later, Ruby and Kevin became clients in Hilderbrandt’s therapy sessions. They discovered that part of Hilderbrandt’s solution to marital disputes was for the couple to separate for a while. As a result, Ruby and Kevin separated, leading to Kevin moving out of the home.
Later on, Ruby stopped posting on her channel and instead joined Hilderbrandt’s ConneXions podcast. In 2003, she relocated her household to Hilderbrandt’s home. During their stay, the children passed through cruel punishments such as food deprivation, standing in the sun for hours, and sleeping outdoors.
Is the Ruby Franke Documentary a True Story?
Ruby Franke’s real-life story came out after one of her children escaped from Hilderbrandt’s home. The police were alerted to the case through the help of a neighbor. Soon, cops arrived at the home and found some of the kids “emaciated and malnourished.” The police also found duct tape and wounds on the children’s arms and legs.
After their arrest, Ruby’s oldest daughter, Shari, expressed joy. She wrote on her Instagram account, “We’ve been trying to tell the Police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.” Ruby Franke‘s sisters also expressed their pleasure with the development.
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How Long Was Ruby Franke’s Sentence?
Ruby and Hilderbrandt were denied bail due to the gravity of the maltreatment. Prosecutors accused Hilderbrandt of dressing the children’s wounds with cayenne pepper and honey; plus, she bound them with chains, ropes, and handcuffs.
They also alleged that at one point, Ruby submerged her youngest son’s head in the water and made one of her daughters run barefoot on the road. Both women pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. Both received multiple prison sentences, each lasting from 1 to 15 years. The sentences will run at the same time.
A remorseful Ruby apologized to her children before she was imprisoned. Both women were banned from YouTube, and Hilderbrandt’s counseling license was suspended. The kids are now with Ruby Franke’s husband, Kevin. The court also mandated Hilderbrandt to pay them $100,000 as restitution.
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