A Utah mother of six who provided parenting advice through her widely known YouTube channel “8 Passengers” made her initial court appearance on Friday. She and the owner of a relationship counseling business, Jodi Hildebrandt, have been accused of abusing and starving Franke’s two young children.
The virtual hearing was delayed by about 45 minutes due to technical difficulties, as over 1,300 people attempted to access it. Tania Mashburn, spokesperson for the Utah State Courts, reported the delay.
Ruby Franke, 41, and Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, face six felony counts of aggravated child abuse after being arrested at Hildebrandt’s residence in Ivins, a city in southern Utah.
Appearing via video from jail in orange striped uniforms, Franke and Hildebrandt spoke minimally during the hearing. Their attorneys waived the reading of charges, and both women refrained from entering pleas.
Judge Eric Gentry ordered the defendants to be held without bail and scheduled their next hearings for September 21. Franke’s attorney, Lamar Winward, and Hildebrandt’s attorney, Douglas Terry, expressed the intent to request bail hearings.
About 50 people were permitted in the courtroom due to the public’s significant interest in the case. Additionally, numerous individuals called in to listen to the proceedings, according to Mashburn.
The charges stem from an incident in which Franke’s 12-year-old son managed to escape from Hildebrandt’s house and sought help from a neighbor, resulting in a call to the police. The neighbor reported that the boy was emaciated and had duct tape around his ankles and wrists, but the reasons behind these conditions were not disclosed.
During the 911 call, the boy mentioned that he did not know where his mother was and that his father was not in the vicinity. He also informed the dispatcher that his two siblings, aged 10 and 14, were still at Hildebrandt’s residence.
Concerned for the boy’s safety, the caller expressed worry that Hildebrandt might come looking for him while they awaited the arrival of law enforcement and medical personnel.
According to court records, prosecutors allege that Franke and Hildebrandt either caused or allowed someone to torture Franke’s son and harm her 10-year-old daughter. Both children were subjected to starvation and emotional abuse. It remains unclear why the children were present at Hildebrandt’s house.
The 12- and 10-year-old victims were transported to the hospital, and the other two children belonging to Franke were placed in the custody of child protective services.
Franke gained notoriety by sharing her family’s experiences on their video blog. However, she and her husband faced criticism for their parenting choices, such as prohibiting their eldest son from entering his bedroom for seven months as a form of punishment for pranking his younger brother. In one video, Ruby Franke discussed refusing to bring lunch to a kindergartener who had forgotten it at home. Another video showed her threatening to decapitate a young girl’s stuffed toy as punishment for the girl’s destructive behavior.
In another video, Franke revealed that she and her husband decided their youngest two children would not receive presents from Santa Claus due to their supposed selfishness and lack of response to disciplinary measures like being kept home from school and performing household chores.
“It’s because they’re so numb, and the more numb your child is, the greater the intervention needed to wake them up,” Franke stated in the video.
Some critics began an online petition urging child protective services to intervene. Sherri Franke, the Franke’s oldest daughter, distanced herself from her parents, as indicated by her social media posts. The “8 Passengers” YouTube channel, which operated for seven years since its inception in 2015, was terminated.
Police records from Springville, Utah, where the Franke family resided, show that Sherri Franke contacted the police on September 18, 2022, reporting that her siblings had been left home alone for several days. Although the police attempted to communicate with the children by speaking with neighbors, they were unsuccessful. A report was filed with Child and Family Services regarding the incident.
During the following weeks, officers visited the Franke residence four more times between September 22 and October 3.
Hildebrandt, the co-accused in this case, is the owner of ConneXions, a counseling business. The business website indicated that Franke contributed content for social media and podcasts. ConneXions videos featuring Hildebrandt and Franke were removed from YouTube following their arrest.
The state of Utah has initiated steps to take necessary action regarding Hildebrandt’s clinical mental health counseling license in light of her arrest. According to Melanie Hall, spokesperson for the Department of Commerce, which includes the state’s Professional Licensing Division, an emergency hearing of the licensing board may be arranged if Hildebrandt declines to surrender her license and opts to respond to the allegations.
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