Trigger warning: this article mentions explicit details of child abuse
New horrific details have emerged from Ruby Franke’s criminal case, as it was recently revealed that she had pushed her son’s head underwater, nearly choked him, and kicked him while she was wearing boots.
On Monday (December 18), The Salt Lake Tribune reported the details after the disgraced momfluencer pleaded guilty to child abuse charges.
The 41-year-old Mormon was facing six felony counts of child abuse, but two of the charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.
In September, the county attorney in Washington County, Utah, announced the six formal charges against her: “Each defendant is accused of causing or permitting serious physical injury to the victims in three different ways: (1) a combination of multiple physical injuries or torture, (2) starvation or malnutrition that jeopardizes life, and (3) causing severe emotional harm,” as per Business Insider (BI).
New details of gruesome child abuse emerged as Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of six formal charges against her
Each of the six counts carried a possible prison sentence of one to fifteen years and a fine of up to $10,000.
In the present agreement, prosecutors said Ruby “forced her 10-year-old daughter to run barefoot on roads, withheld food and water, and scolded her for being “evil and possessed,” according to The Tribune.
The agreement also revealed that Ruby made her son believe he needed to repent and could avoid the punishments by being obedient. Her actions caused her son “severe emotional harm.”
“He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love,” the agreement further stated.
Prosecutors said Ruby forced her 10-year-old daughter to run barefoot on roads, withheld food and water, and scolded her for being “evil and possessed”
On Monday, Ruby pleaded guilty to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse, BI reported. Second-degree implies that the crime is committed intentionally or knowingly.
A recently released video showed Ruby entering the courtroom, giving a quick smile to some of her family in attendance, before sitting at the front benches.
She told Judge John J. Walton she had read “every word” of the plea deal before confessing: “With my deepest regret, and sorrow for my family and my children — guilty.”
As Judge Walton accepted the plea agreement, the guilty mother will now await her sentencing, which is scheduled for February 20, 2024.
Each of the six counts carried a possible prison sentence of one to fifteen years and a fine of up to $10,000
Ruby’s lawyer, LaMar Winward, had announced in a statement on Saturday (December 17) that his client would be pleading guilty, ABC News reported.
The Utan lawyer had described Ruby as a devoted mother and claimed Jodi Nan Hildebrandt had “manipulated” her, per ABC.
Jodi Hildebrandt, a mental health counselor and mother-of-two, made parenting videos with Ruby. She was also arrested and charged with multiple counts of child abuse.
LaMar further stated: “Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous.”
In 2015, Ruby created the YouTube channel 8 Passengers in which she documented her family life with her former husband, Kevin Franke, and their six children
According to the lawyer, Jodi “systematically isolated” Ruby “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,” he added.
In 2015, Ruby created the YouTube channel 8 Passengers in which she documented her family life in Utah with her former husband, Kevin Franke, and their six children.
Ruby’s lawyers claim that the mother of six was “manipulated” by Jodi Hildebrandt, her business partner
8 Passengers went on to reach almost 2.5 million subscribers and one billion views. But her popularity hit a wall when in early 2020 one of Ruby’s sons said that he had been banned from his bedroom and made to sleep on a bean bag for seven months, sparking worries amongst viewers.
The backlash grew as it was revealed that Ruby had sent one of her children to a wilderness camp for troubled teens, threatened to behead a stuffed toy, and told two children that Santa Claus would not be bringing them anything for Christmas that year because they were too “numb” to respond to other punishments.
Subsequently, a Change.org petition was launched reporting perceived child abuse and neglect. Despite Ruby and Kevin posting videos clarifying their teaching methods, their YouTube channel rapidly declined in popularity.
In 2022, Ruby and Kevin separated, and the 8 Passengers channel was deleted from YouTube. That’s when the infamous mom started working as a mental health coach at ConneXions, Jodi’s company.
“With my deepest regret, and sorrow for my family and my children — guilty,” Ruby told the judge earlier this week
Rumors of child abuse continued to escalate, as neighbors and Ruby’s oldest daughter, a college student, observed that her mom often left the children alone at home, prompting her to call authorities to check on them.
On August 30, 2023, Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Ivins, Utah, and on September 1 both were charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse.
According to a statement from the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, Franke’s 12-year-old son, who appeared emaciated and had “open wounds and duct tape around the extremities”, had climbed through a window of Jodi’s house and asked at a neighboring house for food and water.
Emergency services went on to find Ruby’s 10-year-old daughter in the house in a state of malnourishment. The siblings were subsequently taken to a hospital, where the boy was treated for severe malnourishment and “deep lacerations from being tied up with rope”, the BBC reported.
According to the British broadcaster, a search of the house found evidence “consistent with the markings” on the 12-year-old, and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services took the boy and girl and two more of Ruby’s children into care.
Police later reported that according to the boy, cayenne pepper and honey had been used to dress his wounds, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
While Ruby’s three sisters, who are also parenting influencers, have since publicly disassociated themselves from her, Kevin filed for divorce last month, NBC News reported on November 30.
People reacted in absolute horror and highlighted the “facade” of social media
