Ruby Franke child abuse case

Ruby Franke ran the YouTube channel 8 Passengers, launched in early 2015, documenting her family's life in Utah with her husband and their six children. The channel grew to roughly 2.5 million subscribers and 1 billion views by mid-2020. Beginning in 2020, viewers raised concerns about Franke's disciplinary methods after reports that one son was barred from his bedroom for seven months and made to sleep on a beanbag chair, and after other punishments became public, including sending a child to a wilderness camp for troubled teens and threatening to behead a child's stuffed toy. A Change.org petition alleging child abuse and neglect was filed against the family; the Frankes denied wrongdoing publicly, saying the incidents had been taken out of context.

In 2022, Franke separated from her husband, who moved out of the family home. Her YouTube channel was suspended that year, after which she began working as a mental health coach alongside licensed counselor Jodi Hildebrandt at Hildebrandt's company, ConneXions, and the two launched joint social media channels, including one called Moms of Truth. Neighbors and one of Franke's adult children contacted authorities to check on the younger children after noticing they were frequently left home alone. Both the 8 Passengers and ConneXions accounts were terminated in 2023, and Franke was unable to create new accounts.

On August 30, 2023, Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested in Ivins, Utah, in Washington County, after Franke's 12-year-old son escaped through a window at Hildebrandt's house and sought help at a neighboring home. The boy was found emaciated, with open wounds and duct tape around his extremities; his 10-year-old sister was also found in the house showing signs of malnourishment. Both children were hospitalized; police said the boy had deep lacerations consistent with having been bound with rope, and that cayenne pepper and honey had reportedly been used to dress his wounds. Investigators found evidence at the property consistent with the boy's injuries. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services took the two children, along with two more of Franke's children, into protective custody. Two days later, Franke and Hildebrandt were each charged with six felony counts of aggravated child abuse and held without bail; Hildebrandt surrendered her counseling license, and YouTube suspended Franke's remaining channels.

On December 18, 2023, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. The factual basis described forcing her son to work outdoors for weeks with inadequate protection, causing severe sunburn, amid claims that the children were "possessed." Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of felony aggravated child abuse on December 27, 2023, with two additional charges dropped under a separate plea agreement. On February 20, 2024, Franke was sentenced to four consecutive terms of one to fifteen years' imprisonment, requiring a minimum of four years served; under Utah's sentencing law, total time served on consecutive terms cannot exceed thirty years absent a life or death sentence. Both women are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and said they believed the punishments were religiously justified, describing them as efforts to help the children repent and expel what they called evil.

Franke's husband filed for divorce in November 2023; the divorce was finalized in March 2025. In January 2025, Franke's eldest daughter published a memoir describing her experience growing up in the household, and the husband of a former ConneXions client filed a federal lawsuit against Hildebrandt and Franke, alleging fraud and that their parenting methodology encouraged child abuse among clients.