Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt are both serving 30 years in prison for aggravated child abuse
Ruby Franke was once a family vlogger with a massive following — but now, she’s behind bars after pleading guilty to abusing her children.
The dramatic turn of events began in 2020, when viewers of Franke’s YouTube channel 8 Passengers — which chronicled their life as a family of eight in Utah — began to express concern over the Mormon family’s strict parenting style.
At the time, Franke and her husband, Kevin Franke, rebuffed their critics, insisting that the concerning videos (which showed them taking away necessities as punishments) were taken out of context and that their six children were safe.
Three years later, though, Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested and charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. The arrest came after Franke’s youngest son, who was 12 years old at the time, escaped from Hildebrandt’s home and sought help from a neighbor.
Following Franke’s arrest, disturbing details about the abuse she inflicted on her two youngest children emerged. In December 2023, she pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to between 4 and 60 years in prison but won’t serve over 30 years because of a Utah law relating to consecutive sentences, per Insider.
On-screen, her story will be retold in Lifetime’s TV movie Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story, premiering Oct. 26.
So where are Ruby Franke and Jodie Hildebrandt now? Here’s everything to know about what happened after their arrest.
Who is Ruby Franke?
Franke first rose to prominence in 2015 when she started her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, with her now-estranged husband, Kevin Franke.
At the time, Franke was a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of six children — Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve — while Kevin was an assistant engineering professor at Utah’s Brigham Young University. The Mormon couple would regularly vlog about their everyday life in Springville, Utah, posting up to five days per week, according to The Washington Post. By 2020, Franke’s vlog had amassed 2.5 million followers and over a billion views.
That same year, Franke’s strict parenting style first came under scrutiny, drawing allegations of abuse from followers who created an online petition asking child protective services to investigate the Franke family.
The petition, which garnered over 18,000 signatures, cited several controversial videos on 8 Passengers, including one where Franke’s oldest son Chad revealed he had his bed taken away for months as punishment for playing a prank on his sibling. In another, Franke refused to bring her daughter Eve — then 6 years old — lunch at school after she forgot to pack it herself.
At the time, Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services visited the Frankes’ home and interviewed the children for two hours — but the case was dropped due to lack of evidence for the allegations, Insider reported.
Franke defended her parenting style in a 2020 interview with the outlet, stating, “What people aren’t understanding is that we give our children choice in everything. We are teaching our children to be self-governing.”
Who is Jodi Hildebrandt?
Hildebrandt is a Utah-based therapist and the founder of ConneXions, a program that promised “to help you flourish in your relationships,” according to her now-defunct website. She offered marital and parenting counseling to “dispose of distortion’s ugly lies in order to live in Truth, connection, and freedom” — but she also had a controversial past.
Hildebrandt first came under fire in 2012, when her therapist’s license was suspended in the state of Utah for violating patient confidentiality. At the time, she had disclosed confidential information about a patient to the Church of the Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ and to Brigham Young University, which resulted in her patient’s removal from the school and his banishment from church services.
The patient, named Adam Steed, claimed to PEOPLE in 2023 that Hildebrandt had “destroyed” his life through her “super sophisticated forms of manipulation.” He added, “Her doctrine is that she believes that relationships need to die before they can be reborn.”
Several years later, Hildebrandt became involved with the Franke family in 2019 after they heard about her through their church, according to The Cut. It wasn’t long before Franke and Kevin started attending ConneXions classes — and by 2022, the couple separated at Hildebrandt’s suggestion to save their marriage. Kevin was forced to move out of their home and was cut off from communicating with his wife and children.
But Hildebrandt wasn’t just personally involved with the Frankes. That same year, Franke stopped uploading videos to the 8 Passengers channel and officially joined the ConneXions podcast with Hildebrandt. She also changed the handle of her Instagram account from “8 Passengers” to “Moms of Truth,” where she and Hildebrandt began sharing more of their extremely strict parenting philosophies.
In May 2023, Franke took her relationship with Hildebrandt a step further and moved herself and her four youngest children 300 miles away into Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah. It was there that Franke’s parenting took on its most extreme form, with journal entries detailing the cruel torture her youngest two children endured under Hildebrandt’s roof.
According to Franke’s journal, the children were forced to do demanding physical labor, were denied food for days at a time and were left to stand in the sun for hours and sleep outdoors as punishment for being “evil” and “manipulative.”
What crimes were Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt charged with?
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with six counts of felony child abuse in August 2023.
The arrest came after Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s home and made his way to a neighbor’s house seeking help. The neighbor, who was driven to tears by the boy’s “emaciated” condition, called 911.
When the authorities arrived, they found Franke’s son and 9-year-old daughter “emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around” their arms and legs. Franke and Hildebrandt were both placed under arrest, while the two children were taken to a local hospital. There were two additional underage kids taken as well, Today reported.
In the days following Franke’s arrest, her oldest and estranged daughter Shari expressed relief when her mother was taken into custody.
“Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” she wrote on Instagram. “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
Franke’s sisters — Ellie Mecham and Julie Griffiths Deru — shared a similar sentiment on social media, writing that the arrest “needed to happen.” Their statement continued, “The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.” Their other sister Bonnie Hoellein also spoke out in a YouTube video and shared her account.
What happened to Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt?
Due to the “severity of the injuries” found on Franke’s children, both Franke and Hildebrandt were held without bail following their arrests, according to CBS News.
In the weeks following their arrests, police and prosecutors unearthed more horrifying details about the abuse Franke’s children reportedly endured while living at Hildebrandt’s home.
Police discovered that Hildebrandt allegedly used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the children’s wounds and bound the children with ropes, chains and handcuffs. Prosecutors also alleged that Franke had forced her youngest son’s head underwater and smothered him with her hands, as well as making her daughter run barefoot on dirt roads.
Franke’s attorneys placed the blame for her actions solely on Hildebrandt and her “twisted” influence. Despite this, on Dec. 19, 2023, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. As part of her plea deal, the two additional child abuse charges were dropped — and Franke agreed to “testify truthfully” against Hildebrandt, KSL reported. However, she never got to testify against her former business partner.
Later, in December 2023, Hildebrandt also pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. The two women received identical sentences on Feb. 20, 2024. Both Franke and Hildebrandt received four separate prison sentences for 1 to 15 years, which will run consecutively. The length of each prison sentence will ultimately be decided by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole — but they will not serve more than 30 years due to a Utah law regarding consecutive sentences, per Insider.
Franke took “full accountability” for her crimes and apologized to her six children at her sentencing hearing.
“I took from you all that was soft, and safe, and good,” she said ahead of her sentencing. “I took from you your mother. How terrifying this must have been for you. I will never stop crying for hurting your tender souls. You’re so precious to me. I’m sorry.”
In addition to their prison sentences, YouTube banned Franke and Hildebrandt and deleted the channels associated with their names. Hildebrandt also had her counseling license frozen following their arrest.
What happened to Ruby Franke’s husband and children?
Following the arrest of his estranged wife, Kevin Franke has directed all of his attention to “rebuilding” his relationship with his children — who he had no contact with for over a year, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
“He is focused on doing what is best for his kids at this point, even if that means undergoing some introspection,” his lawyer, Randy Kester, told Today in September 2023.
The four youngest Franke children have been in the custody of Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services since Franke’s arrest in August 2023. Kevin has been fighting for full custody of the children in juvenile court, but as of April 2024, they were still under custody of the state, Kester told PEOPLE.
In addition to seeking custody of his children, Kevin sued Hildebrandt, citing “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” “negligent infliction of emotional distress” and “negligence” for him and his children.
In July of the same year, he also urged Utah state legislators for stronger child welfare laws — claiming that Franke and Hildebrandt took advantage of the system’s loopholes and limitations, per The Salt Lake Tribune.
“It is a lot to deal with every day, the questions of what if, what could have been done, what should have happened, what I should have done, what others should have done, it haunts you,” Kevin told Utah’s KSL in September 2024.
While working to build bridges with his children, he has been distancing himself from his former wife. In November 2023, he filed a petition for divorce, which is sealed under Utah state law.
Where is Ruby Franke now?
Franke is currently serving a 4 to 30 year sentence at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.
She will not appear before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole — which determines the exact length of her sentence — until December 2026, KSL reported.
Where is Jodi Hildebrandt now?
Hildebrandt is also serving her 4 to 30 year sentence at the Utah State Correctional Facility. Her first appearance before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will take place in December 2026 as well.
A judge ruled in February 2024 that Hildebrandt must set aside $100,000 from the sale of her Ivins, Utah, home for restitution for Franke’s youngest children, KSL reported. (The home was first listed for sale in January 2024 for $5.3 million. As of October 2024, the asking price is $4.9 and still has not sold, per Realtor.com.)
In addition to the restitution from the future sale of her home, Hildebrandt is being sued by Kevin in “an effort to preserve [her] wealth and assets until appropriate action can be taken to make the kids whole,” according to Fester, his attorney.