Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of child abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
The child abuse case against former YouTuber Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt began after their arrests in August 2023. BBC and NBC News stated that authorities arrested the duo after Franke’s malnourished son malnourished escaped from Hildebrandt’s Ivins home. The wounded 12-year-old boy went to a neighbor’s house, asking for food and water. The neighbor then called 911, and during a search, officers found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a similar condition.
People Magazine said that Franke, a Utah mother of six, and Hildebrandt faced six counts of aggravated child abuse each. They pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse each in December 2023. The outlet stated that TODAY, KSL 5, and KUTV reported on Franke and Hildebrandt’s similar prison sentences. They each received four separate and consecutive prison sentences of 1 to 15 years.
According to the Utah Department of Corrections, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt are incarcerated in the Utah State Correctional Facility.
Ruby Franke’s Journal: What Did the Entries Reveal About the Abuse?
According to NBC News, prosecutors released handwritten entries from Ruby Franke’s journal, detailing the abuse of her children. She also mentions her former business partner and co-defendant in the child abuse case, Jodi Hildebrandt, in some entries. In the released entries, her son is “R,” and her daughter is “E.” Throughout the journal, she wrote several instances when her children tried to steal water. She also described the times when she threatened E that she would “buzz” her hair.
One such entry claimed that a demon had possessed her son R. The entry was from July 11, 2023, which Franke described as a “big day for evil” in her journal. Franke wrote that she told her son “to stand in the sun with his sun hat” and called him “defiant.” She also wrote, “R, or I should say his demon, stays in the shade. I push R into the sun. R comes back.”
In the entry, Ruby Franke wrote she then “came back with a cactus poker” and poked “his back” and “on the neck.” She stated, “[R] doesn’t even flinch,” alleging the boy was “in a trance & doesn’t appear to feel anything. Jodi [Hildebrandt] taps him on the cheeks to wake him up.”
Afterward, the mother-of-six wrote she pushed “R” into the pool while keeping her hand “my hands in his face.” She then asked the boy if he had ever “heard someone talk underwater,” reported People Magazine. The entry further stated, “I know [R] is in there somewhere. I know deep down under all this anger you can hear me. It may sound like I’m underwater with you but hear me, ‘I love you.'”
The outlet stated that in some entries, Ruby Franke claimed her daughter “E” was manipulative. She also mentioned that the girl tried to break a “two-day fast.” The entry said that E “flips out and begins ranting. All day, [E] makes rhymes about ‘My mom starves me and calls it fasting.’ ‘My mom won’t lift two fingers & bring me food because all she does is lie on the bed & eat brownies.’ ‘My mom says she is the most loving mom in the world — blah blah blah.'”
Another entry detailed how the mother of six cut her E’s hair and “doused” the girl with “dog wash” water. “I cut more off [E’s] head. We doused her w/ water in the dog wash,” she wrote in the entry. It further said, “[E] said she wanted to run away. Jodi [Hildebrandt] told [E] she has no idea what is waiting for her.”
ABC 20/20’s episode titled “Ruby Franke: From Momfluencer to Felon” revisited the shocking child abuse case.
