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Tuesday, Netflix A new documentary released The rise of scrutiny Jody HildebrandtThe Utah-based therapist was jailed alongside disgraced YouTuber Ruby Franke in 2023 after pleading guilty to multiple crimes. child abuse TOLL.
Franke first made headlines in 2015 when she shared controversial parenting advice on her YouTube channel 8 Passengers. Now ex-husband Kevin Frank, and their six children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve. The now-deleted channel was once popular, amassing more than 2 million subscribers before speculation and concerns about the family’s activities began to grow in 2020.
In 2022, their YouTube channel was suspended and the Utah mother announced that she would be joining a group called ” connect – which has since been deleted – with Hildebrandt. The pair’s videos sparked controversy, including one that suggested traditional ideas of unconditional love could be counterproductive.
August 2023, Frank and Hildebrandt were both arrested after Frank’s son, Russell, who was 12 at the time, escaped from Hildebrandt’s home and ran toward a neighbor and called 911. Russell was malnourished and had visible wounds on his limbs covered with tape.
The boy later told investigators that Hildebrandt applied cayenne pepper and honey to the wound where he was tied up with rope.
The Santa Clara-Ivins Department of Public Safety explained in a news release that officers responded to a nearby home where they found another teen in a similar condition.
Following Frank’s arrest, family members, including her daughter, issued multiple statements about the incident, including that they were “glad justice has been served.”
Here’s everything we know about Franke’s YouTube fame, arrest, and sentencing.
Who is Ruby Frank?
Franke first launched the 8 Passengers YouTube channel in 2015 to document her family’s life in Springville, Utah. A year after the channel launched, she told The Local KSL News Her page is where she “let [her] Heart rate goes down and I enjoy spending time with my kids now. ”
Frank sparked criticism after revealing in a video that one of her sons, Chad, slept on a bean bag for seven months after playing a prank on his siblings. In June 2020, concerned viewers contacted local Child Protective Services and started a petition on Change.org to encourage a CPS investigation.
Amid backlash, Frank told Insider At the time, this sleeping arrangement was Chad’s “choice” after he no longer shared a room with his brother. A letter from DCFS, seen by the viewer insiders, Calling the claims unfounded, the case accusing Frank of being the perpetrator has been closed.
In August 2022, she faced further scrutiny for refusing to bring a lunch to school for her then 6-year-old daughter, who had left food at home. Frank said she didn’t want anyone to feed her daughter lunch, explaining that she wanted her child to experience how “painful” it was to be hungry all day, so she “made sure to bring a lunch.”
After her controversial parenting choices made headlines and garnered millions of views online, she began working as a mental health coach at ConneXions, a company run by Hildebrandt.
Frank and Hildebrandt’s joint channel also sparked outrage. In December 2022, they shared a now-deleted video about “The Concept of Love.”
The Utah mother claims her children are “rejecting unconditional love” if they don’t “love” or “trust” her after offering them the “gift of truth.” She said: “If my children love me if I give them what they want, then that’s not real love, is it?”
What did her family say about her arrest?
Shari Franke, 22, after her mother was arrested made multiple statements about the incident on Instagram. She first posted a photo of a police car and an officer, writing: “Finally.”
Shari also created a document asking followers to share “questionable” or “alarming” information about ConneXions or 8 Passengers.
Frank’s sisters – Ellie Mecham, Julie Drew and Bonnie Hollein – released a statement saying they had kept “silent” about their sister for the past three years “for the sake of her children.” They added that they had done everything they could to ensure the safety of the children.
Disturbing details revealed
Frank admitted the horrific behavior in a statement submitted to the court in support of her plea, saying she abused her two children from May 2023 until her arrest.
She said she tried to convince the children that they were evil and possessed and that the “punishment” was a form of repentance. She described the abuse as an “act of love.”
The mother admitted in her statement that her “conduct involved physical torture of her son.” Horrifying details revealed she forced the boy to perform long periods of manual labor outdoors in the summer without shoes and adequate water, causing him “recurrent severe sunburn”.
Franca admitted she injured her son by kicking her son with her boots, holding his head underwater and tying the handcuffs on his hands and feet together with rope while laying him on his stomach and lifting his arms and legs off the ground, the statement said.
Her son was isolated from others and deprived of entertainment such as books and electronics.
Frank’s then nine-year-old daughter was also a victim of these punishments. She acknowledged in her statement that the girl was forced to work outside, run barefoot on dirt roads for “long periods of time” and was deprived of food and water.
Franca learns of her fate
February 2024, Frank was sentenced four times to prison terms ranging from 1 to 15 years. She pleaded guilty in December to four counts of child abuse, one count each. Hildebrandt received the same sentence.
Because Utah law caps consecutive sentences, the women could only serve a maximum of 30 years. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will consider their conduct while incarcerated and determine how much time they will spend in prison.
Before the judge handed down the sentence, Frank gave the court a statement in which she tearfully apologized to her children for physically and emotionally abusing them.
“I will never stop crying because I hurt your fragile souls,” Frank told the children, who did not attend the hearing. “My willingness to sacrifice everything for you was cleverly manipulated into something very ugly. I took everything that was soft, safe, and beautiful from you.”
According to reports, the two are currently scheduled to have parole hearings in December 2026.
Ruby’s daughter publishes memoir
In January, Frank’s oldest child, Shari, appeared in a book called ” My Mother’s House: One Daughter’s Quest for Freedom.
The book describes the more extreme aspects of her mother’s behavior. Sally wrote that her mother physically abused her after she played a wrong note on the piano. Other times, the abuse was psychological, including threats to drop her out of school if she didn’t quit the high school track team.
Sally also detailed her mother’s relationship with Hildebrandt, writing that at one point her bedroom was given to Hildebrandt, forcing her to sleep on the couch in the living room. She said the pair were the only people allowed upstairs or into her former bedroom and were even cut off from her father, Kevin.
When Hildebrandt began experiencing “demonic night terrors,” Sally wrote, Frank chose to sleep in the room with her business partner, explaining that Sally’s former bedroom was their “sanctuary.”
Frank’s husband files for divorce and remarries
according to Utah KSL TelevisionKevin originally filed for divorce in August 2023, three months after Ruby was arrested. However, Utah District Judge Roger Griffin did not sign the divorce order until March 2025.
Sally recently revealed that she and Chad attended her father’s wedding to Becca Bevan in November 2025.
August, Kevin. A lawsuit was filed against Hildebrandt, Accused she took advantage of her status as a mental health professional Manipulating him and isolating him from his family.
As of December 2025, Hildeblatt had not responded to the lawsuit.
Evil Influencer: The Jody Hildebrandt Story Available to watch on Netflix.