What Happened to the Franke's

By Caroline Albert

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The invention of YouTube made it possible to earn a living off videos produced at home. This led to a rise in family vloggers, the most infamous being the Franke family. Families like the Frankes vlog their everyday lives, usually featuring their children.

The documentary Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke was released on Hulu on Feb. 27, 2024, diving further into their story. Ruby Franke, a mother of six, posted parenting advice on her YouTube channel called 8 Passengers. At first, she was widely loved for her content. However, as time went on, Franke’s fans began to notice signs of child abuse in the home.

Fans turned into critics as public concern for the children’s well-being grew. The first major instance came in a video where Franke discussed taking privileges away from her children when they misbehaved. Chad, her oldest son, confessed to having his bed taken away as punishment for seven months, saying he had to sleep on a beanbag until the release of that video. The video was ultimately taken down due to intense backlash and sparked growing concern for her kids.

To assist with her disciplinary efforts, Franke hired a well-known therapist in their area: Jodi Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt was the founder of Connexions, a life coaching and counseling business. However, it later emerged that Hildebrandt did not have the proper qualifications to hold that position. She counseled Chad, Ruby and Ruby’s husband, Kevin, in ways that reportedly caused more harm than good.

Franke and Hildebrandt became extremely close, to the point that Franke invited Hildebrandt to live in their home after she claimed demons were after her. Ruby eventually moved into Hildebrandt’s room to allegedly help her sleep and assist her through the possessions she claimed to experience. Together, the two dictated what went on in the household and managed disciplinary actions for anyone who misbehaved or defied rules of their faith.

As a result, Chad, Kevin and their oldest daughter, Shari, were eventually cut off from the family.

The next time Kevin saw his children was a year later, when Ruby called him to pick up the two youngest at a police station. He did not initially believe the police when they told him the children were found malnourished and showed signs of rope burns on their ankles and wrists. Emergency responders said the burns were so severe that the children’s tendons were visible.

In 2023, it became public knowledge that Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were charged with six counts of child abuse. Ruby had kept a diary detailing everything they made the children do, which ultimately contributed to both women being sentenced to prison. Franke and Hildebrandt claimed they acted to rid the children of demons. Both women were sentenced to serve up to 30 years in prison for their crimes.