Inside Ruby Franke's alleged double life | Nightline

911 the address of your emergency I just had a 12-year-old boy still up here at my front door asking for help it was August 30th a 12-year-old boy shows up at a stranger's house he's emaciated he's got tape around his legs he's hungry and he's thirsty what's your mom's name Ruby Frankie Ruby Frankie is his mom's name Ruby Ruby Frankie ironically she'd been a highflying Mormon mom fluenc attracting 2 and2 million followers on her YouTube channel eight passengers Ruby's personal brand built around tough love I was really hoping that like keeping them home from school and wiping the floorboards would like really bring pain but now Ruby's 12-year-old son's pain brings this neighbor to tears this boy has been this kid is obviously been he's been he's obviously covered in wounds the house the boy says he escaped from jod hilderbrand's hours south of Ruby's house I'm jod hildbrand and I'm Ruby Frankie Jodie was a marriage counselor who also treated sex addiction through her work with the counseling Network LifeStar she joined forces with Ruby Frankie on a life coaching business called connections all of us want connection we want to have relationships where we feel close and where where there's love after that 911 call Ruby's 12-year-old son and her 10-year-old daughter were taken to the hospital the police find laptops tablets cell phones they find ropes they find duct tape they find handcuffs jod and Ruby were arrested and charged with six counts of felony child abuse while the arrest sent shock waves some who knew jod hildbrand have been raising concerns for years we knew that jod does this we knew 14 almost 15 years ago that she's already done this to me Jesse hilderbrand who uses they them pronouns has spent years finding a voice after suffering what they call brutal abuse at the hands of their aunt Jodie she would lock me in this room and write out my SS on a paper she would come back in and read these sins back to me and have me kneel on the floor on my hands and knees and beg for forgiveness the 30-year-old has built a life far away from a strict Mormon upbringing I grew up in a very traditional Mormon household dad is the provider and my mom was a stay-at-home mom my younger childhood was very happy but during adolescence Jesse started to Rebel the conflicts came to a head Jesse's parents decided it was best for Jesse to go live with Aunt jod and without warning they left their teenager at a family gathering woke up to a knock on the door and was Jody and my grandma and grandpa and to tell me that my life as I knew it was about to change at first Jesse says they decided to give the new Arrangement a chance after all Jesse's aunt was a licensed counselor jod hilderbrandt has been one of the top recommended therapists by the Mormon Church in Utah for at least 15 to 20 years but at home Jesse says their aunt was an altogether different person she made me sleep outside in the snow she duct taped me um I wasn't allowed to speak to anyone what in theory was the justification for the duct tape the duct tape was in her words an external reminder to me that I'm a liar and that every word that comes out of my mouth is a lie in March of 2010 Jesse made it to the police station in American Fork and filed a report against Aunt Jodie Jesse's statements in that report echoing the story they told us duct tape over her mouth sleeping outside not allowing her her to talk police sent Jesse to a teen safe home but after one day Jesse ended up back with Aunt jod so after I went to the police the punishments got more and more severe after nearly a year of living with Aunt jod their aunt brought Jesse to work and I have to like I have like it is now or it is never and I grabbed that jacket and I literally just started running Jesse never went back with dark accusations against jod coming to light principl if you will scrutiny is also falling on her partner on connections Ruby Frankie they are disted people who watched eight passengers were the ones to first kind of Ring the Alarm as to this alleged abuse that we're seeing now people have been pointing out how problematic this family is for a while when does the way a parent parents go from cringeworthy to child abuse my bedroom was taken away for 7 months and then you give it back like a couple weeks ago I don't think our viewers know that youve been sleeping on a bean I've sleeping on a bean bag since October after the controversy viewers were questioning ru's parenting style and her husband Kevin's who often joined her on the eight passenger channel the two have now been separated for more than a year many of the viewers of eight passengers over the past two or three years became more and more Disturbed and started turning Ruby and Kevin into Child Protective Services in Utah in 2020 a change.org petition requesting that CPS check on the children received hundreds of signatures impact has obtained records showing police responded to the Frankie home more than a dozen times over the past few years including several reports of juvenile problems in 2018 and 2019 and multiple welfare checks in 2022 and to the point where they felt like it was a necessity to go talk to the family at least to the children to find out if there was any Merit to any of the allegations but police who investigated the case were unable to speak to the children and filed a request for a warrant to enter the home even though it was submitted to the judge the warrant was not signed and it wasn't granted and so there wasn't much they could do at that point CPS is now being investigated for their handling of the case by Utah's child welfare legislative oversight panel through his attorney Ruby's husband Kevin says those early complaints were nothing serious Kevin felt like that they were just being harassed by people online calling the authorities and having to come to their home it was just a difference in parenting style but nothing abusive up to that point after the shocking arrest there's a growing chorus of people laying the blame squarely on jod hilderbrand it's 100% Jodie and I understand why the public is focusing on Ruby it's Ruby's children but all of these theories and these modalities and these these um parenting ideas that all comes from Jodie Kevin feels like jod manipulated the entire family children included since her arrest jod hilderbrand has given up her counseling license sitting in a striped prison jumpsuit jod answered to a higher authority a judge Jody n hilderbrand yes okay Ruby Frankie sat expressionless a far cry from the bubbly mL fluenc of eight passengers Fame Miss Frankie can you hear me yes both ordered held without bail and neither have entered a plea impact reached out to both Ruby and Jody's attorneys rubies declined to comment we have yet to hear back from jodies just one count of aggravated child abuse is up to 15 years in jail at the same time they can say you know what we found out you abuse them six different times you can really get to a high number here Ruby's four minor kids are in the state's custody but their father Kevin seen here in these dailymail.com photos is trying to win them back his hopes and his objective is to convince the state that he's a good dad and that those children would be much better off with him than in State's custody for Jesse healing and moving on has been a long and winding journey I was incredibly unstable in my early 20s I thought that I was EV I I thought that I was this unlovable Creature From Hell Jesse is not currently speaking with their parents Jesse says the wounds from the alleged abuse at the hands of Aunt jod still too raw impact reached out to Jesse's father for comment and did not receive a response Jesse is now living life on their own terms and recently moved to Seattle to be a tat artist I've been a musician pretty much my whole life this is just a song about about your life just relationships like all good songs up the last schedule train to the city watch the glow from the street lights go by what would you say to jod if she were sitting across from me right now you did not win and you do not own my life you have no [Music] power our thanks to Juju you can see the full episode of Ruby Frankie a m fluenc double life on impact by Nightline now streaming on Hulu hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 2,890,737

Keywords: abc, abuse, child, double, franke, influencer, investigation, life, media, mom, news, nightline, ntl, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-103774276, passengers, ruby, social

Id: Vlp7xrepiQQ

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023