Where Are Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt Now? The Details Behind the Shocking Case That Inspired Lifetime’sMormon Mom Gone Wrong

Mar. 15, 2025

AP

Thedramatic turn of eventsbegan in 2020, when viewers of Franke’s YouTube channel8 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, werearrestedandcharged with six countsof aggravated child abuse. The arrest came after Franke’s youngest son, who was 12 years old at the time,escaped from Hildebrandt’s homeand sought help from a neighbor.

Franke first rose to prominence in 2015 when she started her YouTube channel,8 Passengers, with her now-estranged husband, Kevin Franke.

That same year, Franke’s strict parenting style first came under scrutiny, drawing allegations of abuse from followers who createdan online petitionasking child protective services to investigate the Franke family.

The petition, which garnered over 18,000 signatures, citedseveral controversial videos on8 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,Insiderreported.

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?

Jodi Hildebrandt.Moms of Truth/ Instagram

Moms of Truth/ Instagram

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 thatHildebrandt had “destroyed” his lifethrough her “super sophisticated forms of manipulation.” He added, “Her doctrine is that she believes that relationships need to die before they can be reborn."

But Hildebrandt wasn’t just personally involved with the Frankes. That same year, Franke stopped uploading videos to the8 Passengerschannel and officially joined theConneXionspodcast 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, withjournal entries detailing the cruel tortureher 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.”

Jodi Hildebrandt attends a hearing on December 27, 2023.AP

Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with six counts of felony child abuse in August 2023.

When the authorities arrived, they found Franke’s son and9-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,Todayreported.

In the days following Franke’s arrest, her oldest and estranged daughterShari expressed reliefwhen 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 sentimenton 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 sisterBonnie Hoelleinalso spoke out in a YouTube video and shared her account.

MOMS OF TRUTH/ INSTAGRAM

Due to the “severity of the injuries” found on Franke’s children, both Franke and Hildebrandt were held without bail following their arrests, according toCBS 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 andbound the childrenwith ropes, chains and handcuffs. Prosecutors also alleged that Franke had forced her youngest son’shead underwaterand 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,KSLreported. However, she never got to testify against her former business partner.

Franketook “full accountability” for her crimesand 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 Frankeand Hildebrandt and deleted the channels associated with their names. Hildebrandt also had hercounseling license frozenfollowing their arrest.

8 Passengers / YouTube

“He is focused on doing what is bestfor his kids at this point, even if that means undergoing some introspection,” his lawyer, Randy Kester, toldTodayin 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, perThe 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’sKSLin September 2024.

While working to build bridges with his children, he has been distancing himself from his former wife. In November 2023, hefiled a petition for divorce, which is sealed under Utah state law.

Kevin shared an update on how he and his children are doing in February 2025, telling PEOPLE that life is “more normal than it’s been in years” for his family, though they are still healing.

“Life right now for me is getting back into, I would say, a comfortable normal. It’s just establishing a new normal," he said, later adding, “There’s still a lot of pain. There’s still a lot of healing that I work on each day, but it just looks and feels different 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?

Jodi Hildebrandt is seen during a virtual court appearance on September 8, 2023, in St. George, Utah.AP

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,KSLreported. (The homewas 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, perRealtor.com.)

source: people.com