Who is Ruby Franke? The YouTube parenting influencer who has admitted child abuse charges
A once-popular YouTube parent vlogger was arrested in August after her son was found emaciated and with duct tape on his limbs by a neighbour.
Ruby Franke faced six child abuse charges in the US state of Utah. She admitted four of them today.
Who is she, what controversy has she stirred before and what led to her arrest? Here is everything you need to know.
Who is Ruby Franke and what was her YouTube channel?
Ruby Franke and her husband launched their family YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, in early 2015.
The channel chronicled the lives of the parents and their six children and focused on parenting style, the children’s upbringing and discipline.
The parents, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (known as the Mormon Church), also shared their children’s home-schooling.
The channel gained 2.3 million subscribers before it was removed earlier this year.
What is Ruby Franke charged with?
Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were both charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse.
Each count carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000 (£8,044).
In Utah, aggravated child abuse is defined as an act that “inflicts upon a child serious physical injury” or “causes or permits another to inflict serious physical injury upon a child”.
“Each defendant is accused of causing or permitting serious physical injury to the victims in three different ways: (1) a combination of multiple physical injuries or torture, (2) starvation or malnutrition that jeopardises life, and (3) causing severe emotional harm,” the Washington County Attorney in Utah told Sky News’s sister outlet NBC News.
Who is Jodi Hildebrandt?
Hildebrandt founded the controversial life counselling organisation ConneXions, which Franke became a key part of.
The two women created advice videos that critics say promote a harsh style of parenting.
Hildebrandt has agreed not to see patients until the allegations against her are addressed by state licensing officials.
Her next court hearing is set for 27 December, according to court records.
Jodi Hildebrandt appears at a virtual court hearing. Pic: Utah State Courts via AP
What led to Ruby Franke’s arrest?
Franke’s arrest came after her 12-year-old son escaped out of the window of Hildebrandt’s house and ran to a neighbour asking for food and water.
The local police department released the audio of the neighbour’s 911 call.
“I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here in my front door asking for help,” he said.
He added: “We know there’s been problems at this neighbour’s house. He’s emaciated. He’s got tape around his legs. He’s hungry and he’s thirsty.”
The boy’s condition was judged by police to be so severe he was taken to hospital.
Franke’s 10-year-old daughter was later found malnourished and was also taken to the hospital.
The children were found at Hildebrandt’s house, but Franke had been seen on a YouTube video filmed there and posted two days earlier, indicating she was at the home and had knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment and neglect, arrest records said.
Four of Franke’s children are under 18 and have now been placed in care.
Ruby Franke appears at a virtual court hearing. Pic: Utah State Courts via AP
Previous reports to authorities
Police were called to Franke’s home last year after a concerned neighbour said her children had been left home alone for several days, according to NBC’s account of a police report.
A police officer who visited wrote in the report that he saw children inside, but they refused to open the door.
When police returned, Franke was there with her children, but would not talk to them.
Franke’s eldest daughter, Shari Franke, called the police wanting to make sure her siblings were safe and had food after the neighbour alerted her to her mother’s absence, the report said.
In 2020, viewers of 8 Passengers launched a petition to get child protection services to investigate Franke. Insider reported that officials visited the house but closed the case “because the claims were unsupported”.
How did Franke cause controversy with viewers?
Viewers had been calling out Franke’s parenting style and discipline choices for several years before her arrest.
The incident that prompted the petition was a video in which Franke’s eldest son revealed he slept on a beanbag for seven months because he had been moved out of his brother’s room for teasing him.
Franke defended herself in an interview with Insider, saying her son had chosen a beanbag over an airbed or a pullout guest bed.
She also angered viewers with a video about her 6-year-old forgetting her school lunch. In the video, Franke said she would not drop any food at school and her daughter should use the “pain” of being hungry as a lesson not to forget her lunch in future.
Franke was also criticised for threatening to throw away her children’s possessions and denying them personal space.
Neighbours also accused Franke of withholding food as a punishment for her children.
They also claimed that, after her husband was out of the home, Franke would leave the house for weeks at a time, with the children inside.
“Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,” one neighbour told NBC.
“I remember that she took away their Christmas one year,” he said, “and she would say things like ‘They’re not repenting correctly,’ which is a Mormon term for ‘they’re sinning.’ Just complete insanity.”
Read more:
Neighbours say they tried to warn child services
Sisters ‘did as much as we could’ to help kids
Franke’s time in court
When Franke and Hildebrandt had their first court hearing on 8 September it was derailed by tech issues as more than 1,000 people tried to join virtually.
YouTube commentator Tezzmosis provided a live commentary of the hearing to people who couldn’t get on the live stream.
He later told NBC he believed the intense public interest stems from the clear disconnect the case illustrates between the “perfect image” a parenting influencer can present online versus their family’s reality.
“They’ve been on [authorities’] radar for a couple of years,” he said, referring to the news police had previously visited Franke’s house due to concerns about her alleged treatment of her children.
“But being from an affluent family and having this notoriety in such a way, I think it was so hard for people to believe that something so bad could be going on beyond the surface,” Tezzmosis added.
‘I am not my sister’s crimes’
Two sisters of Franke used YouTube vlogs to distance themselves from her, both uploading videos on 14 September.
In a video titled “I am not my sister. I am not my sister’s crimes”, Bonnie Hoellein said she was “cut off” from the family and “did not have access to anyone”.
She said she disagreed with what she called her sister’s “extreme” parenting tactics and “did everything legally that we could do” to help the children.
Ellie Mecham, another of Franke’s sisters, also said in an Instagram post they had done “everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe”.
Franke’s eldest daughter has also spoken out. Shari Franke, 20, said in an Instagram story after her mother’s arrest: “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
Other influencers have also shared their shock at her crimes.
Julie Deru, who has a family channel called Deru Crew Vlogs, said she last spoke to Franke three years ago.
“We are kind of in complete shock, still, as to what she had done, because we had no idea of what was happening,” she said.
What about the father, Kevin Franke?
Kevin Franke’s lawyer appeared on Good Morning America to distance Ruby Franke’s husband from the child abuse allegations she faces.
The lawyer said the couple had been living separately for 13 months and Kevin Franke was “distraught” after hearing about the alleged abuse.
“No one’s ever made any allegations that he’s ever physically abused those kids, or anyone else,” he told the programme.
A social media post believed to have been published by the suspect in the killing of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC accuses Israel of “atrocities” against Palestinians.
The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, chanted “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested, footage shows.
The victims, who were attacked as they were leaving an event at a Jewish museum, have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who were about to be engaged.
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Rodriguez shouted ‘free Palestine’ as he was arrested.
Pic: Katie Kalisher
Sky News has uncovered what is believed to be a statement by the shooting suspect posted at 10pm local time, around an hour after the shooting – suggesting it was scheduled.
The letter, signed with Rodriguez’s name, was dated 20 May 2025.
In the lengthy essay, Rodriguez criticises Israel’s actions in Gaza and attacks the US government’s position.
“The atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestine defy description and defy quantification,” it says.
“Instead of reading descriptions mostly we watch them unfold on video, sometimes live. After a few months of rapidly mounting death tolls Israel had obliterated the capacity to even continue counting the dead.”
Victims Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Pic: @yaron_li/X
The statement adds: “Public opinion has shifted against the genocidal apartheid state, and the American government has simply shrugged, they’ll do without public opinion then, criminalize it where they can, suffocate it with bland reassurances that they’re doing all they can to restrain Israel where it cannot criminalize protest outright.”
Rodriguez concludes the statement: “I love you Mom, Dad, baby sis, the rest of my familia, including you, O***** . Free Palestine.”
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described a UN report accusing Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” against the Palestinians as biased and antisemitic.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence secretary Yoav Gallant – as well as a senior Hamas commander – for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has decried what he said were the “false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body”.
Analysis: Trump team will worry about Washington attacker being glorified
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DC shooting: What we know so far
The attack
The couple were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and began shooting, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
She said the suspect was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting.
“After the shooting, the suspect entered the museum and was detained by event security,” Ms Smith said.
“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offence.”
When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Police Chief Smith said.
Suspect believed to have been member of revolutionary socialist group
Rodriguez is believed to have been a member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation, which describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party.
An article in the group’s Liberation paper about a protest outside the home of Chicago’s then mayor Rahm Emanuel in October 2017 features a picture of Rodriguez at the demonstration as well as quotes from him. The protest was not linked to Israel or Gaza. The article was taken down from the paper’s website on Thursday.
Since 2024, Rodriguez has worked as an administrative specialist for the American Osteopathic Association, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The picture on Rodriguez’s LinkedIn
Before that he was an oral history researcher at The HistoryMakers, an online archive developed by Carnegie Mellon University to tell the stories of African Americans.
A profile for Rodriguez on the website says he was born and raised in Chicago and has a BA degree in English from the University of Illinois Chicago.
“He enjoys reading and writing fiction, live music, film, and exploring new places,” the profile says.
Rodriguez is also believed to have donated $500 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in March 2020, when he was running in the Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Israel began its war against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group stormed across the border on 7 October 2023 and killed 1,200 people, taking 250 hostages.
Since then Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 53,000 people, mostly children, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has displaced 90% of Gaza’s population of roughly two million people and left much of the territory in ruins.
Reporting by Samuel Osborne, news reporter, and Sam Doak, OSINT producer
A small plane has crashed into a San Diego neighbourhood in what authorities are calling a “direct hit to multiple homes”.
About 15 homes have caught fire as well as vehicles, and people living in several blocks are being evacuated.
“We have jet fuel all over the place,” assistant fire department chief Dan Eddy told reporters. “Our main goal is to search all these homes and get everybody out right now.”
The fire chief said there had been a “direct hit to multiple homes” as he described it as a “a gigantic debris field”.
Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: AP
Pic: NBC San Diego
It is currently unknown if there have been any deaths or injuries.
Describing the scene “like something from a movie”, Mr Eddy told reporters: “This is a worst-case scenario, right, a plane into homes off of a runway.
“So, as of now though, the best thing that I have for you is that no one has been transported from the scene so far.
“We’ll continue to search to find out where the plane came from, and continue to work on that and give you updates.”
It was said to be foggy at the time the private plane crashed. Mr Eddy said: “You could barely see in front of you.”
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: Forrest Gallagher/NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
Christopher Moore, who lives one street over from the crash site, said he and his wife were awakened by a loud bang and saw smoke when they peered out the window.
As they fled the neighbourhood with their two young children, they spotted a car engulfed in flames.
Mr Moore said: “It was definitely horrifying for sure, but sometimes you’ve just got to drop your head and get to safety.”
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Police rescued three husky puppies from one of the homes, while evacuated families were spotted standing in their pyjamas in a parking lot a few blocks away.
Many military service members live in the neighbourhood, which is made up of single family homes and townhomes. It also is heavily populated by small civilian and military aircraft.
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and Gillespie Field are nearby.
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed the force is responding to the crash in the neighbourhood of Tierrasanta.
Posting on X, a SDPS spokesperson warned people to avoid the area while emergency crews get to work and urged all those who smell jet fuel or find debris to alert the authorities.
Evacuations are taking place in Salmon Street, Sample Street and Sculpin Street. The southbound Santo Road has also been closed at Aero Drive.
An evacuation site has been set up at Miller Elementary School.
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the Cessna 550 crashed near Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.
In a statement, the agency said: “The number of people on board is unknown at this time.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates.”
The plane can carry six to eight people.
US
Donald Trump ambushes South African president at White House meeting by playing video alleging ‘genocide’
Donald Trump has ambushed South Africa’s president during a White House meeting by playing a video purportedly showing evidence of a “genocide” of white farmers in the African country.
The US president, who was hosting leader Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, said the footage showed the graves of more than a thousand white farmers and “it’s a terrible sight… I’ve never seen anything like it. Those people are all killed”.
After an initial friendly chat where Mr Trump complimented South African golfers in the room, a montage of clips was played as Mr Ramaphosa sat quietly and mostly expressionless. He later said: “I’d like to know where that is because this [the alleged burial site in the video] I’ve never seen”.
Donald Trump met Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office. Pic: AP
The lights were dimmed in the Oval Office as the clips were shown, including of South African officials allegedly calling for violence against white farmers.
The scene in the heart of the White House administration was reminiscent of Mr Trump’s ambush of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February.
But later, as he left after around three hours at the White House, Mr Ramaphosa insisted his meeting with Mr Trump went “very well”.
And he told a news conference: “There is just no genocide in South Africa.”
The White House’s official account on X posted the footage that was shown in the Oval Office, saying it was “proof of persecution in South Africa”.
South Africa has rejected the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime.
The clips included one of communist politician Julius Malema playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer.
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Mr Trump accused South Africa of failing to address the killing of white farmers.
“We have many people that feel they’re being persecuted, and they’re coming to the United States. So we take from many… locations, if we feel there’s persecution or genocide going on,” the US president said, referring specifically to white farmers.
He added: “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”
Alluding to people in the clips, Mr Trump said: “These are people that are officials and they’re saying… kill the white farmer and take their land.”
The US president then displayed printed copies of news articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying “death, death” as he flipped through them.
He added of one article: “Here’s burial sites all over the place, these are all white farmers that are being buried.”
Mr Trump held up news articles. Pic: AP
South African leader rejects allegations
Mr Ramaphosa pushed back against Mr Trump’s accusations, by responding: “What you saw, the speeches that were being made, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies.
“And in many cases, or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.
“Our government policy is completely, completely against what he [a person in the video montage] was saying, even in the parliament. And they are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.”
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Mr Ramaphosa also said of the behaviour alleged by Mr Trump: “We are completely opposed to that.”
The South African leader said there was crime in his country, and the majority of victims were black. Mr Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black.” The South African president responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.”
Mr Trump and Mr Ramaphosa looked towards a screen where a video was played. Pic: Reuters
The video was shown during the White House meeting. Pic: AP
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In February, Mr Trump issued an executive order which cut all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. He also expelled South Africa’s ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims which Pretoria says are baseless.
Experts in South Africa have said there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
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