YouTube Stars Arrested Amidst Child Abuse Claims
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On August 30th, 2023, famous YouTuber Ruby Franke and business partner Jodi Hildebrent were arrested on six accounts of child abuse and malnourishment.
For many years the Franke family had a YouTube channel that started in 2015 called “8 Passengers”. The YouTube channel started to die out and was completely taken down in 2021 after a petition for child abuse went out.
The YouTube channel consisted of videos of the family’s everyday life. Ruby Franke would post about taking her kids on everyday life and posting about meal prepping for the week. Franke has 6 children and a husband. Shari Franke (20), Chad Franke (18), Abby Franke (16), Julie Franke (14), Russell Franke (12), Eve Franke (10) and Ruby’s husband, Kevin Franke.
The channel, 8 passengers, had 2.5 million subscribers with 4-6 new videos posted per week. Like any YouTube channel, there are always rumors of information about the family and what happens off-camera. With the Franke family posting about their lives almost daily, viewers had an idea of what the Franke family’s normal day-to-day life was like. Franke started to post her parenting guidelines and how she “disciplines” her children. After posting these new “parenting strategies” videos, there was a rise in views. These videos led subscribers to be concerned that Ruby Franke and Kevin Franke were hurting their children, specifically after a video was posted on how their 18-year-old son slept on a bean bag for 7 months as a punishment. Veiwer’s concerns grew when Franke posted that she allowed her six-year-old daughter to go hungry at school. Frank said, “Our kids are responsible for packing their lunch.”
After the shutdown of the channel, TikTok has been posted re-posting about a clip in a YouTube video of her son roughhousing and Franke stated, “If you continue that behavior, you will lose your privilege to have dinner.” All of these re-posts are from actual videos that were on the account before it was completely taken down.
After the events in the past occurred as of 2021 the petition went out and their account was taken down, 8 passengers went silent until the events of Aug 30, 2023. On August 30th Ruby Franke and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested on 6 accounts of child abuse and malnourishment. According to the case file report, Russell Franke (12) snuck out of Hildebrants’ house around 10:30 and walked to the neighbor’s house where the 911 call was made at 10:50, athourties then showed up later. The 911 call report says that the 12-year-old boy male showed up with tape around his ankles and wrists Thursday, asking for help, saying he was afraid to ask for the police. Russell showed up saying he was hungry, he was thirsty and that it was his fault he was covered in wounds.
Melanie Lansink, a teacher at Waukee Northwest High School and mom of 3 stated, “We have to protect children that is our job. As parents we should be doing everything we can to protect them and help them grow into adults and be healthy, we should not be hurting them.”
As of sept. 18, 2023 the first round of the custody court trial began. Kevin Franke attended court with his attorney as well as Ruby Franke. Ruby Franke appeared from jail virtually while her husband and oldest daughter were in person in the courtroom alongside their attorneys. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom and the case will continue over time. The case may go completely private for the children’s safety.