ST. GEORGE, Utah, Aug. 31, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A former Utah YouTube vlogger and her business partner have been arrested after two of her children were found severely malnourished and injured from being tied up, police said.
Ruby Franke, 41, whose 8 Passengers YouTube channel had more than 2 million subscribers before it was shut down, was arrested Wednesday after a 12-year-old boy escaped an Ivins home and ran to a neighbor’s house requesting food and water, according Santa Clara-Ivins police.
Both Franke and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, founder of the Orem-based counseling program ConneXions Classroom, both face two counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony. Both women are being held without bail in the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane.
Police say the boy climbed out the window of the home and sought help from neighbors, who saw duct tape on his ankles and wrists and called law enforcement about 10:50 a.m.
Santa Clara-Ivins police officers responded and “observed the wounds and the malnourishment of [the child] to be severe,” according to a probable cause statement filed in 5th District Court. The child was taken to St. George Regional Hospital with “deep lacerations from being tied up with rope and from his malnourishment,” the affidavit says.
Officers then responded to Hildebrandt’s home and found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter inside. The girl also was malnourished and taken to the hospital, police said.
Police say Franke is seen in a YouTube video posted Monday that was filmed at Hildebrandt’s home.
Franke’s four children were taken into custody of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, police said.
The 8 Passengers YouTube channel, operated by Franke and her husband, Kevin, featured their lives with their six children.
