Ruby Franke has been charged with six counts of felony child abuse since her arrest on Aug. 30.
Franke is the mother of six children and the face behind the former 8passengers YouTube channel. She has been known to share her controversial methods of parenting over the years but recently has become more extreme and begun to share her views associated with the cult ConneXions with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.
Police reported that Franke’s twelve-year-old son escaped from the window of Hildebrandt’s house and ran to a neighbor’s house. He had duct tape around his hands and wrists, wounds on his body, and was severely malnourished. He asked the neighbors for food and water and requested that they call the police. Her ten-year-old daughter was also found in the Hildebrandts’ house in a similar malnourished condition. Both of them were sent to the hospital to receive treatment. All four of the minor children were later taken into the care of Child Protective Services.
“There are two juvenile victims in these cases, and 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 jeopardizes life, and (3) causing severe emotional harm,” the county attorney said in an email to NBC.
Bonnie Hoellein, sister of Ruby Franke, posted a YouTube video to explain that Franke’s crimes were not her crimes and to clarify that she did everything that she legally could to get the children to safety. Hoellein explained that Franke had torn their family’s life apart and caused her mother to suffer from a heart attack. She also placed blame on Kevin Franke, Ruby Franke’s husband, for the lack of action he took to protect his own children.
