Newly Released Video Shows Malnourished Child of YouTuber Ruby Franke Seeking Help Amid Abuse Case. In recently unveiled footage, the malnourished and visibly bruised 12-year-old son of parenting advice YouTuber Ruby Franke is seen politely asking a neighbor to escort him to the nearest police station. This video surfaced on the day Franke and her business partner were apprehended on child abuse charges in southern Utah.
According to documents disclosed by the Washington County Attorney’s office, the boy, who is one of Franke’s six children, managed to escape through a window and sought assistance from several nearby residences until someone answered the door.
Crime scene photos, body camera recordings, and interrogation tapes were made public a month following the sentencing of Franke and her associate, Jodi Hildebrandt, a mental health counselor, to maximum prison terms of up to 30 years each. An investigation by law enforcement determined that religious extremism was the driving force behind the women’s heinous acts of abuse against Franke’s children, announced Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke on Friday.
“The women appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary to teach the children how to properly repent for imagined ‘sins’ and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies,” stated Clarke.
Franke, aged 42, and Hildebrandt, aged 54, admitted guilt to four counts of aggravated child abuse, which included convincing Franke’s two youngest children that they were evil and subjecting them to manual labor, extended fasting periods, and living conditions characterized by Clarke as “concentration camp-like.”
These incidents came to light after the women, who claim affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were apprehended in August at Hildebrandt’s residence in Ivins, a picturesque suburb of St. George.
The discovery was made by neighbor Danny Clarkson, who found the emaciated boy seeking assistance at his door. Their actions have drawn criticism from other Mormon parenting bloggers, who assert that they misrepresented their community and religious beliefs.
In the video footage, the boy is depicted walking away barefoot, sporting torn socks with his ankles wrapped in bloody duct tape and plastic wrap. However, he turns back when Danny Clarkson answers the door.
On the Ring camera, Danny and his wife, Debi, can be seen providing assistance to the child, feeding him, contacting 911, and inquiring about the lacerations on his ankles and wrists. Despite their concerns, the boy insists that the injuries were self-inflicted.
“I got these wounds because of me,” the boy asserts to the couple, who exchange worried glances. He then informs the first responders that his younger sister remains at Hildebrandt’s residence, prompting the police to swiftly respond to the scene.
Subsequent investigations revealed that Hildebrandt had bound the boy’s arms and feet with rope, attaching them to weights on the ground. Additionally, she reportedly applied a mixture of cayenne pepper and honey to treat his wounds. The boy had been led to believe by Franke and Hildebrandt that these actions were expressions of love.
Handwritten journal entries, also made public on Friday, detail months of systematic abuse documented by Franke. This included depriving her son and 9-year-old daughter of food, subjecting them to grueling manual labor in the sweltering summer heat, and enforcing isolation from the outside world. The children were frequently forced to sleep on hard floors and occasionally confined in a concrete bunker located in Hildebrandt’s basement.