Newly released video shows son of YouTube star, Ruby Franke, ring neighbor’s doorbell for help ahead of child abuse case
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Newly released Ring camera video shows the 12-year-old son of disgraced YouTube star Ruby Franke, who ran the popular channel “8 Passengers” ringing a neighbor’s doorbell for help.
The boy is seen approaching the home on Aug. 30, 2023, and ringing the doorbell for help. At first, there is no answer, but a man walks out of the house.
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Then the young boy says something chilling.
“I was wondering if you could do me two favors?”
The homeowner asks him what they are to which the boy responds.
“Taking me to the nearest police station.” He then tells the man that he actually has that one favor.
The boy says the matter is “personal business.”
The video then cuts to the man and a woman, presumably the wife at the home, as the man tells an operator on the phone that he has a 12-year-old boy with him asking for help.
The man is heard telling officials the boy has duct tape around his legs and wrists, with sores around them, and that he is hungry and thirsty.
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The video was released by the Washington County Attorney’s Office after Franke’s children were found to be “held in a work-camp-like setting” where they were denied food, water, and beds, along with being forced to do manual labor in harsh conditions.
“The women were arrested after Ms. Franke’s 12-year-old son climbed out of the window of Ms. Hildebrandt’s Ivins, Utah, residence, ran to a neighbor’s home, and asked for help. The neighbor observed duct tape on the boy’s ankles and wrists, severe wounds, and malnourishment. He quickly contacted law enforcement who, upon arrival, learned that potentially more children remained inside Ms. Hildebrandt’s home and in harms’ way. The officers responded to Ms. Hildebrandt’s home, placed her under arrest, and conducted a search of her sizable property where they found Ms. Franke’s 9-year-old daughter, petrified and hiding in a closet,” the Washington County Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
On Dec. 18, Ruby Franke plead guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to four to 30 years, still to be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
The abuse occurred at the home of, Jodi Hildebrandt, who is the founder of Connexion Classrooms. She was sentenced on Dec. 27 for the same charges.
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