Utah vlogger Ruby Franke, who received a child abuse conviction, has been correspondingly writing to her firstborn son, Chad. But he hasn’t responde
“The letters stopped on their own,” says Chad, 20, in an interview with TODAY.com. “I think her not getting a response back was a sign that I’m not interested in talking right now.”
Kevin Franke, together with his son Chad, appeared before the premiere of Devil In the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke on Hulu on Feb. 27.
Ruby Franke’s Letters Had a Disturbing Theme
Chad describes his mother’s letters from prison as overly spiritual.
“I don’t want her talking about spirituality anymore because she fed me that for so long in her own way,” he explains. “It felt like she was still trying to teach me and mother me, which put me on edge.”
The final letters showed that Ruby Franke was progressing better, but Chad demonstrated no desire for a relationship with her. Kevin Franke declares that all members of his family from his marriage to Ruby, including their six children, keep no contact with the estranged wife.
“I requested last year that any communication from her to me or the kids be blocked,” says Kevin.
From “Wholesome” YouTubers to Prison Sentences
The YouTube channel 8 Passengers used to be operated by Ruby and Kevin Franke, who depicted themselves as typical Mormon parents. Viewers of the channel began to become concerned about the parenting techniques shown over the years.
During a camera recording, Ruby Franke threatened to stop feeding her children while she announced her cancelation of Christmas and her order to make Chad sleep on the floor throughout seven months. In December 2023, Ruby Frank, along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, accepted four counts of aggravated child abuse charges. A court assigned both defendants between four years and thirty years of incarceration.
The Shocking Details of Abuse
The authorities arrested Ruby and Jodi in August 2023 following Ruby’s twelve-year-old son’s fleeing from Hildebrandt’s Utah residence. A neighbor made a 911 call describing the boy as bones showing from his body due to malnutrition while his skin had multiple open wounds taped by duct tape.
The legal documentation provides evidence of physical abuse against Ruby’s children, who suffered from both labor tasks and starvation and exposure to heat conditions. Certain children at the facility were required to endure several days of barefoot exposure to hot sunlight and multiple barefoot road runs.
Kevin Franke obtained divorce papers after his separation from Ruby Franke until she was arrested. The man denies knowing about the abuse, even though he has not received any charges at this time.
Regrets and a Harsh Reality Check
Throughout the interview, Kevin acknowledges their “bad parenting” and expresses deep regret about taking guidance from Hildebrandt. The creator of the Devil In The Family documentary, Olly Lambert, gained unrestricted access to all video content from the Franke family collection. According to Kevin, the situations depicted in 8 Passengers are not unique events.
“There will not be a single family content creator who watches this and doesn’t cringe,” he says. “Because that is representative of every single one of them.”
TODAY.com reached out to Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt’s attorneys for a response but has not received a reply.
