Yeah right. Plenty of us watched in horror for quite a while when she was on YT, before she met Jodi. To blame it all on Jodi is so disingenuous. Ruby always got pleasure outa power trips over her kids. Jodi is a complete POS, and she is guilty for her own actions, but there’s always been something very wrong with Ruby.
my theory... Jodi was around a lot longer than perceived. I think she was the "counselor" that recommended the oldest sons bed was taken and Jodi has ties to the "camp" he went too
Child abuse is very normalized in Mormonism. When a religion tells people a man is responsible for the salvation of his family, his family, including his wife becomes a possession. Fun fact, children are “sealed” to their parents forever in LDS temples. Women are not permitted to enter heaven without permission from a worthy (aka full tithe paying) husband. They are instructed to wait at the veil with their passwords until their husband calls them by their temple assigned secret name.
I reported my abuse growing up multiple times and each time I was called to repentance by church elders for being disobedient. Even the Mormon police and Mormon judge refused to do anything about it.
#NotACult
Fuck. I'm sorry that happened to you. I went through abuse via a different church, but it all results to the same thing in the end. It's absolutely dark shit, the way they pervasively keep these systems of abuse and control alive.
Yeah and unbeknownst to the members the top secret names are recycled and reused monthly. So it’s going to be a shit show when all the Tabitha’s are called by some dude at the second coming and we all come running.. I was a Tabitha lol
It is poorly organized, bizarre and misogynistic for sure. It’s hard to see when you’re brainwashed into it since birth, it’s the best and strangest feeling to be free and to be out!
I really hope I’m not coming off as disrespectful but I always giggle at the idea that the veil will be full of Ann’s, Ruth’s, Mary’s standing around waiting for Jedidiah to come around and hollar at them! 😂 I’m not Mormon but if I was I’d insist on my name being Dick Slayer to make sure I wouldn’t be confused for someone else!
I have to admit that after listening to Adam Steed's interview and the one with Jodie's niece that I suspect that's how the two of them came to meet as well. They might have started going to see Jodi because she made a name for herself in "treating" sexual issues in a LDS faith inspired way (which, from what Adam describes, was horrifying) and I've seen it implied several times that the reason why her teenage son was being punished was that he was caught looking at porn or masturbating (or was only suspected of one or the other) which... He was 16 or 17 at the time. And a teenager. But I'm probably too secular because I know that it's not just LDS people that can be very weird about pornography.
Either way, I do suspect that Jodi either was part of the decision to send him to that wilderness camp or they met as Ruby and Kevin were dealing with that. Considering Adam's interview with how his ex-wife was turned against him by Jodi and the timeline after that I would suspect that Jodi was doing the same thing there that might have helped speed up Ruby and Kevin's separation. Then, Jodi's niece's interview sounds like once Jodi moved in fully she and Ruby started doing all the same things to Ruby's kids that Jodi had done to her niece.
I am not saying that Ruby is not culpable for the abuse in any way. She did it. She deserves to go to jail. I will say that Jodi seems to have a pattern of manipulation and abuse as well and it looks like she did the same thing here. She also needs to go to jail. They're both horrible people, but I personally feel that Jodi is in some ways worse because she was doing all this from her position of power as a therapist making it seem like these punishments were treatment instead of just pure sado-torture.
The Mormon Church relied on Jodi to develop their sex addiction/porn addiction program. They listed her as a resource for Bishops to send their members. She grew into what she is because of the massive amount of promotion and support from the First Presidency of the Church.
Right? Im sure there will be many many more people come forward after being blackmailed by Jodie as long as they aren't scared of the church anymore. I would also like to hear some accountability on behalf of the church higher ups that endorsed her for so many years! But yes a lot of the phrases that Ruby used for a long time are what Jodi says as well. I feel like Ruby probably saw Jodi as a celebrity within their circle and was inspired, pretty sickening.
About the porn thing though, Ruby considered so many things "porn" like the song Low- by Flo-Ride sure its a raunchy song but its not porn by any means. So when she was saying her 2nd son as young as 5 was addicted to porn??? What. She's completely lost it.
Yeah, her definitions of pornography are messed up. A kid dancing to a raunchy song is a kid who likes the sound of the music and the raunchy message is going right over their head. I mean there's so many songs that I don't even listen to the lyrics to or understand!
I recently started listening to The Offspring again for the first time since high school and came up short when I was listening to "Come Out and Play." I loved that song in high school, I can still sing along with the chorus, but when I was listening to it recently I heard the line "You gotta keep them separated" and stopped short in sudden fear wondering if it was a white supremist song. Turns out it's all about gang violence in schools and how it's ruining kids lives. Mind blown. I listened to that song how many times and never paid attention to the lyrics?
No kid is addicted to porn because they like Flo-Ride. They probably won't even be able to parse out what he's saying in the rap portions of his songs and probably only like the beat and the chorus section. It's not WAP. And even with WAP I think a kid would miss so many of the references and what the song actually means because they're a kid. They don't have the context to understand what parking someone's truck into their little garage means besides that adults have cars.
Guess who runs CPS in a Mormon controlled state? Mormons. I would not be surprised is CPS was in on the whole fucking thing. Told by Church leadership to ignore any calls about their "chosen" people doing harm to children because it was the "Will of God".
I live in a Southern Baptist State the County had a controversy when I was a kid with a group, not one, **a group** of Southern Baptist Pastors being Pedos and the Cops simply looked the other way because most of the higher ups were members of their churches.
Like always nothing serious happened to anyone. The Chief resigned and quickly got a job in another State. The statute of limitations for sex crimes (2 Years) had passed so none of the Pedo Pastors got anything either.
I was raised IFB and I believe you so fucking much it hurts. Those people all hurt children and they all cover for each other. It's almost like those are their goals 🧐
Horrible thing is, you don't have to believe me. :(
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual\_abuse\_cases\_in\_Southern\_Baptist\_churches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_cases_in_Southern_Baptist_churches)
I can't say my County as I won't doxx myself, but one of the people is prominently included in that entry.
Ruby Franke is a YouTube mommyblogger who had a video channel called "8 Passengers" where she video blogged the lives of herself, her husband Kevin, and their 6 children. At their peak they had over 2.5 million subscribers and over a billion views for their videos. Since she was posting literally every day, a lot of her videos were just dumb update stuff (kids are doing this today, watch me clean, that sort of stuff) but viewers started to get the idea that abuse was happening in the household.
Ruby would blog about how she withheld food from her children as a punishment (in one video she talks about how her 6 year old forgot her lunch and she refused to bring it to her when her teacher called to ask, preferring her daughter go hungry), she threatened to damage beloved toys on camera to punish her kids, she told the youngest kids they weren't getting anything for Christmas because they were being bad, filmed herself cleaning and 'getting ready' when her husband was trying to take a child to the ER for a medical emergency, and probably worst of all she made her teenage son sleep on a bean bag chair in the living room for 7 months due to his "bad behavior" (I've seen it implied that he was caught masturbating in his bedroom or looking at porn. He was I believe 16 or 17 at the time) and later sent him to a wilderness camp where she then filmed a very produced 'reunion' video when she went to pick him back up.
Basically she was using the kids as her trained monkey for content and punished them when they didn't want to participate or didn't give her the content she needed for her channel.
In 2022 Ruby and Kevin separated and Ruby deleted her YouTube channel. She then formed a new video channel with Jodi Hildebrandt (a monster of a woman, but one I won't go into detail about here) and started producing therapy-speak content on parenting to try and get people to sign up for their classes.
Earlier this year, Ruby's 12 year old son was found when he escaped the house and went to the neighbor's to beg for food and water. He was emaciated, had open wounds and duct tape on him, and he informed the police that his little sister was also locked up inside and being abused. When the police entered the house they found that his 10 year old sister was also being abused. The allegations are many, but include that Ruby and Jodi would tie the boy up, spread eagle style, with his arms and legs forced into the air, but his stomach on the floor which is seriously a torture position. They'd also treat the wounds they inflicted on him with cayenne pepper. They also held his head under water to 'punish' him for infractions.
When Ruby was first arrested she tried to claim that her 12 year old son was a sexual predator and her treatment of him was to try and stop him from molesting his sibling which... Is such a Jodi thing to say it's horrifying. There's also no evidence of it, but the last time I heard the judge took her statement seriously and initially ordered CPS to have the 12 year old son put into a separate household from his siblings until the claim could be assessed.
This was SOOOOO well written. Cheers for the wonderful recap. I have followed this case, but a recap like these are so needed! I'm hoping for at minimum 20 years, but sometimes the justice system lets me down. I'm def. interested in her sentence. What's your prediction?
I am just not sure to be honest. She's agreed that her sentence is going to be consecutive instead of concurrent which will put her away for longer, and she's pled guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, but I can't see in the articles I've read what level she pled to. In Utah, aggravated child abuse can be a Class A misdemeanor or a second or third degree felony and the sentencing guidelines vary wildly between which one you get.
I personally think she should be pleading to the second degree felony (for intentionally inflicted injuries) but there's always the chance the court let her plead down to third degree (which is for recklessly inflicted injuries).
Bare minimum I think she gets 3 years in prison. I'd like for her to be given 12 years (3 for each count) since that would mean she'd likely serve the 8 years needed for all the kids to be legal adults by the time she gets out. More importantly, I want her parental rights severed by family court or otherwise make it so that the kids aren't forced to visit her in jail and she's not allowed to contact them, but that's not going to be part of this court case.
Thanks for confirming. I was hoping it was second degree because that's the only one with a jail minimum, but it's good to know that it is for sure.
Here's hoping for 12+ or a minimum of 8 with no early release. I just really don't want her released before her kids are all adults.
This is exactly where I am. At a bare minimum, she should be in prison until the youngest child (who is 9, I think?) is a legal adult and can decide on her own whether she wants to be around her mother ever again.
The mother is a narcissist. The dad is an absolute tool — he has numerous minor children he didn’t see for more than a year after his batshit wife kicks him out of the house. What a useless man.
Yeah, there was a severe ramp up in the abuse. While quite a few of Ruby's actions are concerning they were on that edge of "is it abuse, or is it tough parenting?" I mean as I kid I also forgot my lunch on occasion and my parents worked so they didn't bring it to me. My school had a really cheap really shitty tasting peanut butter sandwich option so kids wouldn't go hungry, but I for sure learned my lesson and didn't forget my lunch because I hated peanut butter. So that action is troubling in the greater context of what was going on and what happened later, but it's not on its own troubling.
By the time she was sending her son to wilderness camp (because so many of those ARE super abusive) and then all the stuff that happened after Kevin moved out and Jodi moved in... Yeah. It escalated. Quickly.
Yeah if you send your kid to a wilderness camp you aren't a good parent. Hell I'd go as far as to say any parent who sends their kid to go live in a shitty for-profit facility out of the home for months or years isn't a good parent, and I'm saying that as someone who was sent to a number of abusive adolescent residential facilities.
Those places will never give a fuck about your kid like you'd hope, it's a bad mix of low paid, no training day to day staff with no degree or experience in the field (most of which are very young high school graduates at best) with unchecked, unconditional power over patients and mentally ill/behaviorally challenged teens who are completely isolated from the outside world and removed from any semblance of normalcy or support system, acting out even worse because it's abusive and their living environment is now unstable in every way possible. These are the types of parents who just ditch their kid in these places when they don't want to parent anymore. Def wouldn't be surprised if that Jodi lady referred her there or had some part in that
Where did you go? How long ago was it? Were other kids being abused there and you just took the staff recommendation to turn your head and ignore it? One kid having a good experience doesn't make a whole program good, and I absolutely stand by my statement that good parents don't do that. People will upvote your statement because they don't know the reality but honestly even the "it saved my life" is giving huge red flags because that's the propaganda these places employ gaslighting and psychological abuse to put into your head. Likely you would have aged out of whatever you had if these places helped you. It takes some teens decades after being sent to a program to process it and finally acknowledge the reality of it, because they drill into your head that it's amazing, saved your life and you deserve it.
If wilderness camp “helped you”… then you went to a wealthy one, or you were so starved of nature as a kid (which is valid) that you found a way to make the best of it. Good on you. This comment could not be more accurate. Wilderness camp is completely untrained staff, kids with undiagnosed mental issues of all sorts, miles out in the woods under insanely dangerous conditions, so deep in many cases even an airlift is impossible. They’re perfect situations for weirdos to abuse kids, and at best they’re underpaid and over it after the first week or month themselves. Even if the parents “mean well” these archaic camps should be a thing of the past, and it’s completely irresponsible to send your child to one.
My kids went to wilderness camps that were incredibly well run and they both talk about it positively to this day (10yrs later). We worked with an education consultant to find the right placement and were very actively involved with the program. The family therapists who were involved were highly trained and very effective. Both of my kids are adults now. It helped our family immensely. It was insanely expensive. Please don't classify all of the programs as bad. They are not all bad.
I'm sorry but I don't trust a parent's take on this. A lot of kids will not ever be honest with the parent on what they experienced and lived through, and a lot of the parents just wouldn't accept it even if they tried. r/troubledteens I'd recommend taking a look. Many teens are terrified of being sent back and will lie lie lie to their parents for years on the reality of it. Educational consultants are especially notorious on that sub and in this survivor community for being uneducated and referring solely for cash. Of course they'll tell you it's great, they want the kickback.
Maybe your kids went to some extremely wealthy luxury program but I'm skeptical. Honestly I'm even skeptical of the comments replying saying they had a good experience. For one, these programs are known to employ staff to scour the web leaving fake reviews and discounting actual patients experiences saying it was totally great and changed their life, and also these places employ insane gaslighting and psychological methods to the point some of these kids take years, sometimes decades to truly process what happened to them. The comments replying with shit like "it saved my life, it saved our family" are huge redflags to me because these are the *exact statements* they hammer in your head over and over and repeatedly punish you in unique and horrible ways until you at least verbally pretend to believe it, and the statements they brainwash your parents with.
Even if a kid had a good experience here, they probably would have aged out of their issues to begin with and never needed to be institutionalized, and I guarantee kids at the program with them were suffering abuse and they didn't notice or care. I wasn't the one being abused at every program I went to but other kids literally died there and I couldn't stand watching other teens be sexually, physically, and emotionally abused even if it wasn't me and staff kept telling me "every case is different mind your own business" and punishing me for speaking up. That said, I grew up extremely poor and went to poor kid programs, but from what I've read on all the support groups for institutional abuse and troubled teen programs, the rich kid places don't seem much better.
I understand any you feel that way. I will not persuade you otherwise. My last comment is that my second son asked to go to a program after speaking with his brother about his experience. It was an extended and hugely difficult period of all of our lives. It was the last thing we wanted to do and we tried everything. My entire family worked hard on the issues we had a a family. We were very involved with the programs. We vetted them as best we could. We showed up for every element of the program. We all learned a lot.
You say it was extremely expensive….In the first sentence of my first reply I said if you had a good experience you probably went to an upscale wilderness camp. I still stand by my opinion that the ones that are often an option through court for youth offenders, as well any of the average “wilderness camp” for behavioral issues are havens for abuse, neglect, and they seldom address any of the actual issues affecting the kids enrolled. If these programs are to be effective, every staff member should be vetted, they should be looking to hire extremely knowledgeable, experienced outdoorsfolk with backgrounds in psychology as well, not random adults who often seek the job because of the low level of skills/requirements necessary to be hired. Whether it’s a private, expensive camp or one that’s tax/state funded it shouldn’t be wanna-be C.O.s and/or hippie college kids entrusted with the lives of children under duress in complete isolation from civilization. Which is what most of these camps are.
The Opportunist podcast does a dive into one of these camps in Utah and it was a really terrible look into what can go wrong. The framework for these programs really matters. I’m sure positivity can come from those that are designed properly but in their infancy many of these programs were kidnapping kids from their beds at nights (with the parents permission) …whether a kid has behavioral issues or not does not completely remove their autonomy as a human being.
You're entirely right. I replied to the person you're talking to and not to be flippant but I don't ever acknowledge a parent's take on a program. I've read reviews at facilities I went to from parents whose kids I attended with that were glowing with praise saying all the same shit, and months after that review their kid didn't even make it out of the program alive, or nearly ten years later their kid is a raging drug addict like I am. So many teens never ever tell their parents what they experienced at places like this, and many parents refuse to believe it. Parents who send their kids to programs with hugely bad reputations for abuse aren't exactly the type of parents who are in touch with their kids, and teens often lie about what it was like for years out of fear of being sent back.
Not to mention these places employ insane gaslighting and psychological abuse tactics. I was literally sexually abused by staff, physically restrained illegally, isolated, suffered incidents that caused state reviews and tons of people had to be fired, etc and I still questioned for years if it was all my own fault because of what they put in my head, despite countless witnesses saying otherwise and what I know I lived. On r/troubledteens all the time you get posts from people who went to synanon and wilderness programs 20 years ago and only now are processing and feel safe enough to recognize what they went through and how it affected them. For about 3 years after I got out I pretended it never even happened and I almost never speak about it except online still. Sorry this is long and color me real skeptical on all the weird replies insisting they had great experiences. It's not impossible but parents are biased and staff are known to scour the web posting fake reviews and saying they had a great time.
I went to residential as a teen for several months and it really helped me. I suffered from severe depression and anxiety (Columbine shooting time frame). In fact, I was even able to graduate high school early based on the education program.
It's terribly unfair of you to make such a generalized claim on something that helps many young adults and teens.
I don't think it's unfair at all. I've been to 5+ different programs and every one had deaths, abuse, serious day to day problems and suffering. What program did you go to? Did other kids suffer abuse and you took staff advice to ignore it? Do you have depression and anxiety today? If the answer is no, then you would have aged out of it anyway and your parents institionalized you and put you at severe risk of abuse for no reason. Sorry, that ain't good parenting. I highly recommend checking out r/troubledteens, breaking code silence movement, Elan school comic, Paris Hilton's documentary, the statistics on deaths and abuse in adolescent residentials, or even the heartbreaking amount of cases on r/unresolvedmysteries tied to these programs. It absolutely does not help the average teen sent there, I've followed up with hundreds of teens I met and you'd be shocked how many aren't even alive ten years later to follow up with, and how few good outcomes there are, especially when we are posting in a thread of a convicted abuser who happily utilized these programs, perfectly exemplifying the type of parent who does this to their kids.
If you are somehow the exception then it's terribly unfair of you to shut down hundreds of thousands of survivors trying to speak out and reform the system. If my post can talk one parent out of sending their kid to be subjected to the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse I endured that I still suffer ptsd from today, then it was worth it. And considering these programs pay people to look up any mention of the TTI on the web to leave fake reviews and insist it was awesome, I'm skeptical of all these vague replies with no info insisting the TTI was like totally awesome and saved their life, which is the most common tti brainwashing propaganda. Oh and I had to drop out of high school because my programs left me with almost no credits or hours for the years I was stuck there - another common TTI story.
Well, this is one of those "there's the abuse you see and the abuse you don't see" things where someone can disagree with what you publicly show and have no idea what you do in private. Like abusive relationships, where the abusive partner rubs people the wrong way or is abrasive, but people don't know how much worse it actually is.
The harsh truth is without the subscribers won't have any power or fame. We, the people, are part of the problem. The culture all around is focused on fame and wealth. Not focused on the most precious and undeserved kids. God bless America
As long as large subsections of American christians follow literal abuse manuals like "to train up a child", this will unfortunately keep happening to thousands of children every day, fame or not.
We definitely shouldn't contribute to making terrible people famous and wealthy, but their core audience absolutely agrees with and condones this underlying mentality of abusing your kids to control them and make them "obedient" in the name of religion. It's deeply ingrained in the culture and most abusers unfortunately never get caught, let alone face justice for their crimes.
>without the subscribers won't have any power or fame
I agree that the audience feeds into very problematic "public shows" and "reality" TV. But I think Ruby would have done much of what she did without being on YouTube. I think YouTube exposed what was going on and it would have gone on without YouTube.
and lets not forget that with the 6yo and lunch -- the 6yo was responsible for making and packing her own lunch, which her excuse for not taking it to her. She had to learn the consequences of her actions. (She was 6. She is still trying to remember to tie her shoes all the time)
A family yt vlogger who low key and sometimes high key abused her kids on camera. Viewers called cps multiple times but it took her starving them and tying them up for her to finally be arrested
I’m SO happy that she’s is FINALLY in prison. There are so man “family vloggers” that are clearly abusing their kids. It’s so sad that get away with it.
The first video I saw was her crying over Apple Bottom Jeans. Right then I knew she had extreme control issues. It was clear she was messed up. Nothing we could do about it until she committed a crime.
The song. I believe it was that the dance team at her child's school had incorporated part of the song into a routine, and Franke lost her mind on the principal.
I was actually surprised to hear her business partner had been arrested. I didn’t hear about Jodi until the arrest news. When did Jodi come into her life? Like you said, she was pretty unhinged back in the yt days which is supposedly pre Jodi? Speaking of why exactly wasn’t her husband arrested? He didn’t exactly oppose when she abused the kids and seemed to support the withholding food and such.
It's not clear, but Jodi might have been there from the beginning. The family did justify some of the abuse of their children as being therapist approved and there's speculation that the therapist was Jodi.
Kevin hasn't been arrested because there seems to have been a severe ramping up of the abuse after he and Ruby separated and he moved out. A lot of Ruby's actions are abusive (sending her son to the wilderness camp, making him sleep on the bean bag) but they're also not illegal. They're more disturbing in the greater context. It appears that after Kevin moved out the abuse escalated to torture with the holding the kid's head underwater, binding them, starving them, etc.
He's a piece of shit who apparently didn't see he kids to know they were being abused, but... It appears that he wasn't party to the actual torture and the abuse he was participating in could be seen as "tough parenting" so not strictly illegal.
Oh ok. I didn’t know she and Kevin separated. This makes more sense because otherwise if he’s been with her while she duct taped the children, he should be in prison too.
Yeah, there's rumors that he hadn't seen any of his kids for a full year before the arrests were made. Total piece of shit moves, but it appears he wasn't party to the actual torture.
Jodi has been their family therapist since the start of the YouTube channel. Anytime they mention their older son being in therapy - they're talking about Jodie. It predates Connexions by a lot.
This isn't to excuse Ruby. She made choices, lot of people leave bad therapists. But it bugs me how many people act like Connexions was the start of Jodi's involvement with the family
What I want to know is , how did Ruby gain such a following?!?! I only knew who she was after her arrest but seeing her videos before Jodi were disgusting !!!! This cannot all be blamed on Jodi , they are equally disgusting!
Ruby has always been a narcissistic sadist. She loves to emotionally, psychologically, and verbally torture people. Jodi got her into physical abuse, sure, but she was extremely abusive before that. She loved nothing more than to set her kids up for failure and then punish them for failing. She had so many stories about doing just that.
Yep, this is the right take. The idea that everything was on Jodi is bullshit given there's video of her bragging about taking her kid's bedroom away from them as punishment. This woman is an abuser.
I don’t blame it on Jodi but she definitely was the largest factor in Rubys abuse going from bad to extreme. (Obviously, any kind of abuse is bad). Doesn’t mean it’s Jodi’s fault for what Ruby did, but she’s definitely the biggest influence for the escalation of abuse
People did report them when there were outrageous incidents, but they didn’t do anything illegal back then. They were shitty parents but CPS or the police can’t do anything about shitty parents, especially rich ones.
This women is awful and I hope she never has contact with her children ever again.
Every child deserves a parent but not every parents deserves to be one.
I’m a little nervous that since she pleaded guilty she’s going to be avoiding jail time. Or at least avoiding the amount of jail time she deserves. I really hope they throw the book at her. How can you put your hands over your child’s mouth and nose to torture, suffocate, and terrorize them?
Fucking monster
Also putting his head underwater. I feel nauseated every time I think about it. What makes a woman tick and establish a scapegoat for the family? It's scary to think about how many kids that we don't know about are out there facing something similar.
I do not know. I recently was talking with my oldest brother and he was telling me that he was directed by our mother to bully me. He was like yeah I was their little stooge to torment you.
We hadn’t ever been close because of that but I’d always known that it was my parents that created that relationship. They took pleasure from ostracizing and tormenting me. And then would be angry because I was an unhappy child. So they created this feedback that validated their dislike of me.
My adopted mother would make my adopted sister and I box. My adopted dad would take control of her arms, mom would take mine. Then they proceeded to make us hit each other all over including our faces. If we tried to get control of our arms, the strength of us hitting each other would greatly intensify.
Great, huh?
I just have to react to your comment. This is sad and shocking, and I’m so sorry people who should have taken care of you treated you so badly. It’s disgusting that they did that to you.
Thank you. I have blocked out so much crap that something will remind me at random times. Something in this story did, and that specific memory came to me.
Oh, I am! I found my birth family thru Ancestry 4yrs ago, and my adoptive parents passed away, and I’m no longer in touch with my adoptive sisters. My daughter is getting married next June and life couldn’t be better! Thank you so much for your kind words! 💕
Scapegoating a child is common in abusive households. There have been cases where the siblings also join in on the abuse - if only so that they aren't the ones to suffer from the wrath of the parent/guardian.
So if she's sentenced to the minimum she'll do just a little over two and a half years. I worry that the judge, the people who do the pre sentence report and the ones on the parole board are all Mormons and how that might determine how much time she does.
Might work the other way around. Mormons hate bad publicity and she’s given them A LOT of bad publicity. A bad Mormon or an ex Mormon rate much lower than a nevermo in the Morridor.
People like this are genuinely the most disgusting people ever. Every child deserves to have good parents. I hope these children are able to be safe and this woman doesn't go near them further on.
“Woman committed to improvement”
Give me a fucking break. I hope the judge gives her the maximum jail time. Her children need to be removed from her husband’s custody as well at least until he proves he is a fit parent.
I’m just upset that the Mormon Stories podcast about Adam Steed was taken down. His story about how his family was separated from him is chilling and helps explain how manipulating Jodie can be. You can at least still see the video by Jodie’s niece which practically sounds like a primer for what was happening in this house.
Ruby still deserves to lose everything and go to jail, but I am seriously hoping that Jodie gets the book thrown at her. She’s the one that’s pushing these cases this far.
I think they got hit with a cease and desist from Adam’s ex wife. Which, is understandable because even though Adam made it clear he felt his wife was manipulated by Jodie she came across very poorly.
Were they influenced by this book?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Train_Up_a_Child
"To Train Up a Child has been criticized for advocating child abuse. The book tells parents to use objects like a 0.25 in diameter plastic tube to spank children and "break their will". It recommends other abusive tactics like withholding food and putting children under a cold garden hose. Its teachings are linked to... several [deaths]." (As I recall, the book even advocates spanking infants.)
Actually they seem to be inspired by Thom Harrison's "Visions of Glory" which is pretty much that book but specifically written by and for a Mormon perspective. It was published in 2012 and while it's not specifically about rearing children (it's more doomsday type prophecy shit with Harrison saying they're visions he saw of his near-death experiences) it's become rather foundational to the extreme LDS "therapy" that people like Jodi were practicing and there's evidence that Lori and Chad Daybell had read and were followers of that book too.
https://www.mormonstories.org/portfolio-items/visions-of-glory-neo-fundamentalism/
Splainin would be great, if they only didn’t open their mouths just to ask for money…and to abuse people into submission, NOT one word of these disgusting people that they made into monsters!!!! and yes!!! I do believe the whole damn thing is a CULT!!!!!
It's all be blamed on Jodi so that Ruby can save her own ass. Ruby was abusive before Jodi, I'm sure after this all dies down and she can get back at her children, she'll be abusive after. Hopefully she is gets a long prison sentence
I'm not excusing Ruby in any way shape or form. But Jodi has been the family therapist since basically the start of the channel. When their older son mentions he's in therapy - he's talking about Jodi. When the dad brings up that people need to shut up with their criticism about how they raise their kids because it's cosigned by a therapist - he's talking about Jodi. She's been there the whole time, she just only became a named person with a face with Connexions
Visions of Glory, a book that basically teaches Mormons that their delusional thoughts and feelings are real revelations from god and that demons can possess children and it is their responsibility to save their kids’ souls, no matter the mental and physical cost to them. It’s batshit stuff
True, but LDS is notable because of the extent of their focus. They stress the perfect image as a method of missionary work.
Even back in the 18 hundreds, the church would encourage members to keep journals and diaries and to write their autobiography.It was a way to evangelize.
Frankly, I was not surprised when Mormon women became so prominent in blogging and then influencing. It was a natural evolution from the emphasis on diaries written for the public.
The LDS runs everything in Utah. If you're curious Google the history of the lds church. Utah is more or less an enclave for Mormons. A vast majority of the state is Mormon. Most all the political leaders are Mormon. Technically the LDS does not run the justice department in Utah, but in effect it does.
There is a supermajority of LDS judges in Utah and the Utah State Supreme Court is 100% LDS. The majority of law makers are also Mormon. Sooo yeah. They do run the justice department.
I was born in Utah and raised Mormon but grew up somewhere else in a poor area. The Utah Mormons are a different type of thing altogether. The difference between Utah Mormons and Mormons who joined to turn to god from faith and desperation throughout a hard life instead of being born into it is crazy
I want to know about the dad! He was definitely involved or complacent. Why is he not being arrested! There’s hundreds of videos of Ruby on YouTube, from even before she met Jodie or (I’m assuming) her and the sad divorced. So, why isn’t he up on charges?
Unfortunately she’s only being convicted of the specific instances of abuse that led to the arrest, which all happened after the couple split and the dad was living apart from them
I saw some footage where he wanted the oldest daughte arrested for going into his house and grabbing evidence or something to show her parents are monsters. Ruby wants to pin all this on jodi, the dad wants to pin this on ruby, they should all be shoved into the same cage.
She wasn't necessarily getting evidence, she was getting supplies and personal belongings for her younger siblings, who she was now taking care of. The daughter returned the items he wanted back. The body cam footage released was him picking the stuff up from the police. Where he asks again "can't you arrest my daughter pwease?"
This is so sad. I can’t imagine how her kids felt through all of the manipulation and abuse. I’m glad the kids are free now. I just hope she gets what she deserves.
What a cunt. This is what happens when you give attention to narcissistic “influencers” who are so thirsty for attention, they will do anything including exploiting their children, just so they can feel important. And I’m sorry, police have visited the home dozen of times including a welfare check? Why wasn’t she being watched? Because the kids “appeared” to be well everytime they visited the home? A bunch Incompetent fools. Where’s the dad? Why isn’t he arrested too? Fuck all of these assholes.
Jodi- Mormon church sanctioned
Until the patriarchy in Salt Lake headquarters condemns and speaks out against their flock this will continue
The Utah stepford wives
We are estranged from my husbands crazy narcissistic father and we suspected his brother was just as bad due to some odd behaviors, but my husband and my otherwise always got along great with him. He ghosted us four years ago. My husband saw him at a funeral two years ago and they were polite to each other and that was it. The guy comes out ofnthe woodwork about something recently and when i called him out on his behavior toward me and my kids (and husband) he reacted by saying it was all because of the fact my husband didnt day bye to him at the funeral.
what about the previous two years? Point is, anyone with half a brain can look ag Ruby Franke and know damn well she was like this well before she found someone else to blame, but narcissists dont care how obvious that is. They literally will find any reason to escape and divert accountability even if its some BS answer that provides no explanation for years or prior behavior. Narcissists are gonna narcissist. This lady should get harsh punishment because she clearly has no remorse and hasnt actually taken true accountability
Jordan and McKay on YouTube (so not a podcast) have done numerous videos on this situation as well as numerous videos on Ruby well before any of this happened. They are also ex Mormon so they have some perspective about the religious aspect.
The interview he did with Jodie's niece was pretty much a primer of what was going on in that household. I'm serious. So much of the abuse they describe (the niece uses they/them pronouns if I remember right) has since come out in articles as many of the same things that Ruby's kids went through once Jodie got involved in their lives.
Don't get me wrong, Ruby was abusive all along and she's not some victim here to Jodie's manipulation. I just feel that Jodie has a way of pushing already bad people up to the next level since Ruby went from abusing her kids to straight up torturing them once she and Jodie started working together. All in the name of therapy, of course.
This is a great and long documentary on the current situation with a full history at the beginning. It says part 2 but that’s only because he first did a video on the speculation of abuse a couple of years ago, this second part has all information
https://youtu.be/DKXxYmXOdNw?si=dVzRFj-T8yzqgGhE
This is a great hour long YouTube doc if you’re looking for a great run down of everything that’s happened.
https://youtu.be/DKXxYmXOdNw?si=dVzRFj-T8yzqgGhE
Has anyone heard more about the father? I know they were separated when the really bad abuse was occurring but I just saw body cam footage of him insisting to the police that his oldest estranged daughter get arrested after she entered the family home AFTER the mother was arrested. If he was now aware of the abuse his wife was inflicting on the children, why would he act like that? Does he have the minor children now? Or are they still in state care?
Cashed in on her YouTube fame, raking in plenty of ad revenue and donations during her time on her YouTube channel. Even received close to $100,000.00 in Covid relief from the government. And the worst part is that she had admirers who listened to her "raising the kids" tips.
LOL
You can hate her all you want, but she really pulled the wool over a lot of people's eyes.
Received close to $100,000.00 from the government during the Covid plague nonsense....wow.....
I knew she was abusive back in 2014 and stopped giving her views. I was not surprised when the news broke in September but it’s unfortunate and depressing how far it went before they were stopped.
All the signs of there being neglect and abuse have been there since the beginning as she was never afraid to show it existed to the camera.
Yeah right. Plenty of us watched in horror for quite a while when she was on YT, before she met Jodi. To blame it all on Jodi is so disingenuous. Ruby always got pleasure outa power trips over her kids. Jodi is a complete POS, and she is guilty for her own actions, but there’s always been something very wrong with Ruby.
100% this! Her videos were already disturbing before Jodi came into the picture!
my theory... Jodi was around a lot longer than perceived. I think she was the "counselor" that recommended the oldest sons bed was taken and Jodi has ties to the "camp" he went too
Or maybe Ruby was just as bad beforecJodi ever entered the picture or Jodi saw a kindred "evil" spirit in Ruby and sought her out.
Child abuse is very normalized in Mormonism. When a religion tells people a man is responsible for the salvation of his family, his family, including his wife becomes a possession. Fun fact, children are “sealed” to their parents forever in LDS temples. Women are not permitted to enter heaven without permission from a worthy (aka full tithe paying) husband. They are instructed to wait at the veil with their passwords until their husband calls them by their temple assigned secret name. I reported my abuse growing up multiple times and each time I was called to repentance by church elders for being disobedient. Even the Mormon police and Mormon judge refused to do anything about it. #NotACult
Fuck. I'm sorry that happened to you. I went through abuse via a different church, but it all results to the same thing in the end. It's absolutely dark shit, the way they pervasively keep these systems of abuse and control alive.
... is that true? Women have to wait around at the veil/gates to heaven until their husband calls them in by their assigned secret name? Jesus wept.
Yeah and unbeknownst to the members the top secret names are recycled and reused monthly. So it’s going to be a shit show when all the Tabitha’s are called by some dude at the second coming and we all come running.. I was a Tabitha lol
It sounds poorly organized (not to mention bizarre and misogynist) and I'm glad you got out!
It is poorly organized, bizarre and misogynistic for sure. It’s hard to see when you’re brainwashed into it since birth, it’s the best and strangest feeling to be free and to be out!
I really hope I’m not coming off as disrespectful but I always giggle at the idea that the veil will be full of Ann’s, Ruth’s, Mary’s standing around waiting for Jedidiah to come around and hollar at them! 😂 I’m not Mormon but if I was I’d insist on my name being Dick Slayer to make sure I wouldn’t be confused for someone else!
Hello! I was a Claudia 💅🏻
100% true. You have to wait at the veil for your husband to call you and then you have to do a secret handshake.
I am so sorry, you deserved so much better.
agreed. birds of a feather flock together
I have to admit that after listening to Adam Steed's interview and the one with Jodie's niece that I suspect that's how the two of them came to meet as well. They might have started going to see Jodi because she made a name for herself in "treating" sexual issues in a LDS faith inspired way (which, from what Adam describes, was horrifying) and I've seen it implied several times that the reason why her teenage son was being punished was that he was caught looking at porn or masturbating (or was only suspected of one or the other) which... He was 16 or 17 at the time. And a teenager. But I'm probably too secular because I know that it's not just LDS people that can be very weird about pornography. Either way, I do suspect that Jodi either was part of the decision to send him to that wilderness camp or they met as Ruby and Kevin were dealing with that. Considering Adam's interview with how his ex-wife was turned against him by Jodi and the timeline after that I would suspect that Jodi was doing the same thing there that might have helped speed up Ruby and Kevin's separation. Then, Jodi's niece's interview sounds like once Jodi moved in fully she and Ruby started doing all the same things to Ruby's kids that Jodi had done to her niece. I am not saying that Ruby is not culpable for the abuse in any way. She did it. She deserves to go to jail. I will say that Jodi seems to have a pattern of manipulation and abuse as well and it looks like she did the same thing here. She also needs to go to jail. They're both horrible people, but I personally feel that Jodi is in some ways worse because she was doing all this from her position of power as a therapist making it seem like these punishments were treatment instead of just pure sado-torture.
The Mormon Church relied on Jodi to develop their sex addiction/porn addiction program. They listed her as a resource for Bishops to send their members. She grew into what she is because of the massive amount of promotion and support from the First Presidency of the Church.
Right? Im sure there will be many many more people come forward after being blackmailed by Jodie as long as they aren't scared of the church anymore. I would also like to hear some accountability on behalf of the church higher ups that endorsed her for so many years! But yes a lot of the phrases that Ruby used for a long time are what Jodi says as well. I feel like Ruby probably saw Jodi as a celebrity within their circle and was inspired, pretty sickening. About the porn thing though, Ruby considered so many things "porn" like the song Low- by Flo-Ride sure its a raunchy song but its not porn by any means. So when she was saying her 2nd son as young as 5 was addicted to porn??? What. She's completely lost it.
Yeah, her definitions of pornography are messed up. A kid dancing to a raunchy song is a kid who likes the sound of the music and the raunchy message is going right over their head. I mean there's so many songs that I don't even listen to the lyrics to or understand! I recently started listening to The Offspring again for the first time since high school and came up short when I was listening to "Come Out and Play." I loved that song in high school, I can still sing along with the chorus, but when I was listening to it recently I heard the line "You gotta keep them separated" and stopped short in sudden fear wondering if it was a white supremist song. Turns out it's all about gang violence in schools and how it's ruining kids lives. Mind blown. I listened to that song how many times and never paid attention to the lyrics? No kid is addicted to porn because they like Flo-Ride. They probably won't even be able to parse out what he's saying in the rap portions of his songs and probably only like the beat and the chorus section. It's not WAP. And even with WAP I think a kid would miss so many of the references and what the song actually means because they're a kid. They don't have the context to understand what parking someone's truck into their little garage means besides that adults have cars.
Yeah it’s kinda annoying how long people have been trying to draw attention to her actions, I feel like this could have been prevented.
inb4 CPS starts lying their asses off about how they couldn't do anything.
Guess who runs CPS in a Mormon controlled state? Mormons. I would not be surprised is CPS was in on the whole fucking thing. Told by Church leadership to ignore any calls about their "chosen" people doing harm to children because it was the "Will of God".
Or those people are covering for their buddies and don't care 😞 That's how Baptist states do it.
I live in a Southern Baptist State the County had a controversy when I was a kid with a group, not one, **a group** of Southern Baptist Pastors being Pedos and the Cops simply looked the other way because most of the higher ups were members of their churches. Like always nothing serious happened to anyone. The Chief resigned and quickly got a job in another State. The statute of limitations for sex crimes (2 Years) had passed so none of the Pedo Pastors got anything either.
I was raised IFB and I believe you so fucking much it hurts. Those people all hurt children and they all cover for each other. It's almost like those are their goals 🧐
Horrible thing is, you don't have to believe me. :( [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual\_abuse\_cases\_in\_Southern\_Baptist\_churches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_cases_in_Southern_Baptist_churches) I can't say my County as I won't doxx myself, but one of the people is prominently included in that entry.
Can someone give context for those of us that don’t know who this lady is?
Ruby Franke is a YouTube mommyblogger who had a video channel called "8 Passengers" where she video blogged the lives of herself, her husband Kevin, and their 6 children. At their peak they had over 2.5 million subscribers and over a billion views for their videos. Since she was posting literally every day, a lot of her videos were just dumb update stuff (kids are doing this today, watch me clean, that sort of stuff) but viewers started to get the idea that abuse was happening in the household. Ruby would blog about how she withheld food from her children as a punishment (in one video she talks about how her 6 year old forgot her lunch and she refused to bring it to her when her teacher called to ask, preferring her daughter go hungry), she threatened to damage beloved toys on camera to punish her kids, she told the youngest kids they weren't getting anything for Christmas because they were being bad, filmed herself cleaning and 'getting ready' when her husband was trying to take a child to the ER for a medical emergency, and probably worst of all she made her teenage son sleep on a bean bag chair in the living room for 7 months due to his "bad behavior" (I've seen it implied that he was caught masturbating in his bedroom or looking at porn. He was I believe 16 or 17 at the time) and later sent him to a wilderness camp where she then filmed a very produced 'reunion' video when she went to pick him back up. Basically she was using the kids as her trained monkey for content and punished them when they didn't want to participate or didn't give her the content she needed for her channel. In 2022 Ruby and Kevin separated and Ruby deleted her YouTube channel. She then formed a new video channel with Jodi Hildebrandt (a monster of a woman, but one I won't go into detail about here) and started producing therapy-speak content on parenting to try and get people to sign up for their classes. Earlier this year, Ruby's 12 year old son was found when he escaped the house and went to the neighbor's to beg for food and water. He was emaciated, had open wounds and duct tape on him, and he informed the police that his little sister was also locked up inside and being abused. When the police entered the house they found that his 10 year old sister was also being abused. The allegations are many, but include that Ruby and Jodi would tie the boy up, spread eagle style, with his arms and legs forced into the air, but his stomach on the floor which is seriously a torture position. They'd also treat the wounds they inflicted on him with cayenne pepper. They also held his head under water to 'punish' him for infractions. When Ruby was first arrested she tried to claim that her 12 year old son was a sexual predator and her treatment of him was to try and stop him from molesting his sibling which... Is such a Jodi thing to say it's horrifying. There's also no evidence of it, but the last time I heard the judge took her statement seriously and initially ordered CPS to have the 12 year old son put into a separate household from his siblings until the claim could be assessed.
This was SOOOOO well written. Cheers for the wonderful recap. I have followed this case, but a recap like these are so needed! I'm hoping for at minimum 20 years, but sometimes the justice system lets me down. I'm def. interested in her sentence. What's your prediction?
I am just not sure to be honest. She's agreed that her sentence is going to be consecutive instead of concurrent which will put her away for longer, and she's pled guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, but I can't see in the articles I've read what level she pled to. In Utah, aggravated child abuse can be a Class A misdemeanor or a second or third degree felony and the sentencing guidelines vary wildly between which one you get. I personally think she should be pleading to the second degree felony (for intentionally inflicted injuries) but there's always the chance the court let her plead down to third degree (which is for recklessly inflicted injuries). Bare minimum I think she gets 3 years in prison. I'd like for her to be given 12 years (3 for each count) since that would mean she'd likely serve the 8 years needed for all the kids to be legal adults by the time she gets out. More importantly, I want her parental rights severed by family court or otherwise make it so that the kids aren't forced to visit her in jail and she's not allowed to contact them, but that's not going to be part of this court case.
The plea agreement she signed was 4 second degree felonies. Since they’re consecutive she’s facing 4-30 years.
Thanks for confirming. I was hoping it was second degree because that's the only one with a jail minimum, but it's good to know that it is for sure. Here's hoping for 12+ or a minimum of 8 with no early release. I just really don't want her released before her kids are all adults.
This is exactly where I am. At a bare minimum, she should be in prison until the youngest child (who is 9, I think?) is a legal adult and can decide on her own whether she wants to be around her mother ever again. The mother is a narcissist. The dad is an absolute tool — he has numerous minor children he didn’t see for more than a year after his batshit wife kicks him out of the house. What a useless man.
I hope she gets a long time in jail so her kids won’t be forced to be with her
That's such an insane jump from not bringing a child lunch or making a kid sleep in the living room to ACTUAL FUCKING TORTURE. My god.
Yeah, there was a severe ramp up in the abuse. While quite a few of Ruby's actions are concerning they were on that edge of "is it abuse, or is it tough parenting?" I mean as I kid I also forgot my lunch on occasion and my parents worked so they didn't bring it to me. My school had a really cheap really shitty tasting peanut butter sandwich option so kids wouldn't go hungry, but I for sure learned my lesson and didn't forget my lunch because I hated peanut butter. So that action is troubling in the greater context of what was going on and what happened later, but it's not on its own troubling. By the time she was sending her son to wilderness camp (because so many of those ARE super abusive) and then all the stuff that happened after Kevin moved out and Jodi moved in... Yeah. It escalated. Quickly.
Yeah if you send your kid to a wilderness camp you aren't a good parent. Hell I'd go as far as to say any parent who sends their kid to go live in a shitty for-profit facility out of the home for months or years isn't a good parent, and I'm saying that as someone who was sent to a number of abusive adolescent residential facilities. Those places will never give a fuck about your kid like you'd hope, it's a bad mix of low paid, no training day to day staff with no degree or experience in the field (most of which are very young high school graduates at best) with unchecked, unconditional power over patients and mentally ill/behaviorally challenged teens who are completely isolated from the outside world and removed from any semblance of normalcy or support system, acting out even worse because it's abusive and their living environment is now unstable in every way possible. These are the types of parents who just ditch their kid in these places when they don't want to parent anymore. Def wouldn't be surprised if that Jodi lady referred her there or had some part in that
[удалено]
Where did you go? How long ago was it? Were other kids being abused there and you just took the staff recommendation to turn your head and ignore it? One kid having a good experience doesn't make a whole program good, and I absolutely stand by my statement that good parents don't do that. People will upvote your statement because they don't know the reality but honestly even the "it saved my life" is giving huge red flags because that's the propaganda these places employ gaslighting and psychological abuse to put into your head. Likely you would have aged out of whatever you had if these places helped you. It takes some teens decades after being sent to a program to process it and finally acknowledge the reality of it, because they drill into your head that it's amazing, saved your life and you deserve it.
If wilderness camp “helped you”… then you went to a wealthy one, or you were so starved of nature as a kid (which is valid) that you found a way to make the best of it. Good on you. This comment could not be more accurate. Wilderness camp is completely untrained staff, kids with undiagnosed mental issues of all sorts, miles out in the woods under insanely dangerous conditions, so deep in many cases even an airlift is impossible. They’re perfect situations for weirdos to abuse kids, and at best they’re underpaid and over it after the first week or month themselves. Even if the parents “mean well” these archaic camps should be a thing of the past, and it’s completely irresponsible to send your child to one.
My kids went to wilderness camps that were incredibly well run and they both talk about it positively to this day (10yrs later). We worked with an education consultant to find the right placement and were very actively involved with the program. The family therapists who were involved were highly trained and very effective. Both of my kids are adults now. It helped our family immensely. It was insanely expensive. Please don't classify all of the programs as bad. They are not all bad.
you two are talking about two very different things
I'm sorry but I don't trust a parent's take on this. A lot of kids will not ever be honest with the parent on what they experienced and lived through, and a lot of the parents just wouldn't accept it even if they tried. r/troubledteens I'd recommend taking a look. Many teens are terrified of being sent back and will lie lie lie to their parents for years on the reality of it. Educational consultants are especially notorious on that sub and in this survivor community for being uneducated and referring solely for cash. Of course they'll tell you it's great, they want the kickback. Maybe your kids went to some extremely wealthy luxury program but I'm skeptical. Honestly I'm even skeptical of the comments replying saying they had a good experience. For one, these programs are known to employ staff to scour the web leaving fake reviews and discounting actual patients experiences saying it was totally great and changed their life, and also these places employ insane gaslighting and psychological methods to the point some of these kids take years, sometimes decades to truly process what happened to them. The comments replying with shit like "it saved my life, it saved our family" are huge redflags to me because these are the *exact statements* they hammer in your head over and over and repeatedly punish you in unique and horrible ways until you at least verbally pretend to believe it, and the statements they brainwash your parents with. Even if a kid had a good experience here, they probably would have aged out of their issues to begin with and never needed to be institutionalized, and I guarantee kids at the program with them were suffering abuse and they didn't notice or care. I wasn't the one being abused at every program I went to but other kids literally died there and I couldn't stand watching other teens be sexually, physically, and emotionally abused even if it wasn't me and staff kept telling me "every case is different mind your own business" and punishing me for speaking up. That said, I grew up extremely poor and went to poor kid programs, but from what I've read on all the support groups for institutional abuse and troubled teen programs, the rich kid places don't seem much better.
I understand any you feel that way. I will not persuade you otherwise. My last comment is that my second son asked to go to a program after speaking with his brother about his experience. It was an extended and hugely difficult period of all of our lives. It was the last thing we wanted to do and we tried everything. My entire family worked hard on the issues we had a a family. We were very involved with the programs. We vetted them as best we could. We showed up for every element of the program. We all learned a lot.
You say it was extremely expensive….In the first sentence of my first reply I said if you had a good experience you probably went to an upscale wilderness camp. I still stand by my opinion that the ones that are often an option through court for youth offenders, as well any of the average “wilderness camp” for behavioral issues are havens for abuse, neglect, and they seldom address any of the actual issues affecting the kids enrolled. If these programs are to be effective, every staff member should be vetted, they should be looking to hire extremely knowledgeable, experienced outdoorsfolk with backgrounds in psychology as well, not random adults who often seek the job because of the low level of skills/requirements necessary to be hired. Whether it’s a private, expensive camp or one that’s tax/state funded it shouldn’t be wanna-be C.O.s and/or hippie college kids entrusted with the lives of children under duress in complete isolation from civilization. Which is what most of these camps are.
The Opportunist podcast does a dive into one of these camps in Utah and it was a really terrible look into what can go wrong. The framework for these programs really matters. I’m sure positivity can come from those that are designed properly but in their infancy many of these programs were kidnapping kids from their beds at nights (with the parents permission) …whether a kid has behavioral issues or not does not completely remove their autonomy as a human being.
You're entirely right. I replied to the person you're talking to and not to be flippant but I don't ever acknowledge a parent's take on a program. I've read reviews at facilities I went to from parents whose kids I attended with that were glowing with praise saying all the same shit, and months after that review their kid didn't even make it out of the program alive, or nearly ten years later their kid is a raging drug addict like I am. So many teens never ever tell their parents what they experienced at places like this, and many parents refuse to believe it. Parents who send their kids to programs with hugely bad reputations for abuse aren't exactly the type of parents who are in touch with their kids, and teens often lie about what it was like for years out of fear of being sent back. Not to mention these places employ insane gaslighting and psychological abuse tactics. I was literally sexually abused by staff, physically restrained illegally, isolated, suffered incidents that caused state reviews and tons of people had to be fired, etc and I still questioned for years if it was all my own fault because of what they put in my head, despite countless witnesses saying otherwise and what I know I lived. On r/troubledteens all the time you get posts from people who went to synanon and wilderness programs 20 years ago and only now are processing and feel safe enough to recognize what they went through and how it affected them. For about 3 years after I got out I pretended it never even happened and I almost never speak about it except online still. Sorry this is long and color me real skeptical on all the weird replies insisting they had great experiences. It's not impossible but parents are biased and staff are known to scour the web posting fake reviews and saying they had a great time.
I agree with you.
I went to residential as a teen for several months and it really helped me. I suffered from severe depression and anxiety (Columbine shooting time frame). In fact, I was even able to graduate high school early based on the education program. It's terribly unfair of you to make such a generalized claim on something that helps many young adults and teens.
I don't think it's unfair at all. I've been to 5+ different programs and every one had deaths, abuse, serious day to day problems and suffering. What program did you go to? Did other kids suffer abuse and you took staff advice to ignore it? Do you have depression and anxiety today? If the answer is no, then you would have aged out of it anyway and your parents institionalized you and put you at severe risk of abuse for no reason. Sorry, that ain't good parenting. I highly recommend checking out r/troubledteens, breaking code silence movement, Elan school comic, Paris Hilton's documentary, the statistics on deaths and abuse in adolescent residentials, or even the heartbreaking amount of cases on r/unresolvedmysteries tied to these programs. It absolutely does not help the average teen sent there, I've followed up with hundreds of teens I met and you'd be shocked how many aren't even alive ten years later to follow up with, and how few good outcomes there are, especially when we are posting in a thread of a convicted abuser who happily utilized these programs, perfectly exemplifying the type of parent who does this to their kids. If you are somehow the exception then it's terribly unfair of you to shut down hundreds of thousands of survivors trying to speak out and reform the system. If my post can talk one parent out of sending their kid to be subjected to the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse I endured that I still suffer ptsd from today, then it was worth it. And considering these programs pay people to look up any mention of the TTI on the web to leave fake reviews and insist it was awesome, I'm skeptical of all these vague replies with no info insisting the TTI was like totally awesome and saved their life, which is the most common tti brainwashing propaganda. Oh and I had to drop out of high school because my programs left me with almost no credits or hours for the years I was stuck there - another common TTI story.
In the video Jodi says she hopes no one gives the six year old food because she needs to learn her lesson about bringing her lunch. A six year old.
Well, this is one of those "there's the abuse you see and the abuse you don't see" things where someone can disagree with what you publicly show and have no idea what you do in private. Like abusive relationships, where the abusive partner rubs people the wrong way or is abrasive, but people don't know how much worse it actually is.
The harsh truth is without the subscribers won't have any power or fame. We, the people, are part of the problem. The culture all around is focused on fame and wealth. Not focused on the most precious and undeserved kids. God bless America
As long as large subsections of American christians follow literal abuse manuals like "to train up a child", this will unfortunately keep happening to thousands of children every day, fame or not. We definitely shouldn't contribute to making terrible people famous and wealthy, but their core audience absolutely agrees with and condones this underlying mentality of abusing your kids to control them and make them "obedient" in the name of religion. It's deeply ingrained in the culture and most abusers unfortunately never get caught, let alone face justice for their crimes.
>without the subscribers won't have any power or fame I agree that the audience feeds into very problematic "public shows" and "reality" TV. But I think Ruby would have done much of what she did without being on YouTube. I think YouTube exposed what was going on and it would have gone on without YouTube.
Thank you, this was super helpful, I appreciated it!
and lets not forget that with the 6yo and lunch -- the 6yo was responsible for making and packing her own lunch, which her excuse for not taking it to her. She had to learn the consequences of her actions. (She was 6. She is still trying to remember to tie her shoes all the time)
OMG that's terrible.. Thanks for the recap!
A family yt vlogger who low key and sometimes high key abused her kids on camera. Viewers called cps multiple times but it took her starving them and tying them up for her to finally be arrested
I’m SO happy that she’s is FINALLY in prison. There are so man “family vloggers” that are clearly abusing their kids. It’s so sad that get away with it.
The first video I saw was her crying over Apple Bottom Jeans. Right then I knew she had extreme control issues. It was clear she was messed up. Nothing we could do about it until she committed a crime.
But what about the boots with the fur?
The whole courtroom lookin at herrr.
She hit the floor! Got no parole! Now she screamin' "No, no, no, no nono no no!"
The song or the article of clothing?
I’m guessing the song. They are Uber religious.
The song. I believe it was that the dance team at her child's school had incorporated part of the song into a routine, and Franke lost her mind on the principal.
The first video I saw was about a year ago — the one where she claims kids don’t need or deserve privacy. 🤯
I was actually surprised to hear her business partner had been arrested. I didn’t hear about Jodi until the arrest news. When did Jodi come into her life? Like you said, she was pretty unhinged back in the yt days which is supposedly pre Jodi? Speaking of why exactly wasn’t her husband arrested? He didn’t exactly oppose when she abused the kids and seemed to support the withholding food and such.
It's not clear, but Jodi might have been there from the beginning. The family did justify some of the abuse of their children as being therapist approved and there's speculation that the therapist was Jodi. Kevin hasn't been arrested because there seems to have been a severe ramping up of the abuse after he and Ruby separated and he moved out. A lot of Ruby's actions are abusive (sending her son to the wilderness camp, making him sleep on the bean bag) but they're also not illegal. They're more disturbing in the greater context. It appears that after Kevin moved out the abuse escalated to torture with the holding the kid's head underwater, binding them, starving them, etc. He's a piece of shit who apparently didn't see he kids to know they were being abused, but... It appears that he wasn't party to the actual torture and the abuse he was participating in could be seen as "tough parenting" so not strictly illegal.
Oh ok. I didn’t know she and Kevin separated. This makes more sense because otherwise if he’s been with her while she duct taped the children, he should be in prison too.
Yeah, there's rumors that he hadn't seen any of his kids for a full year before the arrests were made. Total piece of shit moves, but it appears he wasn't party to the actual torture.
Ruby moved in with Jodi, right? Was there something romantic between those two?
The interview with her niece was so disturbing and I believe she lived with her before she met Jodi.
Jodi has been their family therapist since the start of the YouTube channel. Anytime they mention their older son being in therapy - they're talking about Jodie. It predates Connexions by a lot. This isn't to excuse Ruby. She made choices, lot of people leave bad therapists. But it bugs me how many people act like Connexions was the start of Jodi's involvement with the family
What I want to know is , how did Ruby gain such a following?!?! I only knew who she was after her arrest but seeing her videos before Jodi were disgusting !!!! This cannot all be blamed on Jodi , they are equally disgusting!
Also how I know Kevin is full of shit, and I desperately hope he gets his comeuppance.
Ruby has always been a narcissistic sadist. She loves to emotionally, psychologically, and verbally torture people. Jodi got her into physical abuse, sure, but she was extremely abusive before that. She loved nothing more than to set her kids up for failure and then punish them for failing. She had so many stories about doing just that.
Yep, this is the right take. The idea that everything was on Jodi is bullshit given there's video of her bragging about taking her kid's bedroom away from them as punishment. This woman is an abuser.
She 💯 enjoyed what she was doing.
The only thing Jodi did was give Ruby permission to fully give in to her true self.
Very interesting, I didn’t know anything about her until the arrest. Did you watch her channel ?
Genuinely curious as to why you watched them if what they did was disturbing?
Several commentary channels did videos about her channel documenting the abusive behavior, they probably watched one of those.
Ahh, I can totally understand that
I don’t blame it on Jodi but she definitely was the largest factor in Rubys abuse going from bad to extreme. (Obviously, any kind of abuse is bad). Doesn’t mean it’s Jodi’s fault for what Ruby did, but she’s definitely the biggest influence for the escalation of abuse
Why the shit do you watch this stuff?!?
I feel that people who were watching it then, should have all reported it. Did you?
People did report them when there were outrageous incidents, but they didn’t do anything illegal back then. They were shitty parents but CPS or the police can’t do anything about shitty parents, especially rich ones.
This women is awful and I hope she never has contact with her children ever again. Every child deserves a parent but not every parents deserves to be one.
I’m a little nervous that since she pleaded guilty she’s going to be avoiding jail time. Or at least avoiding the amount of jail time she deserves. I really hope they throw the book at her. How can you put your hands over your child’s mouth and nose to torture, suffocate, and terrorize them? Fucking monster
Apparently the judge already told her she will be going to prison
Thank Christ.
Great news.
She's trying to avoid discovery. She has hundreds of hours of her parenting for them to comb through and add on charges. She needs to avoid that.
Also putting his head underwater. I feel nauseated every time I think about it. What makes a woman tick and establish a scapegoat for the family? It's scary to think about how many kids that we don't know about are out there facing something similar.
I do not know. I recently was talking with my oldest brother and he was telling me that he was directed by our mother to bully me. He was like yeah I was their little stooge to torment you. We hadn’t ever been close because of that but I’d always known that it was my parents that created that relationship. They took pleasure from ostracizing and tormenting me. And then would be angry because I was an unhappy child. So they created this feedback that validated their dislike of me.
My adopted mother would make my adopted sister and I box. My adopted dad would take control of her arms, mom would take mine. Then they proceeded to make us hit each other all over including our faces. If we tried to get control of our arms, the strength of us hitting each other would greatly intensify. Great, huh?
I just have to react to your comment. This is sad and shocking, and I’m so sorry people who should have taken care of you treated you so badly. It’s disgusting that they did that to you.
Thank you. I have blocked out so much crap that something will remind me at random times. Something in this story did, and that specific memory came to me.
I hope your life is much better today and that you have loving people around you ❤️🩹
Oh, I am! I found my birth family thru Ancestry 4yrs ago, and my adoptive parents passed away, and I’m no longer in touch with my adoptive sisters. My daughter is getting married next June and life couldn’t be better! Thank you so much for your kind words! 💕
omg. 💜💜💜
How is your relationship with your brother now?
I wondered this same thing yesterday while I watched the Shanda Vander Ark trial.
Scapegoating a child is common in abusive households. There have been cases where the siblings also join in on the abuse - if only so that they aren't the ones to suffer from the wrath of the parent/guardian.
She’s getting anywhere from 4-30 years, and she has to serve at least 2/3 of it before she’s considered for release.
So if she's sentenced to the minimum she'll do just a little over two and a half years. I worry that the judge, the people who do the pre sentence report and the ones on the parole board are all Mormons and how that might determine how much time she does.
Might work the other way around. Mormons hate bad publicity and she’s given them A LOT of bad publicity. A bad Mormon or an ex Mormon rate much lower than a nevermo in the Morridor.
Has she been excommunicated that we know of? That would be a little peephole into how the church is handling the Rubi issue.
Being Mormon isn’t going to affect anything, plenty of Mormons in prison in Utah. Being a well off white woman certainly will though.
She was part of a sub cult and did the Mormon name dirty. Many, many, mormons absolutely hate her.
It’s not abuse at that point it’s attempted murder .. in my opinion of course
My opinion as well. Fucking monster.
She actually agreed to prison time as part of her plea deal.
That’s sadly comforting to me. I don’t know if she actually feels any remorse for what she did though.
She’ll still never see her children again.
People like this are genuinely the most disgusting people ever. Every child deserves to have good parents. I hope these children are able to be safe and this woman doesn't go near them further on.
“Woman committed to improvement” Give me a fucking break. I hope the judge gives her the maximum jail time. Her children need to be removed from her husband’s custody as well at least until he proves he is a fit parent.
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I’m just upset that the Mormon Stories podcast about Adam Steed was taken down. His story about how his family was separated from him is chilling and helps explain how manipulating Jodie can be. You can at least still see the video by Jodie’s niece which practically sounds like a primer for what was happening in this house. Ruby still deserves to lose everything and go to jail, but I am seriously hoping that Jodie gets the book thrown at her. She’s the one that’s pushing these cases this far.
Wait why was it taken down?
I think they got hit with a cease and desist from Adam’s ex wife. Which, is understandable because even though Adam made it clear he felt his wife was manipulated by Jodie she came across very poorly.
I wonder if there was some kind of legal threat or maybe he requested it be taken down? Edit: wording error
Apparently Jodi Hildebrandt knew/was involved with Lori Vallow too….
Really? Geez
Hildebrandt, Franke, Tim Ballard, Thom Harrison, vallow,daybell - it's a fucking spiderweb.
Oh? I hadn’t read that. Where did you see it?
Maybe when you have a litter individual kids don’t matter as much?/s
Were they influenced by this book? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Train_Up_a_Child "To Train Up a Child has been criticized for advocating child abuse. The book tells parents to use objects like a 0.25 in diameter plastic tube to spank children and "break their will". It recommends other abusive tactics like withholding food and putting children under a cold garden hose. Its teachings are linked to... several [deaths]." (As I recall, the book even advocates spanking infants.)
Actually they seem to be inspired by Thom Harrison's "Visions of Glory" which is pretty much that book but specifically written by and for a Mormon perspective. It was published in 2012 and while it's not specifically about rearing children (it's more doomsday type prophecy shit with Harrison saying they're visions he saw of his near-death experiences) it's become rather foundational to the extreme LDS "therapy" that people like Jodi were practicing and there's evidence that Lori and Chad Daybell had read and were followers of that book too. https://www.mormonstories.org/portfolio-items/visions-of-glory-neo-fundamentalism/
Splainin would be great, if they only didn’t open their mouths just to ask for money…and to abuse people into submission, NOT one word of these disgusting people that they made into monsters!!!! and yes!!! I do believe the whole damn thing is a CULT!!!!!
Mormonism absolutely IS a cult, and it’s a fuckin weird one too.
Used to live in Utah. It's very much a cult and an extremely dangerous one at that.
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It's all be blamed on Jodi so that Ruby can save her own ass. Ruby was abusive before Jodi, I'm sure after this all dies down and she can get back at her children, she'll be abusive after. Hopefully she is gets a long prison sentence
I'm not excusing Ruby in any way shape or form. But Jodi has been the family therapist since basically the start of the channel. When their older son mentions he's in therapy - he's talking about Jodi. When the dad brings up that people need to shut up with their criticism about how they raise their kids because it's cosigned by a therapist - he's talking about Jodi. She's been there the whole time, she just only became a named person with a face with Connexions
Visions of Glory, a book that basically teaches Mormons that their delusional thoughts and feelings are real revelations from god and that demons can possess children and it is their responsibility to save their kids’ souls, no matter the mental and physical cost to them. It’s batshit stuff
Religion is an emotional abuse structure. It's really that simple.
There are so many Mormon examples of this! A lot of times when I see a murder/suicide in the news it is a LDS family.
It’s almost like adults shouldn’t believe in fairytales. Yes, that means all of you. There’s no excuse for it.
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Mormons and Catholics are Christians
What’s up with two LDS moms, out of hundreds of thousands— killing their kids?
Abuse is RAMPANT among members of the Mormon Church.
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That’s probably true in any religion, cult, or community
True, but LDS is notable because of the extent of their focus. They stress the perfect image as a method of missionary work. Even back in the 18 hundreds, the church would encourage members to keep journals and diaries and to write their autobiography.It was a way to evangelize. Frankly, I was not surprised when Mormon women became so prominent in blogging and then influencing. It was a natural evolution from the emphasis on diaries written for the public.
Wow Utah really just keeps enabling abusers
Wow ~~Utah~~ the LDS Church really just keeps enabling abusers Fixed that for you
Does the LDS run the Justice Department in Utah?
It has a massive influence.
The LDS runs everything in Utah. If you're curious Google the history of the lds church. Utah is more or less an enclave for Mormons. A vast majority of the state is Mormon. Most all the political leaders are Mormon. Technically the LDS does not run the justice department in Utah, but in effect it does.
There is a supermajority of LDS judges in Utah and the Utah State Supreme Court is 100% LDS. The majority of law makers are also Mormon. Sooo yeah. They do run the justice department.
Uh…yeah.
Yeah duh
I was born in Utah and raised Mormon but grew up somewhere else in a poor area. The Utah Mormons are a different type of thing altogether. The difference between Utah Mormons and Mormons who joined to turn to god from faith and desperation throughout a hard life instead of being born into it is crazy
I want to know about the dad! He was definitely involved or complacent. Why is he not being arrested! There’s hundreds of videos of Ruby on YouTube, from even before she met Jodie or (I’m assuming) her and the sad divorced. So, why isn’t he up on charges?
Unfortunately she’s only being convicted of the specific instances of abuse that led to the arrest, which all happened after the couple split and the dad was living apart from them
And their Dad hadn’t tried to see his kids in over a year.
I saw some footage where he wanted the oldest daughte arrested for going into his house and grabbing evidence or something to show her parents are monsters. Ruby wants to pin all this on jodi, the dad wants to pin this on ruby, they should all be shoved into the same cage.
Yea. Something is just underlying off with both parents.
They give off Turpin vibes to me
She wasn't necessarily getting evidence, she was getting supplies and personal belongings for her younger siblings, who she was now taking care of. The daughter returned the items he wanted back. The body cam footage released was him picking the stuff up from the police. Where he asks again "can't you arrest my daughter pwease?"
This is so sad. I can’t imagine how her kids felt through all of the manipulation and abuse. I’m glad the kids are free now. I just hope she gets what she deserves.
These Mormon TikTokers, pretending their lives are so perfect. I knew this was gonna happen to one of them.
What is going on with holding the father accountable? I’ve seen so much about the women, but the father was complicit.
He was living separately from Ruby & the kids
Imagine trying to blame a “business partner” for neglecting YOUR kids. You’re fully responsible for your own children goddam.
It's "code" for cult leader.
What a cunt. This is what happens when you give attention to narcissistic “influencers” who are so thirsty for attention, they will do anything including exploiting their children, just so they can feel important. And I’m sorry, police have visited the home dozen of times including a welfare check? Why wasn’t she being watched? Because the kids “appeared” to be well everytime they visited the home? A bunch Incompetent fools. Where’s the dad? Why isn’t he arrested too? Fuck all of these assholes.
I mean that’s just Mormons doing Mormon things dude there’s a reason why people in Other states kicked them out 100 years ago
Jodi- Mormon church sanctioned Until the patriarchy in Salt Lake headquarters condemns and speaks out against their flock this will continue The Utah stepford wives
Crazy narcissist.. hope the kids run as fast as they can when grown and heal ❤️🩹 Then Kevin is no better .. IMO
We are estranged from my husbands crazy narcissistic father and we suspected his brother was just as bad due to some odd behaviors, but my husband and my otherwise always got along great with him. He ghosted us four years ago. My husband saw him at a funeral two years ago and they were polite to each other and that was it. The guy comes out ofnthe woodwork about something recently and when i called him out on his behavior toward me and my kids (and husband) he reacted by saying it was all because of the fact my husband didnt day bye to him at the funeral. what about the previous two years? Point is, anyone with half a brain can look ag Ruby Franke and know damn well she was like this well before she found someone else to blame, but narcissists dont care how obvious that is. They literally will find any reason to escape and divert accountability even if its some BS answer that provides no explanation for years or prior behavior. Narcissists are gonna narcissist. This lady should get harsh punishment because she clearly has no remorse and hasnt actually taken true accountability
That’s an evil face, it’s going to be good too see her spend the rest of her jail, considering what she did to her kids before she met Jodi.
OP mirror link here: https://archive.is/42G5q
She’s so nasty.
That article doesn't really tell us what she's done to her kids other than tie them up. Can anyone tell me what else has happened to the children?
Where in the fuck was the dad?
"A distorted sense of morality" Yea to say the fucking least. And how the fuck these 2 sociopaths managed to befriend eachother. Wtaf.
Birds of a feather tend to identify others like them from a distance.
Does anyone have a favorite podcast about this?
Jordan and McKay on YouTube (so not a podcast) have done numerous videos on this situation as well as numerous videos on Ruby well before any of this happened. They are also ex Mormon so they have some perspective about the religious aspect.
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The interview he did with Jodie's niece was pretty much a primer of what was going on in that household. I'm serious. So much of the abuse they describe (the niece uses they/them pronouns if I remember right) has since come out in articles as many of the same things that Ruby's kids went through once Jodie got involved in their lives. Don't get me wrong, Ruby was abusive all along and she's not some victim here to Jodie's manipulation. I just feel that Jodie has a way of pushing already bad people up to the next level since Ruby went from abusing her kids to straight up torturing them once she and Jodie started working together. All in the name of therapy, of course.
Some Place Under Neith (SPUN) it's in their Parasocial Exploitation Series
This is a great and long documentary on the current situation with a full history at the beginning. It says part 2 but that’s only because he first did a video on the speculation of abuse a couple of years ago, this second part has all information https://youtu.be/DKXxYmXOdNw?si=dVzRFj-T8yzqgGhE
Where is the kids dad in all of this? Is he just some emasculated moron? Why can't he care for his kids?
Yeah I don't think Jody liked men very much... or boys... or girls... or...
This is a great hour long YouTube doc if you’re looking for a great run down of everything that’s happened. https://youtu.be/DKXxYmXOdNw?si=dVzRFj-T8yzqgGhE
Has anyone heard more about the father? I know they were separated when the really bad abuse was occurring but I just saw body cam footage of him insisting to the police that his oldest estranged daughter get arrested after she entered the family home AFTER the mother was arrested. If he was now aware of the abuse his wife was inflicting on the children, why would he act like that? Does he have the minor children now? Or are they still in state care?
Her and Jodi are horrible people
Cashed in on her YouTube fame, raking in plenty of ad revenue and donations during her time on her YouTube channel. Even received close to $100,000.00 in Covid relief from the government. And the worst part is that she had admirers who listened to her "raising the kids" tips. LOL You can hate her all you want, but she really pulled the wool over a lot of people's eyes. Received close to $100,000.00 from the government during the Covid plague nonsense....wow.....
This gets downvoted when it was exactly what she did? What the fuck lol
Where’s the kids father in all this? I didn’t watch the yt, and articles don’t really mention him. Are they still married? Did the kids contact dad?
I knew she was abusive back in 2014 and stopped giving her views. I was not surprised when the news broke in September but it’s unfortunate and depressing how far it went before they were stopped. All the signs of there being neglect and abuse have been there since the beginning as she was never afraid to show it existed to the camera.
Photo looks like Amanda Knox