The state of Utah has recently seen a shocking case of child abuse involving two popular YouTube personalities and lifestyle influencers. Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with two counts of child abuse on Wednesday, after Santa Clara police were dispatched to a residence to find a severely malnourished and emaciated juvenile with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities. Upon further investigation, police then located a second child in a similar condition.
Officers conducted a search warrant on the home and located four children, rescued them and took Franke and Hildebrandt into custody. The horrific crime and related track down of culprits was a blow to the town which brought even more attention to this astounding case. Franke and Hildebrandt were well known in the YouTube community with a popular parenting and lifestyle channel called ConneXions.
The YouTube mom of six had previously ran a channel titled ‘8 Passengers’, which documented her life as a mom, and had shadows of the dark side of her parenting. In her videos, Franke discussed her disapproval of TikTok dances in her children’s school, the dangers of sleepovers, bullying and other topics. Fans were left at a loss as they couldn’t believe such a case of abuse could arise involving the two.
Her unfortunate child abuse case has now opened up conversations about scrutinizing social media influencers’ lives and messages deeply. It is also important to realize that the Instagram/YouTube dimension of reality could sometimes be far detached from that of a real-life stories for influencers. Her daughter, Shari Franke, shared a post to confirm the incident.
“Hi all. Today has been a big day,” she wrote. “Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We’ve been trying to tell police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up. Kids are safe, but there’s a long road ahead. Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.”
