Malevolent Mormon Mommys | The Case Against Ruby Franke & Jodi Hildebrandt

Ruby Franke was arrested in August 2023. Sentenced to four to thirty years in February 2024. The performance that defined her children's lives was over.

Part 5 of "The Good Mother" examines where the Franke children are now — and the psychology of recovery after narcissistic family abuse.

Shari Franke, 22, published "The House of My Mother" in January 2025. She testified before the Utah Senate on child influencer exploitation. She appeared in the Hulu documentary "Devil in the Family." She's building a life on her own terms.

Chad Franke, 20, processes publicly. He reads his 2023 diaries on TikTok — entries written while under Jodi Hildebrandt's influence. He calls it being "brainwashed." Ruby writes him letters from prison. He doesn't respond.

Kevin Franke divorced Ruby in March 2025 and remarried in December 2025. He says he still loves Ruby — but is "as angry as can be." He blocked communication from Ruby to himself and the children.

The four minor children — Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve — heal privately. Their faces are blurred in all documentaries. For the first time in their lives, they are not content.

Ruby sits in Utah State Correctional Facility alongside Jodi Hildebrandt. Her first parole hearing is scheduled for December 2026. According to documentaries, she has begun distancing herself from Jodi in prison.

Recovery after escape isn't a straight line. Getting out is just the beginning. The work is figuring out which thoughts are yours and which were installed by someone else.

Ruby's children are still here. Still growing. Still becoming whoever they decide to be.

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod

X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

#RubyFranke #ShariHildebrandt #ChadFranke #8Passengers #KevinFranke #JodiHildebrandt #NarcissisticAbuseRecovery #DevilInTheFamily #EvilInfluencer #TrueCrime

CPS visited the Franke home in 2020 after viewers reported concerns about 8 Passengers. They investigated. They closed the case.

Three years later, Russell and Eve Franke were found bound and starving in Jodi Hildebrandt's house.

Part 4 of "The Good Mother" examines why child protective services failed to intervene despite years of visible warning signs.

The abuse wasn't hidden. Ruby posted five videos a week for 2.5 million subscribers. Chad sleeping on a beanbag for seven months was on camera. A six-year-old denied lunch was on camera. Public humiliation was content.

Viewers reported. A Change.org petition was launched. Ruby's own family — her parents Chad and Jennifer Griffiths, her brother Beau, her sisters Ellie, Julie, and Bonnie — all tried to intervene after Jodi entered the picture. All were cut off.

Shari posted one word when Ruby was arrested: "Finally."

She elaborated: "We've been trying to tell police and CPS for years."

Kevin Franke has since advocated for stricter child welfare legislation, addressing Utah's Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel in July 2024 about closing loopholes that prevented intervention.

This episode examines why systems fail. CPS is overwhelmed. The threshold for intervention is physical evidence of severe harm. The Frankes performed normalcy for investigators — educated, affluent, religious, well-connected.

By the time CPS showed up, everything probably looked fine. The children had been trained to perform.

If you reported something and nothing happened, that doesn't mean you were wrong. Keep seeing. Keep reporting. Sometimes a report is the one that matters.

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod

X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

#RubyFranke #8Passengers #CPSFailure #ChildProtectiveServices #ShariHildebrandt #KevinFranke #SystemFailure #JodiHildebrandt #TrueCrime #ChildWelfare

8 Passengers had a billion views. The Franke children were filmed from birth. Five videos a week for eight years. Milestones, punishments, humiliations — all content.

Part 3 of "The Good Mother" examines the family vlogging industry through the Franke case: what happens when childhood becomes content, when children become products, when the algorithm rewards access to their worst moments.

Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, Eve — all raised on camera. Paid ten dollars per video. Given family vacations as compensation — vacations funded by their own labor.

Shari testified before the Utah Senate in October 2024. Her statement: "There is never, ever a good reason for posting your children online for money or fame. There is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger."

Then: "Family vlogging ruined my innocence long before Ruby committed a crime."

Kevin Franke watched raw footage from 8 Passengers while making the Hulu documentary "Devil in the Family." His assessment: "There will not be a single family content creator who watches that and does not cringe. Because that is representative of every single one of them."

The content that performed best was conflict. Punishment. Drama. The algorithm rewarded cruelty.

Utah is now considering legislation requiring parents who earn $150,000+ from content featuring their children to set aside fifteen percent in trust. California and Illinois have similar laws.

The four minor Franke children now have their faces blurred in all documentaries — a protection they never had while being monetized.

This episode examines the economics and psychology of family vlogging — why children cannot consent to having their childhood made public, and what the Franke case reveals about an entire industry.

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod

X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

#RubyFranke #8Passengers #ShariHildebrandt #ChadFranke #FamilyVlogging #ChildInfluencer #Momfluencer #KevinFranke #DevilInTheFamily #TrueCrime

Jodi Hildebrandt's own niece reported abuse in 2009. Tied up. Duct taped. Forced to sleep outside in snow. Nothing happened.

Fourteen years later, Russell and Eve Franke were found bound and starving in Jodi's Ivins, Utah home. Ruby was inside the house.

Part 2 of "The Good Mother" examines how Jodi Hildebrandt gained total control over Ruby Franke's family — and what the case reveals about coercive control psychology.

Jodi built ConneXions Classroom, a life coaching program for Mormon families. Former clients describe cult-like tactics: daily accountability calls, labeling emotions as "addictions," cutting off anyone who questioned, shame-based behavior modification. Seven former patients told NBC News she "methodically separated spouses."

Ruby met Jodi around 2019. By 2021, Jodi had moved into the Franke home, claiming "shadow figures" were tormenting her. Kevin was pushed out. Ruby's parents, siblings, extended family — all tried to intervene. All were cut off.

Ruby's brother Beau wrote in his court statement: "The program was by all definitions a cult."

In a jail call after arrest, separated from Jodi for the first time in years, Ruby said: "Being gone and not hearing her has cleared a lot of things up for me."

Jodi showed no such reflection. According to prosecutor Eric Clarke, she repeatedly claimed "she is the victim and the children are the perpetrators."

A federal lawsuit now accuses both women of fraud and racketeering through ConneXions.

This episode examines how a licensed therapist became a captor — and why families often can't stop what they see happening.

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod

X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

#JodiHildebrandt #RubyFranke #ConneXions #CoerciveControl #8Passengers #KevinFranke #CultTactics #EvilInfluencer #DevilInTheFamily #TrueCrime

Ruby Franke had 2.5 million subscribers watching her raise six children on "8 Passengers." She filmed five days a week for eight years. Brand deals. Sponsorships. A parenting empire built on the image of a devoted mother.

Her children knew a different person.

Part 1 of "The Good Mother" series examines what the Franke case reveals about narcissistic parenting psychology — the mother whose public warmth masked private cruelty, whose love was conditional on compliance, whose children learned early that their value was measured by how well they maintained her image.

In August 2023, Ruby's son Russell escaped through a window at Jodi Hildebrandt's house. He was emaciated, bound, covered in wounds. His sister Eve was found malnourished in a closet. Both children had been tortured.

Ruby and Jodi are both serving four to thirty years. The documentaries — Netflix's "Evil Influencer," Hulu's "Devil in the Family," ID's "Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence" — keep coming. Shari Franke published a memoir. Chad Franke reads his old diaries on TikTok.

But this series goes deeper than case updates.

"The Good Mother" examines the psychological patterns that made Ruby who she was — and why those patterns resonate with anyone who grew up with a parent whose love was a performance for others, not a gift for their children.

The warning signs were on camera for years. Viewers reported Ruby to CPS. Nothing changed. The algorithm rewarded her strictness. The performance continued until escape.

Ruby Franke taught parenting to millions. Her children are still recovering from being raised by her.

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod

X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

#RubyFranke #8Passengers #JodiHildebrandt #NarcissisticMother #ShariHildebrandt #ChadFranke #KevinFranke #ConneXions #EvilInfluencer #DevilInTheFamily

You know Ruby Franke's case. The 8 Passengers mom who tortured her children while her husband Kevin lived separately and "trusted" her completely. He hadn't seen his kids in over a year when his son escaped through a window.

Now there's another case. Elleshia Seymour—also LDS, also Utah—allegedly took her four children to Croatia based on TikTok prophecies about Salt Lake being destroyed. Her ex-husband Kendall says he had no idea she'd fallen into doomsday beliefs. The kids ended up in a state-run orphanage. An eight-year-old triggered his own rescue by telling a stranger to Google his name.

Two fathers. Same church. Same state. Same answer when asked how this happened: "I didn't know."

Kevin Franke's son climbed out a window. Kendall Seymour's son used a stranger's phone. The children recognized danger and found a way out. The fathers trusted, provided, gave space, and stayed oblivious.

When apocalyptic thinking is your baseline, you don't recognize when someone crosses the line. But the kids do.

#KevinFranke #RubyFranke #8Passengers #KendallSeymour #ElleshiaSeymour #JodiHildebrandt #LDS #Mormon #TrueCrime #DevilInTheFamily

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.