Newly released police body camera footage shows armed officers bursting into the Utah home of “momfluencer” Ruby Franke in August in search of her children after her 12-year-old son escaped her business partner’s home and asked a neighbor for food and water.
The 12-year-old, with tape around his ankles and sores on his wrists, and a 10-year-old, found at business partner Jodi Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, were both malnourished, as CrimeOnline reported.
While those two children were staying with Hildebrandt, Franke lived four hours away in Springville with two more children. Police say the YouTuber was aware of the abuse as she’d filmed an episode of her popular “8 Passengers” vlog in Hildebrandt’s basement two days before.
Franke and the business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, are now awaiting trial from behind bars on aggravated child abuse charges.
ABC News obtained the body camera footage from the Springville Police Department, which shows the armed officers searching Franke’s home for the two missing children. They were later found in at a friend’s home in American Fork, where they were cleaning the friend’s house.
Body camera footage from American Fork police shows officers discussing the children with the friends before the children were taken into custody by the Utah Department of Child and Family Services.
Franke’s two older children, 18-year-old Chad and 20-year-old Shari Franke have joined forces with their father, Kevin Franke, as he seeks custody of the children. According to ABC News, Shari Franke called Child Protective Services about her siblings in 2022, saying she’d been told by neighbors that the younger children had been left home alone for most of a week.
Other records show that police responded to the Franke home more than a dozen times over the last few years.
Kevin Franke’s attorney, Randy Kestner, said in September that his client blamed Hildebrandt for the abuse, saying his now estranged wife never harmed the children while they were together, as CrimeOnline reported.
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[Featured image: Springville Police Department via ABC News]
