Content warning: This story contains references to child abuse that some readers may find disturbing.
The three-part documentary series “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke” debuted on Hulu on Jan. 27. This series is the first time Ruby Franke’s husband and two eldest children have spoken on camera in-depth to reveal the truth about the abusive events leading up to her arrest in August 2023.
Franke started the 8 Passengers YouTube channel to document and- share the day-to-day life of a Morman family raised in Utah. 8 Passengers shared wholesome content that blended family vlogs, parenting advice and daily routines and attracted a large audience. The channel grew incredibly popular, and in 2020, it reached its peak popularity of 2.5 million subscribers and over one billion views.
However, Franke’s image as a strict mother raising a picture-perfect family was shattered after her 2023 arrest where she was charged with six counts of felony child abuse, which quickly became very public. Questions about what happened behind closed doors in the Franke house infected the media.
It wasn’t until Shari Franke, the eldest daughter, published her memoir “The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest For Freedom” on Jan. 7 that the public received insights about the abuse the Franke children endured at the hands of their mother.
“Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke” features the testimonies of Ruby’s husband, Kevin, and two more of her children, Shari and Chad. They recount life as family vloggers and offer various clips of footage from their personal lives not seen on YouTube.
Kevin Franke recalled initially being distasteful towards the idea of becoming family vloggers, and the series shows clips of his wife getting visibly irritated with his lack of engagement and enthusiasm in videos. Additional clips of Chad Franke and conversations Ruby Franke had with her old neighbors highlight the obvious discomfort others felt in her presence and in front of her camera.
“I just wanted to be with my friends. I really didn’t want anything to do with YouTube. It bugged the crap out of me. I hated it,” Chad Franke said in the documentary.
Despite Kevin Franke sharing in the documentary that it was apparent their children no longer wanted to create YouTube content, the vlogging carried on as his wife’s aggression continued to blossom. A few unseen clips show her aggressively covering her child’s mouth with her hand, telling the children to “fake being happy” for a video and shouting at the kids for being loud while trying to film.
Things took a turn for the worse after Jodi Hildebrandt was introduced to the Franke family as a therapist for Chad.
Hildebrandt marketed herself as a life coach on her podcast channel called ConneXions, where she shared lifestyle advice that aligned with her beliefs. Hildebrandt promptly became more involved with the entire Franke family and adopted Ruby Franke as a business partner.
“[Ruby] didn’t care about the followers at that point. She wanted to move on to something else,” Chad Franke said. “It’s just what she moved onto was pretty much selling her soul to someone.”
Hildebrandt moved in with the Frankes and enforced her manipulative teachings onto all members of the family. Videos in the Hulu series show Hildebrandt going in and out of “possessed trances,” as Kevin Franke described, highlighting her use of religion as a scare tactic to manipulate the Franke family, specifically his wife.
Ruby’s obsession with Hildebrandt was apparent after she forced Kevin and Chad Franke, who was 17 at the time, to move out to protect Hildebrandt from the demonic spirits she believed were being brought into the home by the two men. This completely cut the two of them off from contact with the rest of their family for over a year.
It wasn’t until Aug. 30 of 2023, when the 12-year-old Franke child was able to escape to a neighbor’s house and ask for help, that the horrors of the women’s abuse in the absence of the rest of the family were revealed.
“He was severely emaciated. He had duct tape on his extremities, on his hands and on his ankles, and those were covered with rope burns that were used to tie him down,” one of the investigators said to Kevin Franke about the state that his youngest son was found in.
The heartbreaking discovery left the father with a lot of guilt.
“I was the last line of defense for these children, and I packed my bags and walked away,” he said.
While the horror of the Franke story undoubtedly left the family with a great deal of emotional pain, their resilience and ability to transform their challenges into something positive is truly inspiring.
The series ends with revealing that Kevin has filed for a divorce, Chad has become a social media influencer and Shari has continued campaigning against family vlogging.
“This really is a story of love, of hope, of family,” Kevin Franke said. “But this is also a story of deception, of control, and ultimately, it is a story of faith.”
