March 16, 2025 • 39 mins
Kevin Franke and his two oldest children have opened up for the first time together to tell their story of living with infamous vlogger Ruby Franke. Hulu's docuseries Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke reveal the disturbing details of the abuse endured by the Franke children and how husband Kevin was isolated from his children during his year-long separation from their mother.
We learned of the horrendous abused when Franke's 12-year-old son climbs out of a window in a home, belonging to Franke's business partner Jodi Hildebrandt. The boy running to neighbors begging for food and water.
Neighbors called police. Officers said the boy looked emaciated and malnourished. Cops also noted that the boy had “deep lacerations from being tied up with rope” and duct tape around his wrists and ankles.. After searching Hildebrandt’s home, police found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a similar condition. Both children were taken to a hospital.
Franke's parenting channel "8 Passengers," which at one time boasted over 2 million followers, doled out parenting advice, and in her video, she admits to withholding food as a form of punishment.
Both women charged and convicted with aggravated child abuse. Kevin Frank admits he is still in love with his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Donna Kelly – Former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney and Attorney for Crime Victims Legal Clinic; Helped form the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force
- Dr. Dana Anderson – Forensic Psychologist and consultant, court appointed expert witness, Twitter: @psychologydrcom, TikTok: @psychologydr
- Jason Jensen – Private Investigator (Jensen Private Investigations), Cold Case Expert (Salt Lake City, UT), and Co-founder: “Cold Case Coalition;” Investigations; Twitter: @JasonJPI, Facebook/Instagram: “Jensen Investigations”
- Dr. Free N. Hess – Pediatrician/Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Child Safety Expert & Consultant, Founder of www.PediMom.com
- Emily Ashcraft- Reporter for KSL.com in Utah; Twitter: @emilyjaneen3
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the highly popular mommy vlagger
with millions of followers as she doled out parenting advice,
only to be charged with felonies and sentenced after her
children found beaten and starved traumatized in the last days.
(00:27):
The husband of the evil Mommy vlagger, Ruby Frankie, leaves
viewers outraged by what he says on air. I'm Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
The husband of the YouTube mommy vlogger, Ruby Frankie leaves
(00:48):
viewers stunned and sickened. He says he still loves his
wife despite her devilish abuse of their children. Kevin Frankie
and son Chad sat down on GMA for the first
time ahead of their Hulu documentary Devil in the Family
(01:09):
The Fall of Ruby Frankie. Despite Ruby Frankie convicted of stunning,
horrific child abuse on their two young children, he says
he still loves her. Quote, I don't think I'll ever
stop loving her. I'm quote not ashamed to say after
being married over twenty years to that woman, I truly
(01:32):
did and still.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Do love her.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He also told that to people since Frankie has been
sent to jail on a thirty year sentence. The husband
and children have quote reconnected and their home is now
full of quote laughter. I've always wondered where he was
during all the child abuse?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What exactly happened?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
What does it mean when you're an influencer with literally
millions of so called followers, when your child sneaks out
of a window, completely emaciated, starved, with signs all their.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Bodies that they have been bound.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Tied up, likely with at least duct tape. What kind
of an influencer is that? Well, according to me, that's
the kind of influencer that would best spend their time
behind bars. Let's see who they can influence in the
(02:39):
CI Correctional Institute. That's where I'm coming from. But I'll
let you judge for yourself. Let's kick it off with
our friends at ABC.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Arrest documents seeing the child escape to a neighbor's home.
The twelve year old child described by that neighbor in
a phone call to police as emaciated and malnourished, with
open wounds. For documents also describing deep lacerations from being
tied up with a rope.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
About the saying that their sister are back.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
At the homeless bum.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Police say they also found Frankie's ten year old daughter malnourished.
Frankie is known for her strict parenting advice to millions
of TikTok and YouTube followers.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
Police say a clearly malnourished twelve year old child crawled
out of the window of Hildebrand's Ivans Area home. A
neighbor called nine one one when he showed up at
their house asking for food and water. Officers say his
wrists were duct taped, he had wounds from being tied
up across his body. Investigators say they found a ten
year old girl inside the same house who was also malnourished.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And also hearing our friends at KSL. So we have
at least one child who had apparently just turned twelve,
crawling out the window of the family home starved. And
believe you me, if you haven't ever seen it, I
hope you never. I pray to God you never do,
(04:02):
because when you see a child that has been starved
as I have, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Something you never forget.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I remember when I was going to cover the Alex
Mardog double murder trial, I passed a yard and there
was a dog tied up in the front yard to
a steak, and I could see the dog's ribs, and
it reminds me when I went to Aruba with Natalie
(04:33):
Holloway's mother just recently, tried to turn up new evidence
far at the end of the island where the lighthouse is.
There was a pack of dogs, maybe four or five
of them, that kept coming up to us, chasing after us,
and they looked like skeletons that their ribs were poking out,
(04:54):
and it just I thought about them over and over
and over. And when you see a child with their
ribs poking out, clearly emaciated, I can't even get the
dogs out of my mind, much less the children that
I saw that way as a prosecutor, and not just once,
(05:17):
over and over and over food deprivation, starving your child.
I think about this twelve year old little boy to
the point where he crawls out the window and goes
to a neighbor asking for food, and the neighbor sees lacerations,
(05:40):
lacerations for the child has been tied up, and then
we learn that there's another child in the home, a
ten year old little girl with the same lacerations, mal nutrition,
malnourished living in that home.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Who and the hell is the mommy?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Who in the hell is the dad that would do
this to their children? Well, I hope you're sitting down.
Take a listen to our friends at GMA.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
A Utah mom influencer arrested facing six felony counts of
aggravated child abuse. For the first time, we're hearing emergency
responders as they see one of Ruby Frankie's children after
he allegedly escaped through a window.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Email does have don K brown ankle. He's not telling
up to the right and so that their tours around
his with an ankles. He's becoming he's becoming emotional regarding
the child's health. I'm glad to.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Have with me an all star panel to make sense
of what we know right now. But first I want
to go to investigative reporter with KSL dot com out
of Utah. Emily Ashcraft is with us. Emily, thank you
from being with us. Who is this woman?
Speaker 7 (07:04):
Who is she? She is a family YouTuber of Logger
and the Family. Actually it's it's YouTube channel faded out
or stopped recently and she started up another YouTube channeler
as a counselor instead.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Of a mom. What is eight Passengers so that that's.
Speaker 7 (07:24):
The family's YouTube channel, and you know, she said in
an article KSL wrote years ago that she started the
channel because she wanted other moms who were kind of
starting out with infants to see what it's like to
have kids that are getting older. Kind of the rewards
(07:46):
of motherhood is what she wanted to show off in
her in the eight Passengers YouTube channel.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Ruby Rankie YouTuber mom of six Ruby.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Rankie f R A n K. How many followers?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I understand over two point two million subscribers to eight
Passengers channel.
Speaker 7 (08:09):
That's the numbers that I've seen as well.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Okay, who in the hay is drinking the kool aid?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And I want to go now to Donna Kelly, former
Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney and lawyer for Crime Victims
Legal Clinic. Donna, thank you for being with us. And
I've seen this over and over and over. It's not
just a story. It's not something we're reporting on. It's
not some fiction or TV made for TV movie. Not
(08:37):
only do you have the parents abusing the child horribly,
but people around them, they know what's happening.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And they do nothing. What is wrong with these people.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I mean, it's not as if this just happened and
they suddenly see, oh, the child has bruises all over
their arms.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
That's suspicious. They're starved, they're starved.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
That takes a long period of time, Donna Kelly, and
nobody noticed.
Speaker 8 (09:08):
Yes it does.
Speaker 9 (09:09):
And unfortunately, many abusers are have the mindset that they
work hard at portraying themselves as you know, the good parent,
the parent you go to when you need advice. That
type of thing is not uncommon, and so that appears
to be what's going on here is that this particular
(09:33):
set of parents decided that they were going to portray
themselves as the ideal parent and put that out there
to the world, and apparently a lot, at least two
point two million people were fooled.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Guys, I just want you to hear something. Take a
listen to our friends at Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (09:55):
Independent journalist and YouTuber Katie Paulson tracks child abuse cases.
She says Frankie YouTube channel Eat Passengers caught her attention.
Speaker 11 (10:02):
And she was saying how she would send her daughter
to school with no food and it was almost like
she was bragging about it.
Speaker 10 (10:09):
She recalls another time when Frankie's son openly talked about
his punishment on the channel.
Speaker 11 (10:13):
He was talking about how he had been sleeping on
the floor on a bean bag chair, and how his
mom had taken away his bed and is taking away
his door.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
That child had to sleep on a bean bag chair
for seven plus months for pulling a prank on his brother,
A prank, I might add, that didn't even cause any
physical harm. What he did was he told the brother
they were going to Disneyland the next morning, and the
brother got up and packed, put on his sunglasses and was.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Ready to go. It was a show they didn't go
to disney Land. That was surprising.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace and another bomb Shell. Regarding
Ruby Frankie in the past days, we learn her daughter states,
I helped clean blood off the wall. Oh gosh. Daughter
(11:13):
of Ruby Frankie. Sherry Frankie says a brother Chad in
this upcoming Hulu docu series Devil in the Family, The
Fall of Ruby Frankie quote, I did always feel bad
when he got in trouble, I guess, referring to brother Chad.
Sherry Frankie the eldest daughter of family vlogger child to
(11:33):
be is a Ruby. Frankie opens up, she reveals she
had to quote clean blood off the walls after her
younger brother Chad was quote beat really bad. Quote he
got a bloody nose. I'd bring him toilet paper and
didn't really know what to do. Oh my stars, what
(11:56):
these children endured When the series son, Chad claims the
abuse was hidden from viewers, recalling quote times she blew
up off camera. She would spank, whip, take the belt out,
pull down my pants, whip me. We've learned a lot
more from the criminal case. At the get Go, Ruby
(12:21):
and Kevin frank brushed off their critics, insisting their very
disturbing videos which showed them taking away necessities as punishment.
They claimed those criticisms were taken out of context and
their children were fine. They were anything but fine. This
(12:42):
my brags about withholding food and bragging about it online.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
What I also don't understand.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
To doctor Dana Anderson, forensic psychologist and consultant, you can
find her at psychologydoctor dot com, she's bad enough, But
who are the two point two million people that tune
in to watch or gibberish.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Well, I can tell you I certainly wasn't tuning in
and I'd never even heard of Ruby Frank until this
came up. But what's more deplorables her sidekick, Jodie Hildebrandt,
who's a license professional, who's observing this the whole time.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Two point two million people are following this witch straight
from hell. I want you to hear more of what
we have learned. Take a listen to our friends at
Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
Diane Nevins remembers and being horrified at what she was
watching on YouTube.
Speaker 12 (13:38):
It was kind of like every video there was something
to be shocked about. Her son couldn't walk from until
he was like two and a half years old, and
she never got any help. And she admitted that she
had a one point he'd fallen off the couch or
she dropped him. He had got no no physical therapy anything.
Speaker 10 (13:57):
Nevin says when she commented her concern, she was blocked
by Frankie.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
What exactly to Emily Askroff, joining US investigative reporter for
KSL dot com, what was found in the home After
the neighbor has to call nine one one when she
gets a twelve year old little boy who says his
ten year old sisters inside of the same injuries starved,
starved and covered in lacerations showing the child had been
(14:25):
tied up.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
What they cops find when they go inside.
Speaker 7 (14:29):
They found a second child, and that the two youngest
children in the family were both so starved that the
one that didn't crawl out and initially refused medical care,
but they after interacting with her for a while, they
kind of said, let's go to the hospital as well,
and both of the women were churched with six counts,
(14:51):
three for each child of aggravated child abuse.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Authorities say that both children were described as quote their words,
not mine, emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct
tapes around the extremities, begging.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
For food and water. Begging for food and water.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
This woman actually has a YouTube channel where she dispenses advice.
I'm just imagining the inside of that home and how
the children were bound with duct tape and apparently their
skin was burned with ropes having tied them up. What
kind of mothering and fathering is that? And it brings
to mind the so called House of Horrors. Yes, the
(15:35):
evil Turpin parents their daughter crawled out of the house
out of a window and ran to call nine to
one one to save her brothers and sisters. They were
found in the same exact condition. Take a listen to
hour cut thirty five. Our friends at ac GTN.
Speaker 13 (15:53):
Officials say when they entered the Turpin home they found
a modern day horror, foul smell, extremely dirty conditions, and
they say it was immediately clear that the siblings were malnourished.
Authorities say they found three of the children shackled to
their beds with chains and padlocks, kept in dark and
unclean conditions inside this Riverside County, California home. Deputies located
(16:15):
twelve children inside the house as young as two years old.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And upon further investigation, when authorities went to their last
home where the Turpins lived, they found claw marks on
the inside of closet doors where children had tried to
claw their way out. And listen to this nine to
one one calling our cut thirty six. This is a
Turpin child that crawled out the window much like this
(16:42):
influencer's child did.
Speaker 14 (16:44):
Okay, I lived in a family of fifteen people, and
my parents are abused in the abused us and my
two little sisters right now are chaned up?
Speaker 15 (16:55):
And how many of your siblings are tied up?
Speaker 8 (16:58):
Of my sisters, one my brother, how are they tied
up with.
Speaker 16 (17:03):
Rope or with what.
Speaker 14 (17:06):
Changed up to their bed?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Guys?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Also, I can't forget the case of Jennifer Wolfthall take
a listener cut thirty four our friend Stephen helling over
at people dot com.
Speaker 17 (17:18):
According to an arrest report obtained by WFTV, wolf Thal
was arrested that time after her husband arrived at the
hospital with their eight year old daughter, who suffered from
conditions including pneumonia, a staff infection, and liver failure. Authorities
say the girl was also malnourished and had multiple bruises,
a skin infection, and several open wounds. Wolf Thal is
the author of the children's book A Real Friend. It
(17:39):
has been removed from sale by its publisher.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
See the connection I'm making right there. You've got this
woman who is an influencer who has a YouTube channel
about parenting.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
She has mistreated and abused her children. They're starving, They're
tied up with duct tape.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
When cots get there, they still have duct tape on
their extremities.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
It looks like they have rope burns, and.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
They're begging for food and water, having to climb out
the window to get to a phone to call nine
to one one, begging neighbors to give them something to eat.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And here is this book author.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Who has her child covered in bruises, with skin infections,
open wounds.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
You know what makes Ruby Frankie.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Different from the Turpin mom? Ruby Frankie is glamorous. Yeah,
she has this YouTube channel and boys, she making the
most of it. Guys, I want you to take a
listen to doctor free has joining us pediatrician, pediatric emergency
(18:43):
medicine expert, child safety expert. And you can find doctor
free has at pdmom dot com. Let me spell that
it doesn't look like it sounds. It's like pediatrician p
as in Peter E. D as in daffodil I p
edimom dot com. Doctor free has thank you for being
(19:08):
with us. What this woman has is hair and makeup.
That's what makes her different from the Turpin family or
the other mom. They're all builds a up straight from hell.
They're the devil's minions.
Speaker 15 (19:22):
Yeah, and that's actually a very big misconception that a
lot of people have about abusers. Child abusers specifically. I
think a lot of people have in their mind that
it's only a certain type of person that can do
these types of evil things to children, and it's not.
Speaker 16 (19:38):
It can literally be anybody.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah, you know, you think you know your neighbor, You
think you know all about what's going on in your neighborhood.
These children are being starved in their own home, assaulted,
tied up with ropes and with duct tape that we
know of based on the evidence we're hearing so far,
and nobody did a thing, And people kept watching.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
This woman online.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Crime stories with Nancy Gray. Jason Jensen joining me Salt
Lake City, Utah, private investigator, owner of Jensen Private Investigations,
co founder of the Cold Case Coalition, and you can
find them at Jensenprivate Investigations dot com. This is in
your neck of the woods. What do you have to say, Well.
Speaker 8 (20:27):
Nancy, there's a lot that can be said here. It's
interesting that you know the outer image that was being portrayed,
you know, like you describer Glamour's mom raising six kids,
wants to show off to the world how to do
it right. Well, you know that seems to really have
(20:50):
like a Mormon household style image. Oftentimes in the church
here in our community, they try to portray to the
world a model style of raising a family, and unfortunately
this lady took matters way to the extreme. We're not
(21:11):
just showing like discipline online, but goes to the extreme
of child abuse.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Jason Jensen, isn't it true that your children have actually
watched this woman's YouTube channel?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
What did they think?
Speaker 8 (21:24):
Yes, Nancy, Actually, my two kids were the ones that
brought Ruby Frankie to my attention because years ago, when
they were younger, they watched and enjoyed the channel, and
sometimes they got a kick out of it because she
was such a gruff parent. She was always harsh on them,
and it kind of gave them the impression that she
(21:48):
was a disciplinary And what both of my kids said
is pertaining to So the two younger kids, the subjects
the victims of this recent arrest is they said they
could tell mom did not like these two kids very well.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Guys, when someone did try to speak out against Ruby Frankie,
take a listen to what happened in our cut seventeen
Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (22:16):
Paulson also saying when she did a report on what
Frankie and her kids were seeing in the videos. She
was threatened to be sued. She forwarded me an email
from Frankie's lawyer sent in twenty twenty that says, in part,
we represent the family blog Channel Eat passengers who continued
to be harmed by defamatory videos uploaded to YouTube by
your client and saying it resulted in a baseless visit
(22:36):
by Child Protective Services.
Speaker 11 (22:38):
They always say, if you see something, say something, and
in this case, when people said something, they were threatened.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Let me understand something.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Emily Ashcroft joining us from KSL, Child Protective Services went
to the hall. Even though now Frankie is climbing. That
was baseless and what they found nothing, They couldn't tell
anything was going on.
Speaker 7 (22:58):
Yeah, they went to the home tool to talk about
those claims that you brought up in videos. It was
clear that she sent a child to school without lunch
and had a child sleeping on a bean bag, and
so they went to investigate those and that that didn't
lead to any charges at that point. You know it's
red flags, but I guess not flativity.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I watched it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
She brags about with holding food from her children.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
How is that okay?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Take a listnour Cut twenty two. This is Ruby Frankie
in eight Passengers.
Speaker 18 (23:31):
Russell got the big bedroom and Check got the smaller bedroom.
And Russell's bigger bedroom also had a bathroom. But what
you guys didn't know was he didn't get any room.
Speaker 19 (23:41):
He didn't get anything.
Speaker 18 (23:43):
He was sleeping on the floor in the family room.
Speaker 11 (23:45):
Abby.
Speaker 18 (23:46):
We took the phone away from Abby in November and
you may never get the phone back. And my kids
are literally starving. I hesitate to say this because it's
gonna sound.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Like I'm like a mean barbier.
Speaker 18 (24:00):
But I told the kids, I said, I'm not even
gonna let you eat breakfast until you get your chores done.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It's not just that she's withholding food, and it's not
just because they didn't do chores one morning before school.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's all the time.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
You don't get to a point of starvation when you
occasionally skip breakfast. Isn't that true, Doctor free hes pediatrician.
Speaker 16 (24:26):
Yeah. Absolutely. You don't get the move feeded by missing
a meal or two here or there, and you don't
appear to be that to outside people unless you're missing
a substantial amount of meals and nutrition, which can then
lead to a whole host of other things that unfortunately
these kids may have to deal with.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So in one fell sweet we hear about with holding
food until chores are done in the morning, not giving one.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Child a place to sleep. But there's a amount of bragging.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
A bravado of joeviality, of cheer, and the way she
describes how she's treating her children and what everybody just
stands by and lifts it up.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Why they're a big at the trough.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Take a listen hour cut twenty four more of Ruby Frankie.
Speaker 19 (25:20):
I just got a text message from Eve's teacher and
she said that Eve did not pack a lunch today
and can I bring a lunch over to the school.
This happens quite often when you're having raising children, because
I know that her teacher is uncomfortable with her being
hungry and not having a lunch, and it would ease
(25:41):
her discomfort if I came to the school with lunch.
But I responded and just said Eve is responsible for
making her lunches in the morning, and she actually told
me she did pack a lunch. So the natural outcome
is she's just going to need to be hungry and
hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody stepped in and
gives her a line.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Un And isn't it true that at that time, Emily
Ashcroft KSL this little girl was only six years old.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
That's what I saw is this is a you know,
first grader, just you know, first year. She's bringing food
to food to school probably and the later the mom said,
you know, justifying it after after child protective services were called,
she said, you know, it was I didn't learn until
two hours before the end of school and it was
(26:29):
a forty five minute drive, so getting it to.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Her really, because that's not what she said in her.
Speaker 7 (26:34):
Blood, her gratitude.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
She said it was because the child didn't the six
year old girl did not pack her own lunch.
Speaker 16 (26:41):
She changed said that.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
She knew it would ease the teacher's discomfort if her
child had food.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
What about the child? What about the child's discomfort? No,
that's not all.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Take a listen to our cuts twenty seven to twenty
eight more of Ruby.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Frankie Kevin and I.
Speaker 18 (26:59):
We have six children. The two youngest are showing long
patterns of selfishness. They have been showing through their choices,
their unwillingness to repent their unwillingness to feel sorrow over
some pretty egregious choices that they've made. So Kevin and
I have decided that we are going to give the
gift of truth to them this year for Christmas. We
(27:22):
are having to give them the gift of boundaries, and
we're going to give them the gift of repentance. So
we sat down with them and we let them know
how deeply sorrowful we've been because of the choices that
they have been making and how it's affected their teachers
at school, it's affected their peers, it's affected in our home,
(27:43):
the siblings, and we just laid it out very clear,
and we told them that this year they are not
going to be visited by Santa. We let them know
that Christmas morning, therefore, older siblings will be getting Christmas
presents to open that they will have the gift of
love from their dad to night.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, let's just examine what we just heard.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Donna Kelly joining me, former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Donna.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
She says, the youngest two, which I believe to be
around the ages of six and seven, were unwilling to
quote repent. So, therefore, while all the other children were
visited by Santa, the two little ones were not because
(28:32):
they would not quote repent. I didn't make that up.
She said that, And after you speak, I'm going to
need a shrink on this. Go ahead, Donna Kelly and Donna.
I know you've seen this, as have I, where one
or more children are picked out as the targets. Although
(28:53):
I think all of these children have been abused and mistreated, seemingly,
one usually is picked out as the most despised and
hated and their torture more than anyone else. These two children,
as they watch their sisters and brothers get Christmas Morning surprises.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
They get nothing.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And then there are two children that are bound with
duct tape and ropes and starved. I just want to
get my hands around this woman's neck. Then, not only
does she do this to her children behind closed doors,
she brags about it on a YouTube channel that is
two point two million followers.
Speaker 9 (29:33):
It's just absolutely heartbreaking to listen to her portray herself
as the victim. You know, we told these two children
that their dad and I were very sorrowful, and so
she's portraying herself as the victim, which is a very
(29:53):
common abuser tactic, you know, gaslighting the victim. And these
are children. They need to learn by trial and error
as they go along, and the parents need to be
responding to them in that way, in a kind and
loving way. And it's just absolutely heartbreaking. I can see
(30:15):
why they were charged with severe emotional harm of these
two children. In the charging document, they're charged with not
only torture maltrition, but also severe emotional harm, which it
absolutely is.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
To doctor Dana Anderson, forensic psychologist and consultant, what do
you make of the other children, four of them getting
all their Christmas gifts from Santa and these two being
left out on Christmas morning one of the biggest days,
one of the two biggest days in the Christian year,
(30:53):
that being Christmas and Easter, and they're left out because
they wouldn't quote repent.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
Yeah, she wants to make an example out of them,
punish them, humiliate them. You know, it's all this sort
of brainwashing, gaslightingness.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
I'm a six year old, gaslighting, manipulating, abusing a six
year old child and her brother.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
So let me understand something.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
The Emily Ashcroft, the six year old child that had
food withheld, would that be the now ten year old
child left behind in the home, starving and tied up.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
When the twelve year old brother escapes through the window.
Speaker 7 (31:37):
That would be that same child.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
So this has been going on since the little girl
was six and the little boy was eight.
Speaker 7 (31:44):
One of the things that Ruby Frankie said after her
arrest was that those children weren't fit to be around
other children. And I'm not sure what she means by that,
but it seems like it was specific to those two guys.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Take a listen to our cut thirty.
Speaker 13 (31:58):
Carturing him stopping.
Speaker 18 (32:00):
I know you're not, but it looks like you are.
Speaker 6 (32:07):
I'm only gonna say it one more time, and.
Speaker 16 (32:09):
Then you're gonna lose the privilege to eat dinner.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I hear the laughter. I don't know what's going on,
but I also hear you're gonna lose the privilege of
eating dinner. I hear Ruby Frankie saying that what makes
her any different from all the other abusive parents? Hair
and makeup two hours of hair and makeup before she
(32:32):
gets in front of the camera. To Jason Jensen joining
US high profile private investigator out of Utah located in
Salt Lake City. Jason Jensen how are we going to
go about proving this case.
Speaker 8 (32:46):
Well, I think you hit most of it on the head,
and basically we have to show that there's a pattern,
a history between the actor, the abuser and her victim children.
And we have that pretty well established from some of
the outtakes of the YouTube channel, things that have been
(33:07):
brought up by fellow viewers and that we've discussed here
during the program. There's a history of this type of
neglect and abuse against these two particular children that have
been slowly brewing over time, where it was perhaps determined
(33:27):
to be minor, not enough to remove the children from
the home before, but now we're so severe that they're
being bound in duct tape like you know abductees, and
they're not even allowed to you know, venture forth from
the house and every time that they get in trouble
food is taken away as a punishment.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Well, also we're learning that one Abruby Frankie's other daughters
says her mother was reported to police years for abuse
and nothing was done. And sisters of Frankie three sisters
(34:10):
have also released statements admitting that they quote kept quiet
on the subject. What in the hay is that doctor
Dana Anderson that the family knows, but they choose to
remain quiet and let the children continue to starve and
be tied up and bound.
Speaker 5 (34:31):
Yeah. I can't say the extent of what the family knew,
but they certainly had some information. And I think it's
interesting that they've quickly made statements to the public stating
what side they're on. And I wonder if what the
phone longue would show of them attempting to reach out
(34:53):
or call CPS or the police.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Because they've issued a statement and I'm quoting them, we
quote kept quiet on the subject. Now the daughter, Sherry
has something to say. Take a listen to our cut
twenty box thirteen.
Speaker 10 (35:12):
Frank's oldest daughter, Sherry Frank, who is twenty years old,
posted to her public Instagram today a photo of police
with the caption Finally, she added another story, saying, me
and my family are so glad justice is being served.
We've been trying to tell the 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.
(35:32):
Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.
As of now, four children have been taken into custody
of Child and Family Services.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
The sisters who are also YouTubers stay this is their quote.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
For the last three years, we have.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Frankie
for the sake of her children, behind the public saying
we've done everything we could to try and make sure
the kids were safe.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Really because they weren't the three.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Sisters, they were starving, they were being bound by ropes
and duct tape, and what if anything did you do
about it? Sounds like nothing, Because I have a very
strong suspicion that if they had called Defects Department, Family
Children's Services, CPS, chop Tape of Services and some jurisdictions,
(36:22):
that there would have been a response. Would you agree,
Donna Kelly.
Speaker 9 (36:27):
Oh, absolutely absolutely. In this case, I am very encouraged
by a couple of things, and those are that a
lot of the evidence is going to be admissible without
the children even having to testify about some of these things.
Because when this little boy ran to the neighbor for help,
(36:47):
you know, they have observations. And also anything that he
told them will be admissible. Anything that he told and
the little girl told to the medical personnel will be admissible.
Speaker 8 (37:00):
Trial.
Speaker 9 (37:01):
So at the very least, this case has a very
strong cooperation going forward and I'm very encouraged by that.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Guys, there's another person arrested. Take a listen nowur cut
eighteen Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (37:15):
Eight passengers was taken down earlier this year, and that's
when Frankie partnered with Jody Hildebrandt, a licensed therapist, in
a channel called Connections where they gave parenting and life advice.
Here they are pictured in Hildebrandt's home, the same place
Frankie's son escaped from and where her daughter was found
being held captive in the basement.
Speaker 11 (37:34):
It's heartbreaking, and I think it's heartbreaking for the community
that watched this family.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Knew that something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
So people watched the family and knew something was wrong
and did nothing. Now I want you to hear more
of what the sisters said. We went and feel right
about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most
recent advanced their sister getting arrest and her friend Jody Hildebrandt.
But they say once we do, we will not be
(38:05):
commenting on it further. Ruby was arrested, which needed to happen.
Jody was arrested, which needed to happen. The kids are
now safe, which is number one priority? Really, the number
one priority? You say, you've remained silent for three years?
Why did you stand by and let this happen to
these children? To have a daughter revealed she had to
(38:28):
clean blood off the wall after the children were abused,
that daughter likely abused herself. And now the father stating
on air he still loves Ruby Frankie. What mixed message
does that send the children Ruby Frankie wrought in hell.
(38:51):
Woman Nancy gray sonning off, goodbye friend Boo
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the highly popular mommy vlagger
with millions of followers as she doled out parenting advice,
only to be charged with felonies and sentenced after her
children found beaten and starved traumatized in the last days.
(00:27):
The husband of the evil Mommy vlagger, Ruby Frankie, leaves
viewers outraged by what he says on air. I'm Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
The husband of the YouTube mommy vlogger, Ruby Frankie leaves
(00:48):
viewers stunned and sickened. He says he still loves his
wife despite her devilish abuse of their children. Kevin Frankie
and son Chad sat down on GMA for the first
time ahead of their Hulu documentary Devil in the Family
(01:09):
The Fall of Ruby Frankie. Despite Ruby Frankie convicted of stunning,
horrific child abuse on their two young children, he says
he still loves her. Quote, I don't think I'll ever
stop loving her. I'm quote not ashamed to say after
being married over twenty years to that woman, I truly
(01:32):
did and still.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Do love her.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
He also told that to people since Frankie has been
sent to jail on a thirty year sentence. The husband
and children have quote reconnected and their home is now
full of quote laughter. I've always wondered where he was
during all the child abuse?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What exactly happened?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
What does it mean when you're an influencer with literally
millions of so called followers, when your child sneaks out
of a window, completely emaciated, starved, with signs all their.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Bodies that they have been bound.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Tied up, likely with at least duct tape. What kind
of an influencer is that? Well, according to me, that's
the kind of influencer that would best spend their time
behind bars. Let's see who they can influence in the
(02:39):
CI Correctional Institute. That's where I'm coming from. But I'll
let you judge for yourself. Let's kick it off with
our friends at ABC.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Arrest documents seeing the child escape to a neighbor's home.
The twelve year old child described by that neighbor in
a phone call to police as emaciated and malnourished, with
open wounds. For documents also describing deep lacerations from being
tied up with a rope.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
About the saying that their sister are back.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
At the homeless bum.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Police say they also found Frankie's ten year old daughter malnourished.
Frankie is known for her strict parenting advice to millions
of TikTok and YouTube followers.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
Police say a clearly malnourished twelve year old child crawled
out of the window of Hildebrand's Ivans Area home. A
neighbor called nine one one when he showed up at
their house asking for food and water. Officers say his
wrists were duct taped, he had wounds from being tied
up across his body. Investigators say they found a ten
year old girl inside the same house who was also malnourished.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
And also hearing our friends at KSL. So we have
at least one child who had apparently just turned twelve,
crawling out the window of the family home starved. And
believe you me, if you haven't ever seen it, I
hope you never. I pray to God you never do,
(04:02):
because when you see a child that has been starved
as I have, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Something you never forget.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I remember when I was going to cover the Alex
Mardog double murder trial, I passed a yard and there
was a dog tied up in the front yard to
a steak, and I could see the dog's ribs, and
it reminds me when I went to Aruba with Natalie
(04:33):
Holloway's mother just recently, tried to turn up new evidence
far at the end of the island where the lighthouse is.
There was a pack of dogs, maybe four or five
of them, that kept coming up to us, chasing after us,
and they looked like skeletons that their ribs were poking out,
(04:54):
and it just I thought about them over and over
and over. And when you see a child with their
ribs poking out, clearly emaciated, I can't even get the
dogs out of my mind, much less the children that
I saw that way as a prosecutor, and not just once,
(05:17):
over and over and over food deprivation, starving your child.
I think about this twelve year old little boy to
the point where he crawls out the window and goes
to a neighbor asking for food, and the neighbor sees lacerations,
(05:40):
lacerations for the child has been tied up, and then
we learn that there's another child in the home, a
ten year old little girl with the same lacerations, mal nutrition,
malnourished living in that home.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Who and the hell is the mommy?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Who in the hell is the dad that would do
this to their children? Well, I hope you're sitting down.
Take a listen to our friends at GMA.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
A Utah mom influencer arrested facing six felony counts of
aggravated child abuse. For the first time, we're hearing emergency
responders as they see one of Ruby Frankie's children after
he allegedly escaped through a window.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Email does have don K brown ankle. He's not telling
up to the right and so that their tours around
his with an ankles. He's becoming he's becoming emotional regarding
the child's health. I'm glad to.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Have with me an all star panel to make sense
of what we know right now. But first I want
to go to investigative reporter with KSL dot com out
of Utah. Emily Ashcraft is with us. Emily, thank you
from being with us. Who is this woman?
Speaker 7 (07:04):
Who is she? She is a family YouTuber of Logger
and the Family. Actually it's it's YouTube channel faded out
or stopped recently and she started up another YouTube channeler
as a counselor instead.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Of a mom. What is eight Passengers so that that's.
Speaker 7 (07:24):
The family's YouTube channel, and you know, she said in
an article KSL wrote years ago that she started the
channel because she wanted other moms who were kind of
starting out with infants to see what it's like to
have kids that are getting older. Kind of the rewards
(07:46):
of motherhood is what she wanted to show off in
her in the eight Passengers YouTube channel.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Ruby Rankie YouTuber mom of six Ruby.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Rankie f R A n K. How many followers?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I understand over two point two million subscribers to eight
Passengers channel.
Speaker 7 (08:09):
That's the numbers that I've seen as well.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Okay, who in the hay is drinking the kool aid?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And I want to go now to Donna Kelly, former
Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney and lawyer for Crime Victims
Legal Clinic. Donna, thank you for being with us. And
I've seen this over and over and over. It's not
just a story. It's not something we're reporting on. It's
not some fiction or TV made for TV movie. Not
(08:37):
only do you have the parents abusing the child horribly,
but people around them, they know what's happening.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And they do nothing. What is wrong with these people.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I mean, it's not as if this just happened and
they suddenly see, oh, the child has bruises all over
their arms.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
That's suspicious. They're starved, they're starved.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
That takes a long period of time, Donna Kelly, and
nobody noticed.
Speaker 8 (09:08):
Yes it does.
Speaker 9 (09:09):
And unfortunately, many abusers are have the mindset that they
work hard at portraying themselves as you know, the good parent,
the parent you go to when you need advice. That
type of thing is not uncommon, and so that appears
to be what's going on here is that this particular
(09:33):
set of parents decided that they were going to portray
themselves as the ideal parent and put that out there
to the world, and apparently a lot, at least two
point two million people were fooled.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Guys, I just want you to hear something. Take a
listen to our friends at Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (09:55):
Independent journalist and YouTuber Katie Paulson tracks child abuse cases.
She says Frankie YouTube channel Eat Passengers caught her attention.
Speaker 11 (10:02):
And she was saying how she would send her daughter
to school with no food and it was almost like
she was bragging about it.
Speaker 10 (10:09):
She recalls another time when Frankie's son openly talked about
his punishment on the channel.
Speaker 11 (10:13):
He was talking about how he had been sleeping on
the floor on a bean bag chair, and how his
mom had taken away his bed and is taking away
his door.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
That child had to sleep on a bean bag chair
for seven plus months for pulling a prank on his brother,
A prank, I might add, that didn't even cause any
physical harm. What he did was he told the brother
they were going to Disneyland the next morning, and the
brother got up and packed, put on his sunglasses and was.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Ready to go. It was a show they didn't go
to disney Land. That was surprising.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace and another bomb Shell. Regarding
Ruby Frankie in the past days, we learn her daughter states,
I helped clean blood off the wall. Oh gosh. Daughter
(11:13):
of Ruby Frankie. Sherry Frankie says a brother Chad in
this upcoming Hulu docu series Devil in the Family, The
Fall of Ruby Frankie quote, I did always feel bad
when he got in trouble, I guess, referring to brother Chad.
Sherry Frankie the eldest daughter of family vlogger child to
(11:33):
be is a Ruby. Frankie opens up, she reveals she
had to quote clean blood off the walls after her
younger brother Chad was quote beat really bad. Quote he
got a bloody nose. I'd bring him toilet paper and
didn't really know what to do. Oh my stars, what
(11:56):
these children endured When the series son, Chad claims the
abuse was hidden from viewers, recalling quote times she blew
up off camera. She would spank, whip, take the belt out,
pull down my pants, whip me. We've learned a lot
more from the criminal case. At the get Go, Ruby
(12:21):
and Kevin frank brushed off their critics, insisting their very
disturbing videos which showed them taking away necessities as punishment.
They claimed those criticisms were taken out of context and
their children were fine. They were anything but fine. This
(12:42):
my brags about withholding food and bragging about it online.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
What I also don't understand.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
To doctor Dana Anderson, forensic psychologist and consultant, you can
find her at psychologydoctor dot com, she's bad enough, But
who are the two point two million people that tune
in to watch or gibberish.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Well, I can tell you I certainly wasn't tuning in
and I'd never even heard of Ruby Frank until this
came up. But what's more deplorables her sidekick, Jodie Hildebrandt,
who's a license professional, who's observing this the whole time.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Two point two million people are following this witch straight
from hell. I want you to hear more of what
we have learned. Take a listen to our friends at
Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
Diane Nevins remembers and being horrified at what she was
watching on YouTube.
Speaker 12 (13:38):
It was kind of like every video there was something
to be shocked about. Her son couldn't walk from until
he was like two and a half years old, and
she never got any help. And she admitted that she
had a one point he'd fallen off the couch or
she dropped him. He had got no no physical therapy anything.
Speaker 10 (13:57):
Nevin says when she commented her concern, she was blocked
by Frankie.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
What exactly to Emily Askroff, joining US investigative reporter for
KSL dot com, what was found in the home After
the neighbor has to call nine one one when she
gets a twelve year old little boy who says his
ten year old sisters inside of the same injuries starved,
starved and covered in lacerations showing the child had been
(14:25):
tied up.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
What they cops find when they go inside.
Speaker 7 (14:29):
They found a second child, and that the two youngest
children in the family were both so starved that the
one that didn't crawl out and initially refused medical care,
but they after interacting with her for a while, they
kind of said, let's go to the hospital as well,
and both of the women were churched with six counts,
(14:51):
three for each child of aggravated child abuse.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Authorities say that both children were described as quote their words,
not mine, emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct
tapes around the extremities, begging.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
For food and water. Begging for food and water.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
This woman actually has a YouTube channel where she dispenses advice.
I'm just imagining the inside of that home and how
the children were bound with duct tape and apparently their
skin was burned with ropes having tied them up. What
kind of mothering and fathering is that? And it brings
to mind the so called House of Horrors. Yes, the
(15:35):
evil Turpin parents their daughter crawled out of the house
out of a window and ran to call nine to
one one to save her brothers and sisters. They were
found in the same exact condition. Take a listen to
hour cut thirty five. Our friends at ac GTN.
Speaker 13 (15:53):
Officials say when they entered the Turpin home they found
a modern day horror, foul smell, extremely dirty conditions, and
they say it was immediately clear that the siblings were malnourished.
Authorities say they found three of the children shackled to
their beds with chains and padlocks, kept in dark and
unclean conditions inside this Riverside County, California home. Deputies located
(16:15):
twelve children inside the house as young as two years old.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And upon further investigation, when authorities went to their last
home where the Turpins lived, they found claw marks on
the inside of closet doors where children had tried to
claw their way out. And listen to this nine to
one one calling our cut thirty six. This is a
Turpin child that crawled out the window much like this
(16:42):
influencer's child did.
Speaker 14 (16:44):
Okay, I lived in a family of fifteen people, and
my parents are abused in the abused us and my
two little sisters right now are chaned up?
Speaker 15 (16:55):
And how many of your siblings are tied up?
Speaker 8 (16:58):
Of my sisters, one my brother, how are they tied
up with.
Speaker 16 (17:03):
Rope or with what.
Speaker 14 (17:06):
Changed up to their bed?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Guys?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Also, I can't forget the case of Jennifer Wolfthall take
a listener cut thirty four our friend Stephen helling over
at people dot com.
Speaker 17 (17:18):
According to an arrest report obtained by WFTV, wolf Thal
was arrested that time after her husband arrived at the
hospital with their eight year old daughter, who suffered from
conditions including pneumonia, a staff infection, and liver failure. Authorities
say the girl was also malnourished and had multiple bruises,
a skin infection, and several open wounds. Wolf Thal is
the author of the children's book A Real Friend. It
(17:39):
has been removed from sale by its publisher.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
See the connection I'm making right there. You've got this
woman who is an influencer who has a YouTube channel
about parenting.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
She has mistreated and abused her children. They're starving, They're
tied up with duct tape.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
When cots get there, they still have duct tape on
their extremities.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
It looks like they have rope burns, and.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
They're begging for food and water, having to climb out
the window to get to a phone to call nine
to one one, begging neighbors to give them something to eat.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And here is this book author.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Who has her child covered in bruises, with skin infections,
open wounds.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
You know what makes Ruby Frankie.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Different from the Turpin mom? Ruby Frankie is glamorous. Yeah,
she has this YouTube channel and boys, she making the
most of it. Guys, I want you to take a
listen to doctor free has joining us pediatrician, pediatric emergency
(18:43):
medicine expert, child safety expert. And you can find doctor
free has at pdmom dot com. Let me spell that
it doesn't look like it sounds. It's like pediatrician p
as in Peter E. D as in daffodil I p
edimom dot com. Doctor free has thank you for being
(19:08):
with us. What this woman has is hair and makeup.
That's what makes her different from the Turpin family or
the other mom. They're all builds a up straight from hell.
They're the devil's minions.
Speaker 15 (19:22):
Yeah, and that's actually a very big misconception that a
lot of people have about abusers. Child abusers specifically. I
think a lot of people have in their mind that
it's only a certain type of person that can do
these types of evil things to children, and it's not.
Speaker 16 (19:38):
It can literally be anybody.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah, you know, you think you know your neighbor, You
think you know all about what's going on in your neighborhood.
These children are being starved in their own home, assaulted,
tied up with ropes and with duct tape that we
know of based on the evidence we're hearing so far,
and nobody did a thing, And people kept watching.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
This woman online.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Crime stories with Nancy Gray. Jason Jensen joining me Salt
Lake City, Utah, private investigator, owner of Jensen Private Investigations,
co founder of the Cold Case Coalition, and you can
find them at Jensenprivate Investigations dot com. This is in
your neck of the woods. What do you have to say, Well.
Speaker 8 (20:27):
Nancy, there's a lot that can be said here. It's
interesting that you know the outer image that was being portrayed,
you know, like you describer Glamour's mom raising six kids,
wants to show off to the world how to do
it right. Well, you know that seems to really have
(20:50):
like a Mormon household style image. Oftentimes in the church
here in our community, they try to portray to the
world a model style of raising a family, and unfortunately
this lady took matters way to the extreme. We're not
(21:11):
just showing like discipline online, but goes to the extreme
of child abuse.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Jason Jensen, isn't it true that your children have actually
watched this woman's YouTube channel?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
What did they think?
Speaker 8 (21:24):
Yes, Nancy, Actually, my two kids were the ones that
brought Ruby Frankie to my attention because years ago, when
they were younger, they watched and enjoyed the channel, and
sometimes they got a kick out of it because she
was such a gruff parent. She was always harsh on them,
and it kind of gave them the impression that she
(21:48):
was a disciplinary And what both of my kids said
is pertaining to So the two younger kids, the subjects
the victims of this recent arrest is they said they
could tell mom did not like these two kids very well.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Guys, when someone did try to speak out against Ruby Frankie,
take a listen to what happened in our cut seventeen
Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (22:16):
Paulson also saying when she did a report on what
Frankie and her kids were seeing in the videos. She
was threatened to be sued. She forwarded me an email
from Frankie's lawyer sent in twenty twenty that says, in part,
we represent the family blog Channel Eat passengers who continued
to be harmed by defamatory videos uploaded to YouTube by
your client and saying it resulted in a baseless visit
(22:36):
by Child Protective Services.
Speaker 11 (22:38):
They always say, if you see something, say something, and
in this case, when people said something, they were threatened.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Let me understand something.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Emily Ashcroft joining us from KSL, Child Protective Services went
to the hall. Even though now Frankie is climbing. That
was baseless and what they found nothing, They couldn't tell
anything was going on.
Speaker 7 (22:58):
Yeah, they went to the home tool to talk about
those claims that you brought up in videos. It was
clear that she sent a child to school without lunch
and had a child sleeping on a bean bag, and
so they went to investigate those and that that didn't
lead to any charges at that point. You know it's
red flags, but I guess not flativity.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I watched it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
She brags about with holding food from her children.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
How is that okay?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Take a listnour Cut twenty two. This is Ruby Frankie
in eight Passengers.
Speaker 18 (23:31):
Russell got the big bedroom and Check got the smaller bedroom.
And Russell's bigger bedroom also had a bathroom. But what
you guys didn't know was he didn't get any room.
Speaker 19 (23:41):
He didn't get anything.
Speaker 18 (23:43):
He was sleeping on the floor in the family room.
Speaker 11 (23:45):
Abby.
Speaker 18 (23:46):
We took the phone away from Abby in November and
you may never get the phone back. And my kids
are literally starving. I hesitate to say this because it's
gonna sound.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Like I'm like a mean barbier.
Speaker 18 (24:00):
But I told the kids, I said, I'm not even
gonna let you eat breakfast until you get your chores done.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
It's not just that she's withholding food, and it's not
just because they didn't do chores one morning before school.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's all the time.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
You don't get to a point of starvation when you
occasionally skip breakfast. Isn't that true, Doctor free hes pediatrician.
Speaker 16 (24:26):
Yeah. Absolutely. You don't get the move feeded by missing
a meal or two here or there, and you don't
appear to be that to outside people unless you're missing
a substantial amount of meals and nutrition, which can then
lead to a whole host of other things that unfortunately
these kids may have to deal with.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So in one fell sweet we hear about with holding
food until chores are done in the morning, not giving one.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Child a place to sleep. But there's a amount of bragging.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
A bravado of joeviality, of cheer, and the way she
describes how she's treating her children and what everybody just
stands by and lifts it up.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Why they're a big at the trough.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Take a listen hour cut twenty four more of Ruby Frankie.
Speaker 19 (25:20):
I just got a text message from Eve's teacher and
she said that Eve did not pack a lunch today
and can I bring a lunch over to the school.
This happens quite often when you're having raising children, because
I know that her teacher is uncomfortable with her being
hungry and not having a lunch, and it would ease
(25:41):
her discomfort if I came to the school with lunch.
But I responded and just said Eve is responsible for
making her lunches in the morning, and she actually told
me she did pack a lunch. So the natural outcome
is she's just going to need to be hungry and
hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody stepped in and
gives her a line.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Un And isn't it true that at that time, Emily
Ashcroft KSL this little girl was only six years old.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
That's what I saw is this is a you know,
first grader, just you know, first year. She's bringing food
to food to school probably and the later the mom said,
you know, justifying it after after child protective services were called,
she said, you know, it was I didn't learn until
two hours before the end of school and it was
(26:29):
a forty five minute drive, so getting it to.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Her really, because that's not what she said in her.
Speaker 7 (26:34):
Blood, her gratitude.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
She said it was because the child didn't the six
year old girl did not pack her own lunch.
Speaker 16 (26:41):
She changed said that.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
She knew it would ease the teacher's discomfort if her
child had food.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
What about the child? What about the child's discomfort? No,
that's not all.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Take a listen to our cuts twenty seven to twenty
eight more of Ruby.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Frankie Kevin and I.
Speaker 18 (26:59):
We have six children. The two youngest are showing long
patterns of selfishness. They have been showing through their choices,
their unwillingness to repent their unwillingness to feel sorrow over
some pretty egregious choices that they've made. So Kevin and
I have decided that we are going to give the
gift of truth to them this year for Christmas. We
(27:22):
are having to give them the gift of boundaries, and
we're going to give them the gift of repentance. So
we sat down with them and we let them know
how deeply sorrowful we've been because of the choices that
they have been making and how it's affected their teachers
at school, it's affected their peers, it's affected in our home,
(27:43):
the siblings, and we just laid it out very clear,
and we told them that this year they are not
going to be visited by Santa. We let them know
that Christmas morning, therefore, older siblings will be getting Christmas
presents to open that they will have the gift of
love from their dad to night.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, let's just examine what we just heard.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Donna Kelly joining me, former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Donna.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
She says, the youngest two, which I believe to be
around the ages of six and seven, were unwilling to
quote repent. So, therefore, while all the other children were
visited by Santa, the two little ones were not because
(28:32):
they would not quote repent. I didn't make that up.
She said that, And after you speak, I'm going to
need a shrink on this. Go ahead, Donna Kelly and Donna.
I know you've seen this, as have I, where one
or more children are picked out as the targets. Although
(28:53):
I think all of these children have been abused and mistreated, seemingly,
one usually is picked out as the most despised and
hated and their torture more than anyone else. These two children,
as they watch their sisters and brothers get Christmas Morning surprises.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
They get nothing.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And then there are two children that are bound with
duct tape and ropes and starved. I just want to
get my hands around this woman's neck. Then, not only
does she do this to her children behind closed doors,
she brags about it on a YouTube channel that is
two point two million followers.
Speaker 9 (29:33):
It's just absolutely heartbreaking to listen to her portray herself
as the victim. You know, we told these two children
that their dad and I were very sorrowful, and so
she's portraying herself as the victim, which is a very
(29:53):
common abuser tactic, you know, gaslighting the victim. And these
are children. They need to learn by trial and error
as they go along, and the parents need to be
responding to them in that way, in a kind and
loving way. And it's just absolutely heartbreaking. I can see
(30:15):
why they were charged with severe emotional harm of these
two children. In the charging document, they're charged with not
only torture maltrition, but also severe emotional harm, which it
absolutely is.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
To doctor Dana Anderson, forensic psychologist and consultant, what do
you make of the other children, four of them getting
all their Christmas gifts from Santa and these two being
left out on Christmas morning one of the biggest days,
one of the two biggest days in the Christian year,
(30:53):
that being Christmas and Easter, and they're left out because
they wouldn't quote repent.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
Yeah, she wants to make an example out of them,
punish them, humiliate them. You know, it's all this sort
of brainwashing, gaslightingness.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
I'm a six year old, gaslighting, manipulating, abusing a six
year old child and her brother.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
So let me understand something.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
The Emily Ashcroft, the six year old child that had
food withheld, would that be the now ten year old
child left behind in the home, starving and tied up.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
When the twelve year old brother escapes through the window.
Speaker 7 (31:37):
That would be that same child.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
So this has been going on since the little girl
was six and the little boy was eight.
Speaker 7 (31:44):
One of the things that Ruby Frankie said after her
arrest was that those children weren't fit to be around
other children. And I'm not sure what she means by that,
but it seems like it was specific to those two guys.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Take a listen to our cut thirty.
Speaker 13 (31:58):
Carturing him stopping.
Speaker 18 (32:00):
I know you're not, but it looks like you are.
Speaker 6 (32:07):
I'm only gonna say it one more time, and.
Speaker 16 (32:09):
Then you're gonna lose the privilege to eat dinner.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I hear the laughter. I don't know what's going on,
but I also hear you're gonna lose the privilege of
eating dinner. I hear Ruby Frankie saying that what makes
her any different from all the other abusive parents? Hair
and makeup two hours of hair and makeup before she
(32:32):
gets in front of the camera. To Jason Jensen joining
US high profile private investigator out of Utah located in
Salt Lake City. Jason Jensen how are we going to
go about proving this case.
Speaker 8 (32:46):
Well, I think you hit most of it on the head,
and basically we have to show that there's a pattern,
a history between the actor, the abuser and her victim children.
And we have that pretty well established from some of
the outtakes of the YouTube channel, things that have been
(33:07):
brought up by fellow viewers and that we've discussed here
during the program. There's a history of this type of
neglect and abuse against these two particular children that have
been slowly brewing over time, where it was perhaps determined
(33:27):
to be minor, not enough to remove the children from
the home before, but now we're so severe that they're
being bound in duct tape like you know abductees, and
they're not even allowed to you know, venture forth from
the house and every time that they get in trouble
food is taken away as a punishment.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Well, also we're learning that one Abruby Frankie's other daughters
says her mother was reported to police years for abuse
and nothing was done. And sisters of Frankie three sisters
(34:10):
have also released statements admitting that they quote kept quiet
on the subject. What in the hay is that doctor
Dana Anderson that the family knows, but they choose to
remain quiet and let the children continue to starve and
be tied up and bound.
Speaker 5 (34:31):
Yeah. I can't say the extent of what the family knew,
but they certainly had some information. And I think it's
interesting that they've quickly made statements to the public stating
what side they're on. And I wonder if what the
phone longue would show of them attempting to reach out
(34:53):
or call CPS or the police.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Because they've issued a statement and I'm quoting them, we
quote kept quiet on the subject. Now the daughter, Sherry
has something to say. Take a listen to our cut
twenty box thirteen.
Speaker 10 (35:12):
Frank's oldest daughter, Sherry Frank, who is twenty years old,
posted to her public Instagram today a photo of police
with the caption Finally, she added another story, saying, me
and my family are so glad justice is being served.
We've been trying to tell the 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.
(35:32):
Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.
As of now, four children have been taken into custody
of Child and Family Services.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
The sisters who are also YouTubers stay this is their quote.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
For the last three years, we have.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Frankie
for the sake of her children, behind the public saying
we've done everything we could to try and make sure
the kids were safe.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Really because they weren't the three.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Sisters, they were starving, they were being bound by ropes
and duct tape, and what if anything did you do
about it? Sounds like nothing, Because I have a very
strong suspicion that if they had called Defects Department, Family
Children's Services, CPS, chop Tape of Services and some jurisdictions,
(36:22):
that there would have been a response. Would you agree,
Donna Kelly.
Speaker 9 (36:27):
Oh, absolutely absolutely. In this case, I am very encouraged
by a couple of things, and those are that a
lot of the evidence is going to be admissible without
the children even having to testify about some of these things.
Because when this little boy ran to the neighbor for help,
(36:47):
you know, they have observations. And also anything that he
told them will be admissible. Anything that he told and
the little girl told to the medical personnel will be admissible.
Speaker 8 (37:00):
Trial.
Speaker 9 (37:01):
So at the very least, this case has a very
strong cooperation going forward and I'm very encouraged by that.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Guys, there's another person arrested. Take a listen nowur cut
eighteen Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (37:15):
Eight passengers was taken down earlier this year, and that's
when Frankie partnered with Jody Hildebrandt, a licensed therapist, in
a channel called Connections where they gave parenting and life advice.
Here they are pictured in Hildebrandt's home, the same place
Frankie's son escaped from and where her daughter was found
being held captive in the basement.
Speaker 11 (37:34):
It's heartbreaking, and I think it's heartbreaking for the community
that watched this family.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Knew that something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
So people watched the family and knew something was wrong
and did nothing. Now I want you to hear more
of what the sisters said. We went and feel right
about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most
recent advanced their sister getting arrest and her friend Jody Hildebrandt.
But they say once we do, we will not be
(38:05):
commenting on it further. Ruby was arrested, which needed to happen.
Jody was arrested, which needed to happen. The kids are
now safe, which is number one priority? Really, the number
one priority? You say, you've remained silent for three years?
Why did you stand by and let this happen to
these children? To have a daughter revealed she had to
(38:28):
clean blood off the wall after the children were abused,
that daughter likely abused herself. And now the father stating
on air he still loves Ruby Frankie. What mixed message
does that send the children Ruby Frankie wrought in hell.
(38:51):
Woman Nancy gray sonning off, goodbye friend Boo
Host
Nancy Grace
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