Ruby Franke Evidence: Journal, Interrogation Tapes, Sentence

The Ruby Franke evidence released by Utah prosecutors in March 2024 included body camera footage, doorbell camera video, more than 200 photographs, full police interrogation recordings, jail phone calls, and 60 pages from Franke’s own handwritten journal. Together, the materials documented months of starvation, restraint, and forced labor inflicted on two of her children, and captured Franke’s written rationale for treating that abuse as spiritual discipline. Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke described the conditions the children endured as “a concentration camp-like setting.”¹

How the Evidence Came to Light

On August 30, 2023, Franke’s 12-year-old son climbed out a window of Jodi Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah, and knocked on a neighbor’s door asking for food and water. Doorbell camera footage captured the encounter. The neighbor saw duct tape on the boy’s ankles; his wrists were covered by a long sleeve. The couple took him inside and called 911.²

First responders described the boy as “emaciated” and “abnormally thin and weak,” with open wounds under the tape on his wrists and ankles.³ He told officers that Franke and Hildebrandt had convinced him he needed to be jailed as part of a “repentance process.”⁴ He also told them his nine-year-old sister was still inside the house.

Officers found the girl sitting cross-legged on the floor of an empty closet. She was so frightened that it took roughly four hours to coax her out. Two female EMTs from Santa Clara-Ivins Fire and Rescue finally persuaded her to leave by speaking gently and assuring her she was safe.⁵ Both children were taken to a hospital for treatment of abuse injuries and malnourishment.⁶

Roughly a month after Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced, the Washington County Attorney’s Office posted the case file to a dedicated public portal.⁷⁸⁹

What the Physical Evidence Showed

The 12-year-old boy had severe open wounds on his wrists and ankles under the duct tape. Police reports noted that removing the tape tore skin away. Medical teams also found layers of plastic wrap and bandages over his wounds, which had been dressed with a mixture of cayenne pepper and honey.⁸ The boy told police that Franke and Hildebrandt had bound his arms and feet to weights on the ground to restrict his movement, and that he had been handcuffed at his wrists and ankles before duct tape was applied. Investigators recovered handcuffs and ropes from inside Hildebrandt’s home.¹⁰

Both children were severely malnourished. The boy’s clothes hung loosely off his body. The nine-year-old girl was initially reluctant to eat but eventually consumed an entire personal pizza and half of a large one after being found.¹⁰

According to the Washington County Attorney’s Office, the children were regularly denied food, water, and beds, and were forced to perform manual labor outdoors in extreme summer heat without shoes. Punishments included standing on a cement patio for hours or days, carrying loaded boxes up and down stairs, and holding “wall sits” for extended periods. The boy was made to sleep outdoors on concrete and, on his birthday, was forced to stand on a back patio for an entire day during extreme heat.⁷¹⁰

What Franke’s Journal Showed

The 60 released pages, with the children’s names redacted and replaced with the initials “E” and “R,” began as early as July 9, 2023. Franke described her 12-year-old son as “Satanic” and “deviant,” writing on July 10 that he “slithers & sneaks around looking for opportunities when no one is watching & then he scurries.” She called her nine-year-old daughter “sinful” and “manipulative.”¹¹

Franke framed deprivation and violence as spiritual correction. She wrote that she would not “feed the demon” and described the children as “very weak-minded.” In an August 15 entry, she wrote that stripping a child’s world down to “beans + rice + hard work would be considered abuse. And it’s not. It’s necessary for the prideful child.”¹¹ Other entries described specific acts: holding her son’s head underwater while plugging his nose, shaving the children’s heads, forcing them to sleep on the floor, and starving them. An August 27 entry read, “I whipped him with a belt yesterday.”⁸

Writing about her son’s refusal to stand in the sun, Franke recorded: “I tell him a couple more times. [R] or I should say, his demon stays in the shade.”¹²

What the Interrogation Recordings Showed

Both women invoked their right to an attorney and gave no substantive statement. Franke sat in near-total silence during her August 30, 2023, questioning. Detective Jessica Bate later described her as appearing to be “in a trance,” saying Franke often answered only with “three long blinks.” Her one verbal response to detectives was, “I’ll wait til I have a lawyer.”¹³¹⁴

Hildebrandt spoke more but revealed little. She said her attorney had told her not to say anything and that she had “nothing to hide,” and expressed concern that officers would “flip” her words. She also told detectives, “I’m a psychologist, I’ve watched people flip things all the time” — a credential she did not hold.¹⁴ Neither woman asked about the children’s welfare while officers were at the scene.¹⁰

How Prosecutors Read the Motive

The Washington County Attorney’s Office concluded that “religious extremism motivated Ms. Franke and Ms. Hildebrandt to inflict this horrific abuse.” Prosecutors said both women “appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary” to teach the children to repent for “imagined ‘sins'” and to “cast the evil spirits out of their bodies.” The emotional abuse was so effective, prosecutors said, that the children had been conditioned to “believe that they deserved the abuse.”⁷

The journal entries supported that reading. Franke documented the abuse as a process of spiritual purification, writing about inviting her son to “fast” and “pray” and describing deprivation as divine discipline. Hildebrandt, a life coach and former licensed mental health counselor, ran a coaching business called ConneXions built around concepts of “truth” and “deception.” Former clients described the program as cult-like, saying it isolated participants from family and labeled ordinary behaviors as “addictions.”¹⁵ Hildebrandt had previously been placed on 18 months’ probation by the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing in 2012 for unprofessional conduct, including maintaining dual relationships with clients and breaching patient confidentiality. She surrendered her counseling license in September 2023, and it was formally revoked in May 2024.¹⁶

Charges and Sentence

Both women were initially charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse.¹⁷ In December 2023, each pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse. Two additional counts against Franke were dismissed under her plea agreement, in which she also agreed to testify against Hildebrandt.¹⁸

On February 20, 2024, Judge John J. Walton of the Fifth Judicial District Court in St. George sentenced both women to four consecutive prison terms of one to 15 years each. Under Utah law the consecutive terms are capped at a combined 30 years, which the Washington County Attorney’s Office identified as the most severe penalty available for the offense. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will determine actual time served.¹⁹

At sentencing, Franke told her children, “I’ll never stop crying for hurting your tender souls.” She told the judge she would not argue for a shorter sentence and said she had been “manipulated” by Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt did not apologize but said she “loves the children and wants them to heal,” adding that she accepted the plea deal to spare the children from testifying. Clarke observed that while Franke showed remorse, Hildebrandt “continues to place blame on the children.”¹

Where the Case Stands Now

Franke and Hildebrandt are incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility. They are housed in the same women’s general population unit but are strictly separated. As of December 2025, Franke had no disciplinary actions on file. Both women are scheduled for their first parole hearings in December 2026. Before those hearings, the Board of Pardons and Parole has ordered each to undergo a complete mental health evaluation and participate in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The Board will then decide whether to set a release date, schedule another hearing, or require them to serve the full 30-year maximum, which for Franke would mean a release date of August 30, 2053.²⁰²¹

Utah has since passed SB24, a standalone first-degree felony offense of child torture carrying a mandatory 10-year minimum, which took effect on May 7, 2025. The law does not retroactively alter Franke’s or Hildebrandt’s convictions, though advocates have said it signals to the Board of Pardons and Parole how seriously such conduct should be treated.²²²⁰

According to Clarke, the two youngest Franke children are “interacting, happy and healthy” and “light-years better.”²³

1
NPR. YouTube Mom Ruby Franke Apologizes at Sentencing in Child Abuse Case
2
KUTV. Video Shows Ivins Couple Calling 911 After Franke Child Arrived With Duct Tape on Hands
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The Salt Lake Tribune. Ruby Franke Search Warrant: Boy Who Escaped Was Emaciated
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ABC7. Momfluencer Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt Child Abuse
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CBS Austin. Footage Shows EMTs Talking Franke Child Out of Closet
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KUTV. Newly Released Body Cam Shows Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt Being Led Away in Handcuffs
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Washington County Attorney’s Office. Utah vs. Franke-Hildebrandt
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Fox 13 Now. Evidence Released Shows Severity of Abuse in Franke and Hildebrandt Case
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TIME. Ruby Franke Child Abuse Footage and Evidence
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ABC News. New Video, Photos of Ruby Franke’s Son Reveal Disturbing Details
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E! Online. YouTuber Ruby Franke’s Chilling Journal Entries Revealed
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CNN. Ruby Franke Child Abuse Police Video
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Yahoo Entertainment. Abusive Family Vlogger Ruby Franke Interrogation Video
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CBS Austin. Franke and Hildebrandt Interrogation Video
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NBC News. Jodi Hildebrandt Ruby Franke ConneXions Therapy Former Clients Share
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KSL TV. Kevin Franke Files Lawsuit Against Jodi Hildebrandt
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NBC News. Ruby Franke Sentenced in Child Abuse Case
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ABC News. YouTube Vlogger Ruby Franke Sentenced in Child Abuse Case
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CBS News. Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt Sentenced for Child Abuse
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Biography.com. Ruby Franke Now
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ABC4. Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt Parole Hearing Scheduled for 2026
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Utah News Dispatch. Salt Lake City Child Torture Charges
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Biography.com. Ruby Franke Kids and Husband Now