Ruby Franke, a 41-year-old content creator and the owner of the family vlogging channel 8 Passengers, was arrested on August 30th in Springville, Ohio. Police took Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt, Franke’s colleague and podcasting partner, into custody for six counts of aggravated child abuse.
Photo Courtesy of The Distin
Neighbors of the family say a child arrived at their house asking for food and water with duct tape on their wrists and ankles as well as open wounds. It was reported that the child escaped through a window and ran to neighbors for help. Shortly after, the police were called.
When officers arrived on the scene, they found four children living on Hildebrant’s estate, locked in a panic room. Two children were extremely malnourished and rushed to local hospitals.
Hildebrandt has gotten in trouble before, as she breached the client confidentiality contract whilst working as a therapist, causing her license to be put on probation for 18 months in 2012.
Shari Franke, Ruby’s eldest daughter, shared a photo on Instagram displaying her mother getting arrested, captioned, “Finally.” Family and fans of 8 Passengers are not surprised at this breakthrough.
Fellow family member, Bonnie Hoellein stated, “Ruby was arrested, which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested, which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.”
Photo Courtesy of The Distin
It became clear that Franke was mistreating children after seeing her publicly posted videos. Franke is seen taking away her child’s bed privileges for 7 months, sending a child to a 10-week wilderness camp, and forcing children to pay for their homework after leaving it on the table. Fans began to wonder, if these were the things Franke was comfortable with sharing online, what was she uncomfortable with sharing?
Hildebrandt and Franke founded Facebook group “ConneXions.” This group gives parenting advice, including removing privacy, victim blaming, homophobia, and forcing children, ages 9-16, to work for food. The “ConneXions” group has been giving advice to parents for well over 3 years, and it is unknown just how many families “ConneXions” has harmed; however, their free podcast was downloaded over one billion times in twenty-three countries before it was deleted.
Our hearts go out to the children and those affected by “ConneXions.”
