Little Boy Exposes Mom’s Sick Secrets

Hi. How are you? I'm wondering if you have any questions, David. Well, what are they? Yes. Can you make sure there are some interesting things? So, they're very afraid. This kid is obviously. I think he's been. He's been detained. He's been. He's obviously covered in wounds. We need the cops here as soon as possible. So, he. Yes, David. What sort of monster could be behind this? Did you get the ropes on you? Who did 'em? The answer? A name many already knew. Search your mom's name. We'll be Frankie. This is Scandal, presented by Lawn Crime. I'm Sierra Gillespie. If it wasn't for one little boy in his boundless courage, one of the biggest mom-fluencers in the world wouldn't be behind bars right now. A 12-year-old boy cracked open the case of Ruby Frankie. Revealing details so dark and twisted, they sent even seasoned professionals into an emotional tailspin. I'll take more. It all started in the city of Ivan's Utah, an affluent bedroom community just a 10-minute drive from St. George. It's known for its glorious red rocks, sun-kissed cacti and sprawling sandstone mountains. Off the beaten path of the main roadways, you'll find a luxurious neighborhood, complete with multi-million dollar mansions and upscale amenities. No sidewalks, no neighbors looking in, only blistering hot pavement to separate one desert mansion from the next. And yet, that's what those living in the neighborhood want. Complete and total privacy, a much welcomed escape. But as the desert heat peaked in August 2023, escape took on a terrifying new meaning. While neighbors used this haven to escape the world, a 12-year-old boy escaped a horror of his own. For his privacy, we won't share this young boy's name, but we will call him by his first initial R. On August 30, 2023, an emaciated, beaten, and bleeding R crawls out of a window on Tagu Court and runs to his neighbor's house for help. Security camera video captures the boy walking to a neighbor's front door and ringing the bell. You can see R's tiny little legs, so small and emaciated and covered in blood. His ankles shackled with duct tape. He's not wearing any shoes. He escaped the home in only socks. After more than a minute of waiting, R begins to knock at the door. It's soft sounding like he's too weak to loudly bang for help. When no one answers, R walks off, heading for the next home. It's only 10-50 in the morning, but already, the desert temperatures are soaring well above 85 degrees. The black asphalt could be anywhere from 130 to 145 degrees and still, R runs across the pavement, desperate for relief. As R begins to walk away, a friendly stranger answers the door. One lady can you give you three favors? Well, what are they? A cake you made through the nearest police station. Flashly, just one fine. What's going on, so I have a seat there. Is this personal business? Have a seat. What's your name? It's in that moment when everything changes. Finally, help is on the way. I'm on the address of your emergency. Tell me exactly what's happened. I just had a 12-year-old boy chill up here at my front door asking for help. We know there's been problems at this neighbor's house. He's emaciated, he's got tape around his legs, he's hungry, and he's thirsty. And he asked us to call the police. So he's very afraid. As R's neighbor speaks to 911 dispatch, the call is put in for first responders. Yeah, it's duct tape. There's four rounds around them. Yeah, there's sores around them. I think the good chance he's been. He also has. Oh, and he has been around here as well. Okay, this boy has been. Maybe it's. Oh, here it is. This kid has always been. I think he's been. He's been detained, he's been. We need the cops who are as soon as possible. Police and EMS arrive minutes later rushing to our side. But immediately, the question becomes, how did this happen? It's clear R made a miraculous escape from a clandestine hell. But who put him there? Is your mom around here, do you see her lately? He doesn't know where she is right now. Do you know his mom's name? What's your mom's name? Ruby Frankie. Ruby Frankie has always been known for her family. Now she's infamous for the horrors she put R and his siblings through. But before that, she was just famous, simply for being a mom. How did this? It's so yummy! My gosh, you guys having kids is so much fun. In 2015, Ruby started a YouTube channel called Eight Passengers. Documenting the lives of her and her husband Kevin and their six children. Four girls and two boys. The channel is now defunct, but in its heyday, Ruby's followers amassed more than 2.5 million. All eager viewers tuning in to see the latest with a Frankie crew. You got to decide, do I want school lunch? Do I want to bring lunch from home? If I do want to bring lunch from home, I want you to pick out things that you're going to eat that are healthy. I want to bring a lunch from home, but like two weeks in, there's nothing to pack for what? That's because what you guys do is you pick out fun things. And then you abuse it and you eat it instead of coming home and eating a snack. Or instead of eating breakfast, you guys are eating the snacks when you're not supposed to. And so it sucks for everyone because then there's no snacks available. Ruby documented fun things like playing outside, trips to the water park, and her kids getting their braces off. But she didn't shy away from the darker side of parenthood either. Describing controversial punishment method she used on her kids. And my kids are literally starving. I hesitate to say this because it's going to sound like I'm like a mean barbarian, but I told the kids I said, "I'm not even going to let you eat breakfast until you get your chores done." It has been amazingly well behaved for being in town. Why are you yelling at me? Shh. The fact that I yell at my kids is a secret. We don't want our viewers to know that never happens in my house. I never yell. By 2020, Ruby began to face massive public backlash for her controversial parenting choices. And it was showing in the views. Online who hate me, who would like to cancel me, who would like to see me, either burn in hell as I have told or disappear off the face of the earth. And I'm not going anywhere. It was about this time when Ruby came across self-proclaimed family guru, Jody Hildenbrand, the leader of a faith-based relationship program called Connections. Ruby quickly began to idolize Jody and began stepping away from her eight passengers content, and instead collaborating with Jody through connections and a new program called Moms of Truth. "Any time you think I want, feel in the blank, I don't care what it is, that is not love. Love is a gift that you offer because you have generated it inside yourself and how do you generate love? Well, the only way to generate love is you use your agency to choose principles of truth." By 2022, Ruby has completely rearranged her life around Joey. She's forced her husband Kevin to move out of their Springville home in Northern Utah and has cut off contact with most of her extended family and older children. Prosecutors will later describe this as "an unhealthy and cult-like relationship." "I describe, in my mind, I see Ruby as a religious alkaliit, like a blind follower of Joey. I don't think, again, initially, we were like, what is this relationship? Is there more there than a business or a friendship? I don't think there was. I think that this is two people where Joey is saying, "Hey, I had a dream last night from God and this is what we need to do today." This is what we need to do. We need to move. We need to discipline these kids. Whatever it is, and Ruby was to appoint in her life that she had separated herself from her husband, her extended family, her adult children. Like she was just completely isolated, and so as her, her minor children and Joey were basically her contacts. That's kind of how I see that relationship. I fully believe that. That's how that relationship worked. As Ruby was just waiting for Joey to tell her what Joey was thinking or feeling on any given day, and then willing to go forward and do that. In May 2023, that was Joey's request that Ruby uprooted her family and moved three hours south to the upscale city of Ivan Zyuta into Joey's $5 million home. At this point, Ruby's family is already fractured. She separated from Kevin and her relationship with her older kids is scammed at best. She moved in with Joey, accompanied only by her two youngest children, 12-year-old R and his sister, nine-year-old E. From afar, life in Ivan seems picturesque. Jody's home is complete with five bedrooms and four bathrooms, spanning over 9,000 square feet, sitting along an acre and a half of land. On the outside, it's perfect. On the inside, it's a hellscape. Investigators will later find a makeshift bunker hidden beneath Jody's garage where the horrors of abuse were hidden from the light of day. That is, until ours brave escape. The shock of R's emaciated body is jarring to first responders, some even break down on the scene. But it's soon apparent R isn't the only victim. He tells paramedics he's got a nine-year-old sister, too, and she's inside Jody's house. First responders find E hiding alone in the bathroom closet. As officers enter the room, he sits in silence. "Is this you in here? I'm Sergeant Tobler. What's your name? I just have one. Where's your sister at? Going to that morning? You okay? Huh? You been okay? You don't want to talk to me? Yeah, that's okay. Can come with me, though. We got Jody out here. You know Jody? She's outside with us. You take your time, but I'm in a hurry. I'm a police officer. Did you know that? I don't mean to hurt you at all. Are you doing okay? Are you scared? Yeah, you're okay. Do you need help? E hardly reacts or speaks, only beginning to open up when first responders offer her some pizza. It's clear she's been starving. Finally, when a female EMT enters the closet, E begins to speak with investigators, admitting she's scared and needs help. You don't want to talk? Okay. There's nothing I know you want to talk to her, though. It's okay to talk to me. Are you scared? So, can we carry you from there? We helped your brother, and we got him some help, too. That's what we want to do for you. If we want to get you some help, too. We are safe. We will not hurt you, and we won't do anything to hurt you. The audio cuts out here, but as E walks away, you can see how terrifyingly skinny she is. Based on this alone, first responders can tell the scene is brutal, but it's unclear the extent of abuse R and E have sustained at the hands of Ruby and Jody. Investigators will later determine they chained up R inside the home using handcuffs and rope. When the restraints cut into his wrists and ankles, Ruby and Jody covered them up with plastic wrap and duct tape, after pouring honey and cayenne pepper directly into his open wounds. On other instances, R and E were forced to perform hard manual labor outside in the desert heat, completely barefoot and without water. Medical professionals later determined R suffered third degree level sunburns. Inside the home, R and E were forced to sleep on hard floors, locked away in the bunker beneath Jody's garage. They were both dehydrated and malnourished, isolated from the rest of the world. Journal entries from Ruby revealed she believed both her children were possessed and deserved the evil she doled out to them. Here's Washington County prosecutor Eric Clark again. Everybody who has worked on this case has gone home and cried. We cover child abuse cases, right, like unfortunately, child abuse is something that happens in all the communities in our country. And it's something we should always be speaking at against and trying to stop, right. But child abuse, to this degree, is something that is super abnormal. In our office's institutional memory, we can only think of one case that is comparable to this. And that's with 15 prosecutors collective experience, right, so immediately this case didn't feel normal on the, whoa, this is an awful case perspective. And for better or for worse, this case was also felt different to all the people doing the investigative work because statistically crime occurs and is reported more often in low income communities, right. It's not that often that you have a $2 or $3 million home in a super-secluded subdivision where you're having, where you're having, you don't get domestic violence calls to that community very often, right. So that felt different, the severity felt different, and obviously the media coverage felt different. As R&E are taken into protective care, first responders turn their focus to Ruby and Jodi. Jodi, I need you to step out. I have, I have my turn. That's great, step out of the house. No, I'm not just going to step out of the house. Step out of the house. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. We're just going to step out. We're going to be able to. Wait a minute, how do you come to my house? Step right there. Look, look, look, look, I'm into my house. So have a seat right there. Do you have a search warrant? Have a seat right there. I have a seat right there. I'll explain everything after I have a seat right there. Control 12, X11, can you hold there? We're searching the house. I can tell you what's in the house. Okay, just have a seat right there for me. We'll explain it after this. You can't just come into my house without a search warrant. We'll explain everything after this, ma'am. Okay, that's one of the reasons why we're here. So we'll explain after everything's done, after we clear the house and make sure everything's fine now. But why are you coming into my house without a source? But that doesn't make sense. You come into my house and do what you want. And then you tell me you don't have a warrant. No, we'll explain why we did. But don't you have to have a warrant? Not at this moment when we don't. We're here on exigent circumstances, and I've explained it after this. After my sergeant and the officer had done clearing the house. If Jodie was cooperative, Ruby is downright silent. Man, this is Officer Heinz. He's just going to hang out with you. All right, well, it feels good in the air. So I'll have Ruby ask this for me so they can get ready to clean. I need to be back for the police department. Okay, so I'm going to need Papa. You want to put him on my vehicle? Yeah, you want a fix, place him on your back for me. Perfect. Both women are taken to the police station for separate interviews. I'm a little nervous. You're a bit. You know, we also see if I was sitting over there and I'd be able to merge too. We do want to have a basis and an understanding of what's going on in that home. Or what went on up north that brought them into your home. And so if you want to share any of that and you don't want to answer any other questions, that's okay. I'd like to just tell you, but I don't know who you are. I don't know if you're going to flip my words back. I don't know. And that's the good thing about cameras. It's pretty much double recorded audio video and it's for the safety of you and for us. Because we don't want to flip your words. And so I'll be pretty much right there to support you. So we're not going to use anything against it. You may be so insistent then. He's an honest, good man. He's a church. I trust him. Why would he say that to me then? I don't know. I don't know if you're returning the honest. Well, I'm just saying he's a good honest man. And I'm not his person as well. So get along great. And he just said, do not say anything. Maybe he just says an attorney. They always say that. They always want to be with their client. I'm not sure. But like I said, at any time, if you don't want to answer a question, you don't have to. So the ball's really in your court on what you do want to answer and what you don't. So, well, I think it looks sad that I don't want to answer anything, but it's not because I'm trying to be difficult. I'm really hanging out on what he told me to do. Yeah. Here's your attorney. Um, um. Um. It's bothers an attorney. It's brothers an attorney. It's really local. Yeah. Is it local? It's the street where the town hall is. It's all the same name. The whole reason we're sitting here today is we just. There's a lot of questions we have that we just. Maybe misunderstandings that we just need to clarify. And. I know. And I'd love to tell you if you were here because I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen with what I say. You know? Okay. I watched. I'm a psychologist. I've watched people flip things all the time. So, I get it. And I sit on your side. I get it. I wish people didn't do that. They do. Well, if you're not willing to answer any of the questions about yourself, would you be willing to answer any questions? Maybe about Ruby or Kevin that you could help us understand? We just honestly want to understand what their dynamic is, what happened to the children, what caused their separation. And after talking to Kevin, it sounds like you know a lot about their dynamic and their relationship. So, if you could help us understand that at the least, that would be awesome. And that's nothing incriminating towards yourself because it's not pertaining to you. So, if you could help us understand that? Jody, we're going to do this. You ask for your turning, we'll leave it at that. Would you like to maybe talk to you later when you have your turn of your present? Absolutely. And we'll go back in a minute before on your Friday appointment here. Or that year before. He talked to the officer. Okay. He said, "Can we even make a time?" He said, "Out loud. Do not talk to them." Yeah. Okay. We'll all talk and see if we can skip to that. And maybe that's for something we just do with your turn. Okay. Do you have any questions for us when I can answer any time? No. Okay. No. Alright. Appreciate your time. We'll have to hang tight here. And then we'll come back and get you and we'll be on our way, okay? Once again, Ruby is far less cooperative than Jody. Do you want to talk to me about where you live or how many kids you have? So, we just spoke with your husband. And he said, "You guys have six kids." And those are all together. I can wait all day. So, it's up to you if you want to talk to us about what's going on. Would you feel more comfortable talking to one of us? Maybe when he's playing a step out for you all. Or if you feel more comfortable talking to him, I can step out. I'll wait till I have a lawyer. Okay? So, leave me and talk to us at all. Do you want to answer that? You don't want to talk to us about anything? So, we have this. This is just your chance to tell us. We're just trying to get your side of the story. So, it's your chance to do that. That's up to you. Appreciate your talk. And I'm not asking any criminal questions. If you don't want to talk to us, just let us know what we don't. I've already told you. You want a lawyer? Okay. Yes. Easy enough. Thank you. Is there anything else I can get you where we need to have? I got the wire going to be a bathroom breaker. Ruby Frankie and Jody Hildebrand are charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse each and booked into the purgatory correctional facility. A waiting trial both women are captured on Jill House recordings. Jody showing little remorse. I know this sounds crazy. I still can't put my finger on why it feels this way. But it feels like I was being set up to end up here. I know that sounds bizarro. I mean, I should be here. I haven't done anything wrong. Nobody wants the truth. Because these kids, you know, I told Doug, I woke up. The spirit told me. It's all the devil. I mean, you've seen him. I mean, I've known you for five years. You've watched him come at me. Come at me. Come at me. And you're exactly right because he knows I know what he's doing. And he uses these kids. And he uses all of us as the adults, the parents that don't hold the kids accountable. So now it's, it's abusive to make a kid sleep on the floor as abusive or it's abusive to, you know, this ridiculous, ridiculous. You can't even raise your kids anymore. Ruby's calls begin that way too. But the most upsetting thing is that I am completely misunderstood. That is the most horrible feeling, like my own family misunderstands me. They misinterpret me. And poor Jodie, they misinterpret her, they misunderstand her. She puts her neck out on the line for people and then they get mad at her. I mean, it is just horrendous. But over time, she changes her tune. And I can't say everything that I want to say, but I really did feel it. I really did feel like a rescue. Like a rescue. Like I just felt so many engines around. It was like a release. It was just really kind of surreal. Kind of strange. But I just think about, you know, President Wilson's topic. I don't think so, I'm sure. I know he said in the past, that that might not be thinking, you know. [inaudible] in a lot of context, you know, how small this place is and it's just so great for how many people, you know, the degree is not having, walking up and I just, I want to use this time, the way I know this is time to change, to repent, do what I can, but look at my family, on December 18th, 2023, Ruby Frankie reaches a plea deal with investigators, pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, as part of her deal, she agrees to testify against Jody Hildebrand, but that wouldn't be necessary. For just nine days later, Jody Hildebrand also pleads guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. On February 20th, 2024, both women appear in Washington County Court for their sentencing hearing, Ruby speaks out expressing true remorse for her actions. I would like to make a statement without any intent to change my stipulated sentence. For the past four years, I've chosen to follow council and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion, my distorted version of reality would largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me. I was led to believe that this world was an evil place filled with cops who control hospitals that injure government agencies that bring up church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who refuse to protect and children who need abused. My choice to believe and behave this paranoia culminated into criminal activity, for which I stand before you today ready to take accountability. Jody Hildebrand was never my business partner. Now as I am employed by her, I have never received wages from her or connections. Jody was employed as my son's counselor in 2019 and in 2020, I paid her to be my mentor. It is important to me to demonstrate my remorse and regret without blame. I take full accountability for my choices and it is my preference that I serve a prison sentence. Thank you to the officers in Santa Clara and the Ivan city police. Nick Hamlin, buying political, side pick of it, Mike Pandaria, in total, John Ward, dealers and chief flowers. You were the angels who came and saved my children. I especially want to thank Detective J bait. She popped me out of a situation I didn't know how to get out of. And the moment she handcuffed me was the moment I gained my freedom. You were not the controlling ones I was. Thank you to the medical staff at Inner Mountain Hospital, your skill, tenderness and professionalism helped heal my children. Jody and I inflicted the injuries, not the hospital. Thank you to DCFS, the children's justice center, George Basel and other key adults. You've gathered my children and your wing and offered them love, compassion, encouragement. You were not the ones who were doing the banwashing. Thank you to my Bishop Tom Hawkes and my state president, Jim Nelson. For reminding me of the world's love for the last, so much pain and suffering would have been avoided had I followed and heated your counsel. I was the one who was deceived, not you. I am humbled and willing to serve a prison sentence as long as it takes to continue and rally all of this information. I have believed in that, swallowed and act out, and for my family to heal and for the community to heal. And I understand this is going to take time. I'm committed to continuing my learning until all of my toxic layers are shed. And I am ready to reenter as a contributing member of our beautiful society. Thank you, George Walton. Jody also makes a statement that is backed up by her defense attorney. You will have. I sincerely love these children. I desire for them to heal physically and emotionally. One of the reasons I did not go to trial, so I did not want them to emotionally relive the experience which would have been detrimental to them. My hope and prayer is that they will heal and move forward to have beautiful lives. I am willing to submit to what the state feels would be an appropriate amount of time served to make the institution as an outcome. My experience with Ms. Hilda Brandt is that she is not the person that she has been portrayed to be. But having said that she has accepted responsibility in this case. She has entered into this plea agreement with a stipulated sentence of four consecutive sentences. She did that at the time she entered into the plea agreement knowing that that would be the court's order. She is before the court today knowing that that would be the court's order and she fully accepts that. She accepts responsibility and she accepts the consequences for her conduct. Both women are sentenced to one to fifteen years in prison for each count with a thirty year cap on their imprisonment. But it's Jodie who receives the more severe condemnation. Ms. Hilda Brandt, this circumstance is tragic. It's largely, of course, of your making. By any measure, your conduct in this case was disastrous for these children. Adults are supposed to protect children. Adults with specialized training in particular are supposed to protect children. You didn't do that in this case. In this case, you terrorize children and the results have been tragic. What happened to these children and your philosophy and dealing with them, frankly, seems detached from reality or any objective standard of decency or even common sense. And the court finds that it is appropriate that you serve a prison sentence. The court finds under the statute, Utah Code 76-3-401, the given the gravity and circumstances of the offenses, the number of victims and the history and character and needs of the defendant that consecutive sentences are appropriate. The court imposes four 1-15-year sentences to be again served consecutively for each of the four counts of aggravated child abuse. Right now, both women are serving out their sentences at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kevin Frankie filed for divorce in November 2023, just a month before Ruby reached her plea deal. The divorce was finalized in March of 2025, Kevin Frankie now has sole custody of the remaining minor children. The violent truth exposed all things to the bravery of a 12-year-old boy, broken free from literal shackles and exposing his abuse to the world. And that's where today's episode of Scandal leaves us. If you like what you saw and you want to see more or connect with me on social media, you can find me on places like Instagram @SierraGalessby. Thanks for watching today's episode of Scandal. As always, I'm your host CierraGalessby, and I'll see you next time.