Shari Franke, the eldest daughter of YouTube family vlogger and convicted child abuser Ruby Franke, is opening up about a chilling incident involving one of her five siblings.
In the upcoming Hulu docuseries Devil In The Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke, premiering Thursday, Feb. 27, Shari, now 21, recalls when she helped her younger brother Chad Franke "clean blood off the walls" after he was "beat really bad."
“I did always feel bad when he got in trouble,” Shari says of Chad in the docuseries. “He'd get a bloody nose and I'd bring him toilet paper and didn't really know what to do."
Ruby and her husband Kevin Franke became famous for chronicling their life as a family of eight in Utah on their YouTube channel, 8 Passengers. However, in 2020, viewers began to express concern over the Mormon family’s strict parenting style.
In the series, Chad claims the abuse was hidden from viewers, recalling "times where she blew up off camera. She would spank, whip, take the belt out and whip my butt. Pull down my pants, whip me.”
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Initially, Ruby and Kevin rebuffed their critics, insisting that the concerning videos — which showed them taking away necessities as punishments — were taken out of context and that their six children were safe.
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In 2018, Ruby connected with Jodi Hildebrandt, a former sex therapist and founder of the religious social media network ConneXions. The two later started a podcast together, where they advocated for strict parenting styles. Soon after the pair met, Shari was disowned by Ruby, who also asked Kevin and Chad to move out of the house.
Over the years, Shari became incredibly concerned for the safety of her siblings who remained in the home. She even called child services, though no further action was taken after a welfare check.
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However, in August 2023, Ruby and Jodi were arrested and charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse. The arrests came after Shari’s malnourished 12-year-old brother asked a neighbor to call the police following his escape from Jodi's home in Ivins, Utah.
Kevin, who by then had separated from Ruby, was never charged with a crime.
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Shari recently opened up about the abuse she and her siblings faced in her new memoir The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom. Shari said Ruby’s punishments evolved into “grand gestures and prolonged periods of deprivation.”
Ruby and Jodi pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in late 2023, and the two women were handed down identical sentences in February 2024.
Though the length of their sentences hasn’t been decided by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole yet, both Ruby and Jodi will serve four to 30 years in prison.