Jodi Hildebrandt’s Niece Claims Arrested Podcaster Abused Them as Teen: 'This Is a Pattern'

As parenting podcasters Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke await their next hearing on their felony child abuse charges, family members are continuing to speak out about their past experience involving the Utah moms.

In a new interview on Monday with local KUTV2 News in Salt Lake City, Hildebrandt’s niece Jessi Hildebrandt, who uses they/them pronouns, claims their aunt, 54, was abusive while they were in her care as a teenager more than a decade ago.

“The things that I experienced while living with Jodi — I experienced being tied, I experienced being duct taped, I experienced being blindfolded, I experienced severe isolation, I experienced severe emotional, spiritual and psychological abuse,” claims Jessi, who is now an adult. “I experienced being told I shouldn't be around other people, being told that I was dangerous to be around. People were afraid of me to the point where I was afraid of myself.”

Jessi recalled that they were “isolated for up to 12 hours a day” and were once “forced to sleep outside in the snow” while under Jodi’s care. Jessi hasn’t spoken with their aunt in roughly 10 years since last seeing her at a family member’s wedding.

Jessi also alleged that Jodi “accused me of being a sex addict” and “of being addicted to masturbation” and that they decided to speak out about their experience after reading a report last week about Franke's claims of sex abuse within her family.

“I’ve never met Ruby … but the things that she is saying and regurgitating are very, very familiar to me,” Jessi says. “The philosophies and the therapeutic modalities that she is using are Jodi's and these are not new. This is a pattern.”

The two Mormon parenting advice podcasters were arrested late last month at Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah, after Franke’s youngest son ran to a neighbor’s house asking for help, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

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The neighbor’s emotional 911 call describes the 12-year-old boy as “emaciated” with visible wounds on his body. Officers from the Santa Clara Public Safety Department arrived and then found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter allegedly in “a similar physical condition of malnourishment” inside Hildebrandt’s home. The children were taken to the hospital. 

Child protective services then took them, plus two older siblings in their teens, into custody after police arrived at Franke’s home in Springville, Utah. The women made one brief appearance in court last week and have yet to enter pleas after each being charged with six felony counts of child abuse.

The women remain in custody without bail and are due back in court on Sept. 21, records show.

Franke first rose to prominence online as a family vlogger who documented her life with husband Kevin Franke and their six children on their “8Passengers” YouTube channel. 

The family stopped uploading videos to the account in 2022 after receiving backlash online about their parenting methods, and Franke soon announced she was joining Hildebrandt’s “ConneXions” podcasting page, which offered parenting advice and often fell under scrutiny for its aggressive teachings.

YouTube deleted both the "8Passengers" and "ConneXions" pages and banned both women from its platform following their arrests last month.

Jessi tells KUTV2 News that they went to the police when they were 16, but said "no one believed me.” 

A number of Franke’s family members and neighbors have offered similar accounts in recent days, claiming they too attempted to warn authorities about “red flags” and potentially abusive behavior.

"Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” Franke’s oldest daughter Shari, 20, wrote on Instagram after her mother’s arrest. “We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up."

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.