Ruby Franke built an online empire by documenting life with her husband and six children. Through her hugely popular YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, millions of viewers watched the family navigate school runs, holidays and everyday parenting.
The channel even amassed more than two million subscribers – but behind the carefully curated videos was a different, and sinister, reality. Now, BBC Two is revisiting the case in The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke, exploring how one of YouTube’s biggest family vloggers ended up behind bars.
Franke, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, launched 8 Passengers in 2015 alongside her husband Kevin. The channel quickly became a success, but viewers increasingly questioned some of her parenting methods.
Clips showing harsh punishments, including one where her son Chad revealed he slept on a beanbag for months after losing the privilege of having a bedroom, and another where Franke said she hoped her daughter would go hungry for forgetting her lunch at school, prompted widespread criticism.
BBC
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Despite the backlash, Franke defended her approach and later shifted her focus to ConneXions – a parenting and relationships counselling business she ran with therapist Jodi Hildebrandt. Together, the pair promoted strict parenting techniques. But everything unravelled in August 2023.
Franke’s then-12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah, and knocked on a neighbour’s door with ducktape on his wrists and ankles to ask for food and water. Police were called immediately, and officers later discovered Franke’s 9-year-old daughter in a similarly malnourished condition inside the home.
Investigators alleged the children had endured prolonged abuse, including starvation, physical restraint and forced labour. Franke and Hildebrandt were also both arrested before pleading guilty to four counts of child abuse.
In February 2024, both women were sentenced to four consecutive prison terms of between four to 30 years. The time they spend in prison, under Utah law, is due to be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
Hulu/ Disney+//Disney+
Franke and Hildebrandt have been incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, where she is due for a parole hearing in December 2026.
During her sentencing, Franke apologised to her children and claimed she had been manipulated into believing abuse was a form of protection. Prosecutors, however, argued that the mistreatment had taken place over an extended period of time.
The case also tore the Franke family apart. Kevin Franke, who separated from Ruby prior to her arrest, filed for divorce in 2023. The divorce was finalised in March 2025, with Kevin later being granted full custody of the couple’s four youngest children.
Since then, he has publicly apologised and campaigned for stronger child protection laws. He has also remarried to a woman named Becca Bevan in November 2025.
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Meanwhile, the Frankes’ oldest daughter, Shari, has become one of the family’s most outspoken voices. In 2025, she published her memoir, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom, where she detailed her upbringing and accused her mother of presenting a carefully manufactured version of herself on her YouTube channel.
The couple’s eldest son, Chad, has been just as vocal about the abuse. Active on social media, he also appears in the documentary alongside Shari and Kevin. Since finding freedom, Chad also tied the knot in 2025 with his girlfriend Kam and has revealed that Ruby attempted to contact him from prison through letters – but their relationship remains under deep strain.
Elsewhere, the identities and whereabouts of the Frankes’ youngest children have been kept private to protect them. They have remained out of public view since leaving protective care, and are now living with their father, who keeps them away from social media.
The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke airs this Thursday (23 July) from 9pm on BBC2.