- 2 mesi fa
Categoria
📚
ApprendimentoTrascrizione
00:00The lives of family lifestyle influencers Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke
00:27imploded on August 30th, 2023, when one of Ruby's six children was discovered weak and hurt.
00:35The other five had not been accounted for at this time, and law enforcement wasted no time
00:40in launching a full investigation. As the police delved into the twisted dynamic that had grown
00:45between the two women, they never could have anticipated the depths of the depravity the
00:50children were subjected to or the mind-boggling justifications offered by the perpetrators.
00:55I just want my kids back. I want my family back.
01:00Adults have a really hard time understanding that children can be full of evil and what that takes
01:05to fight it. The following report is based on police records. When Dan Clarkson answered his
01:10doorbell at 1046 a.m. on August 30th, 2023, he never could have expected his actions would kickstart a
01:17nationally publicized police investigation. However, as soon as he laid eyes on the young boy outside,
01:23he immediately knew something was very, very wrong. His ring camera captured the heartbreaking
01:29conversation that ensued.
01:31Yes?
01:33Hi, how was this? Wondering if you could do two favors?
01:36Well, what are they?
01:38Uh, taking me to the nearest police station. Well, actually, just one's fine. What's going on, Sam?
01:51This was actually the second neighbor the boy had attempted to contact.
02:14At the first house, there was no answer, so he'd been forced to move on.
02:18The disturbing reason he was seeking help came out when Dan made this emotional call to 911.
02:24I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help.
02:29Says he had just came from a neighbor's house. He's hungry and he's thirsty.
02:34While Dan was on the phone with 911, his wife gave the boy, who introduced himself as Russell,
02:40snacks to eat while waiting for help to arrive.
02:42But, shockingly, there was something more appalling about the boy's condition than his extreme malnutrition.
02:48He has duct tape around each injury.
02:51There's sores around him.
02:53Yeah, there's sores around him. I think there's a good chance he's been...
02:57He also has...
02:58Oh, and he has been around his wrist as well.
03:00He has wrist as well. Okay, this boy has been...
03:03He needs immediate attention.
03:05And yet, the most heartbreaking revelations were yet to come.
03:08Okay, this boy has been...
03:11He needs...
03:13This kid has obviously been...
03:19I think he's been...
03:21He's been detained. He's been...
03:25He's obviously covered in wounds.
03:27He says he...
03:29What's happened to him is his fault.
03:31We need the police here now.
03:33The police and an ambulance were already on the way.
03:36During the tense waiting period, Russell revealed that he'd been staying with his mother and her friend, Jody Hildebrandt, since May.
03:44Terrifyingly, he added that he wasn't the only child in Jody's house.
03:48His two sisters, ages 9 and 14, were still inside.
04:00As Russell underwent medical assessment, more police officers arrived.
04:05We need to identify that house.
04:07If there's two other kids there, we need to go do a security sweep at that house.
04:11They were about to realize that they'd gotten there in the nick of time.
04:15As the police staged in Dan's driveway, a woman drove up in her car and announced that she was searching for a 12-year-old boy.
04:21She gave her name as none other than Jody Hildebrandt, the woman Russell said his family had been staying with.
04:28Cleverly, the police didn't tell Jody how much they already knew.
04:32They just took down her address and said they would come to speak with her shortly.
04:36She didn't have to wait long.
04:37Ring, ring, ring, ring.
04:53Come on, let's go.
04:54Police Officers, open up!
05:17Don't move my head right there.
05:19Contact.
05:21Don't move my head.
05:22Open the door!
05:24Jody, I need you to step out.
05:31I have, I have my turn.
05:33That's great.
05:33Step out of the house.
05:34No, I'm not going to step out of the house.
05:35Step out of the house.
05:36Step out of the house.
05:37Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
05:38We're just going to step out.
05:39Is there any other phone?
05:40Wait a minute.
05:40How do you come to my house?
05:42It's right there.
05:43They're going into my house.
05:44Do you have a search warrant?
05:45We'll explain it after this.
05:48You can't just come into my house without a search warrant.
05:50Jody was mistaken about the need for a warrant to enter the home,
05:53because the police already had probable cause due to a 911 call that the neighbors had placed
05:58after Russell showed up at their door.
06:00There was a clear emergent need to enter and a warrant wasn't necessary.
06:05The police must account for the welfare of the other two children.
06:08They certainly had their work cut out for them, though, because the house was massive.
06:14During the search, the police found one room that appeared to be set up for filming.
06:18This, they would learn, was because Jody and Ruby both had a significant online presence.
06:23More details would emerge throughout the investigation,
06:26revealing the dark side of these social media influencers.
06:29To ensure that they left no corner unchecked,
06:32the investigators retrieved the blueprints of the house.
06:35This turned out to be a brilliant idea,
06:37as the schematics revealed something that might have been overlooked otherwise.
06:42Outside, Jody did not appear to be shy about expressing her displeasure at the intrusion.
06:46I have Airbnb guests over there.
06:49Probably scared me to death.
06:50Okay.
06:51Is there anybody else in the house?
06:52Yes.
06:53Two kids?
06:54There's a little girl.
06:55Just one?
06:56She's right over here.
06:57Okay.
06:57The Airbnb guests were the least of the police's worries right now.
07:01Following Jody's instructions,
07:03they made their way down the hall to a bathroom with a large closet.
07:07What they found inside was devastating.
07:10Hi, I'm a police officer.
07:12Are you going to go to Union here?
07:13Hey, you okay?
07:16Is this just you in here?
07:19I'm Sergeant Tobler.
07:21What's your name?
07:23I just have one.
07:25I'm here.
07:25Where's your sister at?
07:28Contact Mark.
07:29You okay?
07:31Huh?
07:33You doing okay?
07:35You don't want to talk to me?
07:38Yeah?
07:38That's okay.
07:39Can you come with me, though?
07:41We got Jody out here.
07:42You know Jody?
07:43According to the information Jody gave, this was Russell's nine-year-old sister, Eve.
07:48We want to be best buddies, but we're getting a little mad here because he won't give me his
07:57shoes.
07:58Guess what?
07:59I learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels.
08:03Come here.
08:03I'll show you.
08:04Despite the officer's gentle approach, she sat eerily still and quiet, hardly giving a sign that
08:11she could even hear him.
08:12You take your time, bud.
08:14I'm in no hurry.
08:15Police department, call out.
08:16I'm a police officer.
08:17Did you know that?
08:18Police department, call out.
08:19I don't mean to hurt you at all.
08:23I'm here.
08:25You doing okay?
08:27Are you scared?
08:28Police department, call out.
08:30Yeah?
08:30You're okay.
08:35Do you need help?
08:37I'm not going to hurt you.
08:39Promise.
08:41See this right here?
08:43It's a badge.
08:45It tells me I don't hurt people.
08:48I'm just here to make sure you're okay.
08:50And I get it if you're scared.
08:51I would be too.
08:56Okay?
08:59You want to come with me?
09:00Still, Eve didn't respond.
09:03They hatched a new plan to win her over with pizza.
09:06While they waited for the food to arrive, the officers kept her company with the utmost
09:10patience, refusing to rush her out of the closet until she made the choice to leave.
09:15I'm just going to sit down.
09:23It's okay if I just sit here with you.
09:25We don't have to say anything.
09:26If you don't want to.
09:28I'm just going to sit here with you.
09:38Meanwhile, back with Russell, the EMTs got a close-up look at the duct tape and wounds
09:43around his ankles.
09:45What they found was almost unspeakably gruesome.
09:48But even this was overshadowed by what Russell said next.
09:51In between bites of the snacks from the neighbors, he told the police officer documenting his
09:56injuries additional details, which made the situation all the more sickening.
10:01You're not in trouble with me, okay?
10:03We're just trying to figure out what's going on.
10:05Our main focus right now is you, okay?
10:09Who put the ropes on you?
10:11What's to help you what?
10:12The police report revealed the chilling answers that were redacted in the body cam footage.
10:18Russell said that Jody and his mother, Ruby Frankie, had restrained him with ropes to help
10:22him with what he'd been choosing.
10:24How the women had chosen to treat the resulting wounds left EMTs puzzled.
10:29The officer who spoke with Russell repeated the distressing details to his supervisor on the phone.
10:34They put cayenne pepper mixed with honey and then covered that with the plastic saran wrap
10:42and then the duct tape over the wounds.
10:45Detectives had found evidence of the honey and cayenne mixture in the upstairs bathroom,
10:50along with more ropes, used bandages, and other wound dressings.
10:54When the medical got there, they started cutting the stuff off him.
10:58And then you can see, like, the dark around his ankles.
11:03You could smell it.
11:04When they went to go peel it, they thought it was some of the dressing.
11:10It was actually his skin that was peeling.
11:12Obviously, the police wanted to talk to Russell's mother to understand what could possess someone
11:16to treat a child in such a manner.
11:18As of yet, though, Ruby Frankie, along with Russell's older sister, were still unaccounted for.
11:24Jody certainly wasn't sharing where Ruby was,
11:27as her behavior became increasingly strange as the house search continued.
11:31When this officer seemed unreceptive to her stare, she tried a different target.
11:38Are you waiting for me to say something or...
11:42Okay.
11:43Inside, the search went on for more children, especially Julie,
11:47the older sister Russell said was at Jody's house.
11:50There was no sign of her yet,
11:52so the police decided it was time to confront Jody about what they'd found when referencing the blueprints.
11:57A safe room in the basement, locked with a vault door.
12:01I have a question for you.
12:03Yeah.
12:03You have a room downstairs that has a safe wheel on the front.
12:06How do we get access to that to ensure that there's no one else in this home?
12:13Adam?
12:13They do need to search that there's nobody else,
12:20so I think you can give them access to make sure there's nobody in there.
12:23After further back and forth to get the lock combination from Jody,
12:27a team returned to the basement to open the safe.
12:30Upstairs, additional officers were still trying to gain the trust of the little girl in the bathroom closet.
12:35I found dead skin.
12:37She found dead skin.
12:39Dead skin.
12:39Get out from underneath my bed.
12:42Right now.
12:43Sorry, Mom.
12:44I am more upset that you came in my room when you knew you weren't supposed to.
12:49You knew that it was a bad idea.
12:51Yeah.
12:51You're still going to have the consequence of not having your nails done for a month.
12:56Um, Mom.
12:56It's a deal.
12:57Give me a hug.
12:58Yeah, Mom.
12:58Can I help you two to get paid?
13:02Because I want a lot of money.
13:04Yeah.
13:06They likely hoped that the arrival of the pizza would change things in their favor,
13:11but they were in for yet another surprise.
13:13I'll put the syrup on your food.
13:16You can eat.
13:16Yeah.
13:17There it goes.
13:20Despite how painfully thin she appeared,
13:23Eve didn't go for the food right away.
13:28Eve proceeded to eat the entire pizza and requested two more large slices from the lunch that the
13:54police had.
13:55As Eve ate, the plan was to focus on opening the safe,
13:59but suddenly a new priority emerged.
14:01With no warning, Ruby Frankie, Russell and Eve's mother, arrived on scene.
14:06After determining that she had no weapons on her,
14:09she was taken to a separate area of the house to wait out the search.
14:13The police would check in with Ruby once they finished going through the house.
14:16The only place left to look was the basement safe room.
14:20When they opened the door, though, they were likely crushed.
14:23Julie was not inside.
14:24At first glance, the room looked to be nothing more than a barren bolt hole reserved for emergencies.
14:30When they started opening drawers, though, they turned up some stomach-churning evidence.
14:35Handcuffs, a length of rope, and a carabiner.
14:38Based on the condition of Russell and Eve, the police received an official search warrant
14:42that enabled them to collect these items, along with many of the electronics, as evidence.
14:47But even after being in the house for hours, there was still no sign of Julie or the other Frankie siblings.
14:53The only certain thing was what should happen with Jody and Ruby.
14:57They were both placed under arrest for aggravated child abuse.
15:01Okay, just place your hand on your back for me.
15:03Perfect.
15:05During the arrest process, the officers likely noticed some strange behavior from Ruby.
15:10She didn't say a single word, even when put in the back of a police car with Jody.
15:14The police had to hope she would be more verbose when the time came to ask her how Russell
15:18and Eve had gotten in such miserable conditions.
15:22Okay, go ahead and have a seat.
15:23While Jody was at least responding to direct questions, whether she would respond to the hard ones
15:42police had in store was yet to be seen.
15:45I'm a little nervous.
15:47You know, to be honest with you, if I was sitting over there, I'd be a little nervous too.
15:51So don't worry about it.
15:53We're just here to talk, to get to your side.
15:56So I trust my attorney.
15:58He said, don't say anything.
16:00And I said, I have nothing to hide.
16:01And he's like, I know that, but just let me be there with you when you talk.
16:05So you guys seem nice people.
16:08I'd like to just tell you, but I don't know who you are.
16:11I don't know if you're going to flip my word.
16:12I'm a psychologist.
16:13I've watched people flip things all the time.
16:17So I get it.
16:18I sit on your side.
16:21I get it.
16:21It looks sad that I don't want to answer anything, but it's not because I'm trying to be difficult.
16:27Even though Jody refused to talk without a lawyer, trying to get information from Ruby was astronomically more difficult.
16:34We're just here to talk to you about kind of a few things involving your kids.
16:39So first, do you live down here, or do you live up north?
16:49Do you want to talk to me about where you live, or how many kids you have?
17:06You don't want to talk to us about anything?
17:08So, yeah, this is just your chance to tell us.
17:13We're just trying to get your side of the story.
17:16So it's your chance to do that.
17:19But it's up to you.
17:22I'll wait until I have a lawyer.
17:24Okay?
17:25So you might not just settle.
17:27There was hardly any doubt that the two women had done horrible things to Ruby's children.
17:35But with both women unwilling to talk, the police still had no idea why.
17:41Answers, though, were closer than anyone thought.
17:43When the detectives first got to the police station, they found a surprise visitor waiting.
17:48Ruby's husband, Kevin Frankie, was there, and he wanted to pick up his kids.
17:53With so many burning questions pertaining to the Frankie family, Kevin was detained and
17:58taken to a third interrogation room, where he was read his rights.
18:02How did you find out that you needed to come here to the street?
18:07I received a message that I needed to come pick up my kids from a police department in Highlands.
18:14And who was that message from?
18:16Well, I prefer not to say it right now.
18:18Does it make sense that that would happen?
18:20I'm just not aware of anyone who did that from our department.
18:23Right.
18:24And I'm not comfortable saying right now who reached out to me.
18:28Okay.
18:29Was that Jody?
18:32No, I'm not going to answer that question.
18:34Kevin was keeping quite closed-lipped.
18:37However, it wasn't all bad news.
18:39Back at Jody's house, Eve finally seemed to be warming up to law enforcement.
18:43You don't want to talk?
18:46Okay.
18:48There's nothing at all you want to talk about at all?
18:50It's okay to talk to me.
18:58Are you scared?
18:59It took a total of four hours before Eve was willing to leave the closet with medical personnel.
19:28When examining her in the ambulance, EMTs discovered that she had wounds on her feet
19:33and decided that she and Russell both needed to go to the hospital.
19:37Thankfully, as Kevin's conversation with police continued, he was willing to provide some crucial context.
19:43And how many kids do you have, Kevin?
19:45I have six kids.
19:46So are they all living with you or...?
19:49No.
19:50I haven't seen them for over a year.
19:52Any of them?
19:54No.
19:55None of them.
19:56For a year?
19:57Over a year.
19:58Okay.
19:58I've been in a separation from my wife and family.
20:05Ruby invited me to leave the home while I thought about the choices that I've made in my life and the way that I've treated her.
20:19And did you ever try to reach out to the kids, drop by the home, or...?
20:24No.
20:25Was they...
20:25I honored the separation boundary that we agreed to.
20:29When was the last time you saw her leave?
20:32The last time I saw her...
20:34Yeah.
20:35Was the 18th of this month.
20:42We met to...
20:43She requested me to sign over vehicles, or the titles to the vehicles, the vehicle that she drives, that were all in my name.
20:55When's the last time you physically saw Russell or Eve?
20:57The day that I moved out, July 24th of 2022, my job is to financially provide for those kids.
21:09I was trying to figure out, how much of a role do you play in the caretaking of, specifically, of those two kids?
21:20I pay the bills.
21:23Okay.
21:23With my job, I provide the money, goes into a shared bank account, and that's my only involvement.
21:31As the conversation went on, Kevin seemed to be just as in the dark as the investigators.
21:36Who lives in that home with your...
21:38Is it ex-wife?
21:40Is it currently a separated wife?
21:42Like, who lives in that home with your children?
21:45To be honest, I don't know.
21:47I know that she's there with four of the children, and our two older children have moved out.
21:59This likely came as a shock to investigators.
22:02If there were four Frankie children still living at home, that meant they weren't just missing Julie, but another one of Russell's teenage sisters, Abby.
22:10Before launching into a frantic search, the detectives decided to finish talking to Kevin, hoping he could give them an idea of where to look for the girls.
22:19As the conversation went on, though, Kevin's story only got stranger.
22:23Who's this female Jodi that your wife looks at?
22:27Do you know a female named Jodi?
22:29She is a therapist and a life coach, I know.
22:36Do you respect her?
22:39Do I respect her?
22:41Yeah, I think she's a very honest, truthful person, yes.
22:45Okay.
22:46Is your wife a partner of hers?
22:48Is your wife a roommate with her?
22:51Your kids are living in her house, is what I'm trying to say.
22:54I'm not aware of that, but I know that they've been in business for the last year filming, so every week a podcast goes up and I listen to it.
23:07What's the name of it?
23:10Connections with an X.
23:12This would explain the film set discovered in Jodi's house.
23:16As it turned out, Jodi and Ruby both had a significant following on Instagram and YouTube.
23:20Jodi was a therapist, and her accounts focused on counseling and family dynamics in alignment with the Church of Latter-day Saints, of which she and Ruby were both members.
23:30She called her program Connections and had written several books sharing her methods, and even taught online Zoom classes on the topics of family health and harmony.
23:39Ruby, meanwhile, created more slice-of-life content, cataloging daily life with her family as members of the Mormon faith.
23:46Her main platform was a YouTube account titled 8 Passengers, supplemented with an Instagram under the same name.
23:53In due time, the police would learn that the content made by Ruby and Jodi had become unimaginably twisted behind the scenes.
24:01Are you involved with their business efforts, sir?
24:03No.
24:04And were you involved in the 8 Passengers account with your family?
24:09Um, yes.
24:11I was in the videos.
24:12Recently, Ruby's online presence had undergone a shift.
24:17She rebranded to Truth Mom, but began focusing less on her own channel in favor of working with Jodi on Connections.
24:24You guys got a lot of heat for neglect and child abuse.
24:27A lot of people commented those things on there.
24:30Why were they commenting those things?
24:34That's a good question.
24:35Um, we, uh, we had a son who was acting out in very selfish behavior.
24:49Was this Chad?
24:50Yes, this was Chad.
24:51And, you know, none of this is strange or odd.
24:54You can get on YouTube and find out all sorts of stuff from this.
24:58Eventually, Ruby stopped posting on her private YouTube account altogether, which Kevin said eliminated 90% of the family's income.
25:06Her last video on Jodi's channel, though, had come out just two days ago.
25:11In the interrogation room, Kevin shared more about the situation which led to public outcry against the Frankies.
25:17He was being, um, very cruel and mean to his sibling that he shared a room with.
25:27And so we removed him from the room.
25:31And we said, you can sleep anywhere you want.
25:34Sleep on the couch, sleep on the pull-out bed, sleep on the floor for all we care, but you're not sleeping in that room with your brother.
25:42He chose to sleep on a beanbag.
25:44So, nine months later, he had made a lot of changes in his life.
25:52And he was ready to, and we had moved by that time.
25:56And so we had a new house.
25:59And he was ready to move into his own bedroom.
26:02Made a video about it.
26:04And in the video, he mentioned something of the effect of, I've been sleeping for nine months on a beanbag.
26:11And that is what all the uproar was about.
26:16This wasn't Ruby's only run-in with the law.
26:20Shockingly, just five days before her arrest, she'd been pulled over while driving with her kids in the car.
26:26Hello.
26:28You know how fast you're going right there?
26:29No.
26:30Okay.
26:31Got you going 57.
26:32You know, 35.
26:33Ruby was sent on her way with only a speeding ticket.
26:37Back with Kevin, he explained that the situation with his oldest son, Chad, was the catalyst for Jody getting involved with the family.
26:44She was hired as Chad's therapist and had the boy personally paying her $900 a month.
26:50From there, her involvement with the family only grew.
26:53How this could have led to the breakup of the family and the near starvation of two of the children was yet to be explored.
26:59During your marriage, how was, how was disciplining your kids?
27:04How would you discipline your kids?
27:08Um, yeah, I'm not going to answer that question.
27:12Are you aware of the physical condition of your children?
27:16No.
27:19No.
27:20I'm, I've chosen to trust my wife with the children.
27:25That was part of the agreement of our separation.
27:28Kevin was about to learn the harrowing consequences this decision has caused.
27:32We received, uh, a phone call from 911 on our dispatch that, uh, a 12 to 13-year-old boy was knocking on doors in the neighborhood asking for food and water.
27:49So he had,
27:50I'm sorry, what?
27:51He had duct tape on his extremities, on his hands, on his ankles, and those were covering rope births that were used to tie him down.
28:05Take a second and think about what I've just said.
28:11That's the condition of your son.
28:13Given that information, your son was taken to the hospital.
28:24A warrant has been applied and granted by the Department of Child and Family Services to remove both Russell and Eve from your wife's care.
28:36Do you understand that?
28:38I understand.
28:39Do you, would you condone that behavior?
28:43That's my job.
28:49My job is to find out your knowledge of the treatment of these, these precious children.
28:54No.
28:55Again, I don't know the details or I don't know what's going on.
28:59But as you described that, that sounds...
29:03Horrible, horrible.
29:05Disgusting.
29:06No human being should be treated like that.
29:09I, yeah.
29:10The investigators stepped out to give Kevin a few private moments to come to terms with what he'd just learned.
29:16When the investigative team returned 10 minutes later, Kevin took the opportunity to ask a burning question.
29:22What's going to happen with my wife?
29:25I love my wife.
29:25I don't know.
29:29I'm being honest with you.
29:30I don't know.
29:32I haven't had any of you with me.
29:33I don't know if I've charged this against my wife.
29:35Possibly.
29:41I think given the circumstances, that's highly appropriate.
29:44That night, the police decided that Ruby would be booked into jail to await her attorney.
29:50Even this, though, failed to get a reaction from her.
29:54Chase, you want to let me know what your criminal charge is for so you're under arrest?
29:58It's going to be two counts.
30:00Second degree felony of child abuse or neglect.
30:03Do you understand that or no?
30:10Are you okay?
30:12I'm wondering if there's like a medical clearance that needs to, like, do you need medical attention before you go to the jail?
30:19Okay.
30:20Have you ever been arrested before?
30:21I'm just concerned about you.
30:32I know you don't believe that.
30:34I've had an opportunity to talk to your husband and kind of worried about your circumstances and obviously your children as well.
30:48You're sure you don't need medical attention or anything like that?
30:51Jody, too, was escorted to a police car to be transported to jail, facing the same charges.
31:06Still inside the police station, Kevin learns more from the investigators about the children.
31:11And so, I mean, this feels like getting run over by a steam truck while you're sharing it with me today.
31:17Yeah.
31:18I can tell you're caught off guard.
31:19I thought I was just coming here to pick up my kids.
31:23And for what?
31:23I don't know what or why, but.
31:29And I was finally taking it back with me.
31:32Everything you're sharing to me just sounds like a made-up story.
31:36Like, I have no idea what you're talking about.
31:43Like, it's just, it sounds like a horror movie.
31:51And what you're sharing with me just feels like a sucker punch.
32:05I feel responsible.
32:07Separating, leaving.
32:09It hurts.
32:10I know you're all doing your jobs.
32:12And I know you all have the best interests of my kids, don't I?
32:16I just want my kids back.
32:29I want my family back.
32:30I want my wife back.
32:32It was doubtful either Ruby or Jody would be getting out of jail anytime soon.
32:37Jody grappled with this through the lens of religion while speaking with a friend she called from the county jail.
32:42And I don't know if I'm going to be, like, some kind of example, but when I get out of here, I have a story to tell.
32:48And I am going to try to do everything I can to protect the children because that's what's happening is that kids are being just horribly abused.
32:57But I have just been begging him, like, you've got to explain this to me.
33:02Like, I cannot logically figure out what's going on here.
33:05I mean, I should be here.
33:06I haven't done anything wrong.
33:07Ruby, too, made some equally baffling claims during her jailhouse phone calls.
33:12But the most upsetting thing is that I am completely misunderstood.
33:18That is the most horrible feeling.
33:20Like, my own family misunderstands me.
33:22They misinterpret me.
33:24And poor Jody, they misinterpret her.
33:27They misunderstand her.
33:28She puts her neck out on the line for people and then they get mad at her.
33:32I mean, it is just horrendous.
33:34It's horrendous.
33:35And you know what?
33:37Every Joseph Smith, every wonderful man of God has had to be misunderstood.
33:45And I'm a good woman.
33:47I don't do naughty things.
33:49This is the witch hunt.
33:50It wasn't all dark and twisted news, though.
33:53In a stroke of luck, the police located Julie and Abby.
33:57Shockingly, they were nowhere near the family home in Springville.
34:00Rather, they were located more than 20 miles away at a house belonging to Ruby's friend
34:05and fellow Connections member, Pam.
34:08How she'd gotten there, though, remained in question.
34:11Pam was handcuffed when the police arrived and agreed to answer some questions while waiting
34:15for additional investigators to arrive.
34:18While one officer sat with her, the other took the opportunity to check in with Julie.
34:22Do you need medical attention at all?
34:28Okay.
34:30Is there a reason you're so scared right now?
34:35It's us?
34:37Okay.
34:39Well, I'm sorry if you've had a negative interaction with law enforcement in the past, okay?
34:44My intention is not to scare you.
34:46Do you go to school?
34:52Down the driveway, Pam was unhandcuffed when investigators arrived from Springville.
34:57She told them that she'd received a call from Ruby asking her to pick up two of her daughters
35:01while she dealt with a family emergency.
35:03Up until this point, the officers were under the impression that it was only Julie at the house,
35:08but Pam clarified that her older sister, Abby, was also there.
35:12Thankfully, neither she nor Julie appeared to be in physical distress like Russell or Eve.
35:18Julie and Abby appeared hesitant to go with DCFS representatives when they arrived,
35:23but were safely taken into custody to await the outcome of the investigation.
35:27The uncertainty over Abby and Julie's whereabouts had been answered,
35:30but so many questions remained.
35:33First and foremost, the quandary of what could have happened to leave Russell and Eve so frail and traumatized.
35:38Kevin returned to the police station with his lawyer for a second interview.
35:43The additional details he was about to share were nothing short of astonishing.
35:48Have you found the pen papers?
35:52The pen papers?
35:53So it described all of the visions and trances and everything that Jody and Ruby went into.
36:03How thick would you say it was?
36:04It was like three inches thick or so, and there were hundreds of pages of written documents.
36:12It's something Jody would not want found.
36:14Yeah.
36:16But she wouldn't want to destroy it.
36:17Because we do have Ruby's journal, which is from those dates that you mentioned.
36:22These things are going to be so...
36:26The stuff she wrote in the pen paper, she would not write in her journal.
36:30The stuff she wrote in the pen papers was not intended to be read by anybody
36:35until God would decree them to be written as scripture for the whole world to read.
36:41Okay.
36:42I believe that's what we have.
36:45It wasn't certain whether the documents found by the police were actually Ruby's pen papers
36:50or just a journal.
36:52Regardless of what they were called, the contents revealed a wealth of heinous secrets.
36:57On July 10th, 2022, Ruby wrote,
37:00Even Russell have been in so much deviant behavior, they won't control their bodily functions.
37:05I never would have suspected the cold, dead heart Russell has.
37:09Ruby echoed these sentiments in one of the phone calls she made from jail.
37:13Adults have a really hard time understanding that children can be full of evil
37:17and what that takes to fight it.
37:20According to the journal, Russell and Eve were locked in closets,
37:23made to do physical labor, wall sits, jump on a trampoline, stand out in the rain,
37:28and carry heavy boxes up and down the stairs for hours on end.
37:32When Eve slipped and fell while carrying the boxes,
37:35Ruby accused her of doing so on purpose and then shaved her head as punishment.
37:40And this was just brushing the surface of what the children endured.
37:44I've never had a kid quite like Eve, but she does not like to sit and listen.
37:51I don't know if that's just her personality and she just needs me
37:54to be more strict with her than what was required with some of the other kids,
38:00or if she is displaying hyperactivity tendencies.
38:03So I'm going to try to figure that out today.
38:06I honestly don't know which way it's going to go.
38:08She knows that I mean it and I'm going to carry through with it.
38:10If she absolutely is not capable, then I'm going to maybe take further measures
38:16to figure out if there's hyperactivity tendencies going on.
38:21Or if she stays and she's really good and she listens,
38:24then it probably just means she needs a little bit more of a strict routine with her.
38:29According to Kevin, the fight against so-called evil had not originated with the children.
38:34In fact, the downward spiral had begun more than a year prior under some very strange circumstances.
38:40We went out to like a dinner afterwards.
38:43And that's where Jodi really opened up to the women in a private conversation
38:50that she believed she was being tormented and haunted by shadow figures every night.
38:58And that was spooky.
39:02Ruby also revealed that Russell and Eve still sometimes failed to control their bodily functions.
39:07She presented this as a method by which they defied her.
39:10Back with Kevin, he alleged that Jodi's experiences had rapidly grown more intense.
39:15She was walking along the beach with Jesus and Jesus challenged her to ghosted walk on the water.
39:25And it was a whole lesson on walking on the water.
39:28And that was still just the tip of the iceberg.
39:31The more investigators read of Ruby's journal, the more depraved the story became.
39:36Tuesday, big day for evil, she wrote on July 11th.
39:41All night, Eve screamed and cried and hit her head on the tile floor.
39:45Today, Jodi confronted her.
39:47Eve admits to putting on a show for her mother.
39:50Eve said she wants to be pitiful.
39:52When the investigators read on and learned what torment Eve had endured to reach this level of desperation,
39:58they likely didn't know whether to be enraged or heartbroken.
40:01Jodi mentioned her experiences with what she called the spirit in one of her jail phone calls.
40:07When I feel the spirit, I have two physiological reactions.
40:10I get really, like, shaky, like I'm shivering, like I'm cold.
40:15Or I feel heat, like I have a fever run through me.
40:19It felt like I was burning up.
40:21And I was just shaking with gratitude.
40:24Like, here's your answer.
40:27Here's what this is.
40:27Back with Kevin, he revealed that while Jodi's alleged visions had initially seemed positive,
40:33things quickly took a much darker turn, and things changed inside the house.
40:38There was a lot of satanic ones.
40:40When she would go into possession mode, she would talk in, like, different voices.
40:46It was really creepy.
40:47But the voices would say, she's ours, we're not letting go.
40:52She is Satan's bride.
40:55She's mine.
40:56I'm going to marry her.
40:58If she was faking it, she believed that Satan wanted her as her bride.
41:04The journal revealed that Eve experienced horrific punishments.
41:07This is the day Eve anticipates breaking her two-day fast, Ruby wrote.
41:12I let Russell know she has hardened her heart and will do one more day of fasting to invite her to humble.
41:18Eve flips out and begins ranting.
41:21All day, Eve makes rhymes about, my mom starves me and calls it fasting.
41:25In his second interview, Kevin continued his description of what it was like to live with Jodi.
41:30I can't explain some of the stuff that happened while we were there.
41:35Like, crashes in the basement while we were talking upstairs.
41:42And plates, like, in the kitchen just flying off by themselves, like, full speed smashing on the wall and falling to the floor.
41:52And I don't have any way to explain it other than there's some crazy s*** going on.
41:57On other occasions, Eve was doused with water in the dog wash and made to sleep on the basement floor.
42:04And it only got worse going forward.
42:07Kevin, too, said that back in 2021, the situation with Jodi took a similar downward trajectory as she became increasingly entwined with his family.
42:16But it reached the point where in August, her bishop at the time, he's not her bishop anymore, but, I mean, he was going over there.
42:25Every night, and he'd be there for, like, four hours, and he'd be like, yeah, I'm fighting evil spirits, I'm casting demons out, I'm doing crazy stuff going on.
42:38And finally, he got to the point where he's like, I can't do this anymore.
42:41Like, there needs to be some sort of resolution.
42:44After the bishop left, the first attempted fix was for Jodi to move in with another family involved with connections.
42:51The opinions Kevin shared about what happened with that family reflect only his beliefs, and we have not been able to verify them.
42:58According to the h***s, after six weeks in trying to seduce the husband of the family, they kicked her out.
43:04While there was no way to prove that Jodi had been held against her will, the police knew for a fact that Russell and Eve had been.
43:12Ruby documented one particularly horrific confrontation between Russell and Jodi, whom she refers to frequently as G-Jo.
43:20G-Jo takes Russell on a little walk to the pool, Ruby wrote.
43:24She talks on how Russell has love twisted.
43:27G-Jo then pushed Russell into the pool.
43:29Meanwhile, Kevin recounted the events after Jodi either escaped or was kicked out of the other family's home.
43:35It was at that point that they said, why don't you take her up to your house?
43:39And I was like, hell no.
43:41I don't want this in my house.
43:43But I was beaten over the head with it.
43:47Like, that's really insensitive.
43:49You know, she's done so much to help our family.
43:51And you're being selfish.
43:56And she has needs.
43:58And come on.
43:59Like, it won't be for long.
44:01And so I relented.
44:02And I was like, okay.
44:04Later in his second interview, Kevin told the police about the drastic changes that took place in the Frankie house after Jodi moved in.
44:11The moment she showed up in my house, just the weirdest crap started happening.
44:16Lights turning on and off.
44:18Sounds of people walking in walls.
44:21Sounds like footprints going up walls and across the ceiling.
44:26Stuff floating around.
44:28And I became the resident exorcist.
44:32That was the title I came up with myself.
44:35I thought it was kind of funny.
44:36Whenever she started to, like, go into a trance and go into possession, which started to be a lot.
44:43And Ruby would go up and check on her.
44:46It started, like, every four hours at night.
44:48And then it moved every two hours at night.
44:50Then it moved every hour at night.
44:52And then at some point, Ruby said, you know what?
44:55I'm just going to start sleeping in there.
44:57And if I need you, I'll come down and get you.
45:00Kevin said that Ruby and Jodi began sleeping in the same bed.
45:03However, this was only the beginning.
45:06And soon, Kevin noticed that he was being subjected to unique restrictions.
45:10I could leave when I wanted, but I couldn't come back until Ruby gave me permission.
45:15I couldn't come into the kitchen to eat until Ruby gave me permission.
45:19And the upstairs where Jodi roamed was completely off limits.
45:23Ruby would dictate all of the terms of how our interactions would be when we would talk.
45:28Because no matter what I did, no matter how, like, much I tried to track better, be, you know, truthful, and not be selfish,
45:41every week it was like, you're being manipulative, you're being selfish, you're lying, you're hiding something, you're still hiding stuff.
45:49And I really started to, like, question my sanity, honestly.
45:55It became more and more and more and more and more and more isolating.
45:59Jodi had an approved list of men that I could make phone calls to.
46:04This appeared to be a method Ruby repeated with Russell at Jodi's house.
46:08Ruby recounted in the journal how she woke one night to find Russell missing,
46:12and a note written in pebbles on the balcony which read,
46:15Jail. I will call when I get there.
46:18Panicked, Ruby said she and Jodi searched the house,
46:20then got in their cars and began driving around looking for Russell,
46:24which Ruby described as racing the devil.
46:27They brought him home.
46:29Disturbingly, she went on to describe the concession of letting Russell sleep in a bed
46:32and feeding him a full meal the next day as
46:35like stitching up a patient knowing you didn't get all the cancer out.
46:39Okay, look at me.
46:40Don't say help.
46:42Anymore.
46:43You done said it.
46:44Yeah, so I'm very clear what I'm talking about.
46:48Don't say that again.
46:50Do you understand?
46:51Because next time you won't be smiling on your face.
46:54Kevin explained that the situation never improved
46:57as everyone tried to appease Jodi and Ruby.
47:00So I was completely cut off.
47:02You know, if I went to my church leaders,
47:05I was seeking enablement.
47:08If I went to my family, I was seeking enablement.
47:10And if I went to anybody I was seeking enablement, I felt trapped.
47:15And that's where I was all the way up until the last week of July when Jodi called me one day out of the blue
47:24and just said, I don't understand why you're not getting it.
47:28While everything the police had learned so far was certainly horrific,
47:31they would soon realize that it almost got unimaginably worse for the children.
47:36Based on the journal entries, the authors believe that the children's bodies needed to be engaged in painful good work as punishment.
47:43Just as Ruby and Jodi set out to look for rural land in Arizona for the Frankie children to work,
47:50Ruby got a text.
47:51I found the land.
47:53As the move to Arizona loomed dangerously closer,
47:56it became obvious that the women wanted the pair to choose punishment over respite.
48:01In an emotional phone call made from her jail cell, Jodi had this to say on the topic.
48:06Nobody wants the truth.
48:08Nobody wants the truth.
48:09Nobody wants the truth.
48:10But because these kids, you know, I told Doug, I woke up.
48:14The spirit told me, it's all the devil.
48:16And you've seen him.
48:17And he uses these kids.
48:19And he uses all of us as the adults, the parents that don't hold the kids accountable.
48:24So now it's abusive to make a kid sleep on the floor.
48:27It's abusive.
48:28Or it's abusive to, you know, that's ridiculous.
48:31You can't even raise your kids anymore.
48:33This was the sort of stance Jodi put forth through her program, Connections.
48:37At its peak, her Instagram had over 10,000 followers.
48:40Leaving the police to wonder just how many other children might have suffered the ramifications
48:44of her influence.
48:47Later, in the midst of the investigation, Kevin continued his story of his family's breakdown.
48:52So that separation continued all the way up until the holidays, maybe.
48:57And then Ruby ended that separation.
49:00Jodi went home this, like, the second week of January.
49:05But by that time, like, Ruby, Pam, and Jodi were completely determined to do this work
49:13that they felt God had for them.
49:15I thought it was crazy.
49:16Like, I thought it was just that crazy.
49:19When talking with Kevin, the police learned just how far Ruby was willing to go to pursue
49:23her work with Jodi.
49:25She wanted to legally, like, work with Jodi's attorney to give Jodi eight passengers and
49:33become an employee of Connections.
49:36Basically, the contract was, Ruby gives Jodi everything and Ruby gets nothing in return.
49:42Our YouTube manager at the time was like, red flags, red flags.
49:46Like, I don't know how to tell you.
49:47She's scamming you.
49:49Ruby fired him.
49:50Regarding this issue of Ruby and Jodi's business entanglement, Ruby made some interesting
49:55claims in one of her calls from jail.
49:58In fact, she seemed to be changing her attitude towards Jodi entirely.
50:02Jodi Hildebrandt never was my business partner, nor was I ever her employee.
50:07I never received wages from Connections or Jodi.
50:11In 2019, I hired her as a counselor for my son.
50:16And then in 2020, I paid her to be my mentor to the whirlpool.
50:22She just pulls you.
50:23Regardless of any legal business arrangements, finances became an increasingly central component
50:28of the travesty that befell the Frankie children.
50:31This became clear when police continued reading Ruby's journal and gained further insight into
50:36the disturbing reasons she and Jodi were looking into moving to Arizona.
50:40Jodi and I took Eve out into the desert, Ruby wrote.
50:44She went out into the heat, barefoot.
50:47Eve still tried to run.
50:48She screamed for another family.
50:50Water.
50:51Food.
50:51Care.
50:52Love.
50:53Oh, Eve.
50:54A manipulative ploy.
50:56Ruby's journal entry about taking Eve to the desert became even more heartbreaking.
51:00Apparently, it was only after Eve collapsed on the road, exhausted, that Ruby took her home.
51:06But not for long.
51:07The very next day, Ruby, Russell, Eve, and Julie all returned to the desert.
51:12For the next three days, the children were made to weed and tidy a cemetery on a nearby
51:16Native American reservation.
51:18They were not allowed to wear shoes or gloves, despite the fact that there was broken glass
51:23and thorns everywhere.
51:25At one point, Russell became so desperate to escape the heat that he stuck his head in the
51:29toilet.
51:30Footage of this suffering was captured by a local, who explained in no uncertain terms to
51:35Ruby that she was not welcome there, and that she would be filing a police report.
51:39This, Ruby wrote in her journal, was a sign that,
51:42The devil does not want us to take Russell and Eve out of society.
51:46Apparently, relocating to Arizona was their chosen method of avoiding further unwanted
51:51attention.
51:52One has to wonder how long the plan to get to Arizona was in process, though, based on
51:57and an interaction Kevin mentioned happened before the separation.
52:00Ruby started threatening me with another separation.
52:04And just like, this isn't about money.
52:06This is about doing God's work.
52:09So we continued in that dynamic for the next six or seven months until she went on a trip
52:17with Jody and Pam down to Arizona.
52:23And I think they, like, when I read her journal, she went into Mexico or something and bought
52:30drugs or something, like prescription drugs for the emergency kits.
52:35And when she came back from that trip, before she even brought the bags into the house, she
52:41pulled me in and said, I want to talk with you.
52:44And that's when she asked me to leave.
52:46And so Kevin left and got an apartment in Springsville.
52:49At some subsequent point, Ruby also left the family home for the house in Ivan's to live
52:54with Jody, where the lives of her children would become a living nightmare.
52:59Back with Kevin, he said that when Ruby initiated contact again, he had no idea the sinister
53:04plan she had in store for their children.
53:06Around that time, things with Ruby started, like, picking up.
53:11And I didn't understand why, but, like, Ruby wanted to meet in a parking lot and wanted
53:18me to sign over.
53:19Two of our cars wanted me to sign them over to her name.
53:23I'm in total compliance mode at this point.
53:26Just like, I'm a good husband.
53:28You see?
53:29You can trust me.
53:30Ruby's comments on the journal somehow managed to become even more disturbing.
53:34She wrote, this girl would choose to be shot and die, than to humble.
53:39Even that wasn't the most disturbing part, though, because after locking Eve in the closet
53:43overnight, they decided to treat her injuries from the cactus.
53:47Ruby said, the spirit was very strong as Julie and I witnessed Jody cleaning what did not
53:52deserve to be clean.
53:54Kevin continued his story, discussing the moment he found that his family had disappeared to
53:59live in Ivan's, leaving their own house empty.
54:01But when I returned to the house, everything was packed up, and a neighbor came over and
54:07said she asked for the HOA rules and mentioned to him that she wanted to rent the house out.
54:19Which, I was like, are you kidding me?
54:23And he, apparently she wanted to sell the house, but couldn't because my name was on the mortgage.
54:29In another jail call, Ruby revealed that the Arizona scheme had gotten further along than
54:34anyone yet knew.
54:35One shudders to think what could have happened if Russell hadn't escaped before the move.
54:40I pulled the money, and I have it in a bag.
54:44With you?
54:45Do the police have it?
54:47Well, I don't know what the police took.
54:49But the bag is at Jody's house?
54:51They can't just take people's money.
54:54I mean, that's not right.
54:55In a stunning twist, the person on the other end of the phone was none other than Kevin himself.
55:00In the days following Ruby's arrest, the pair made several phone calls where Kevin tried
55:05to ensure he received custody of the children and secured the money that Ruby had pulled out.
55:11Kevin's demeanor towards Ruby in these calls might be unexpected.
55:15I am committed to our family.
55:18I'm committed to you and our marriage.
55:20No matter what happens, I will be here to support you in any way that I can.
55:28Well, thank you for stepping up.
55:30During this call, Kevin and Ruby agreed to limit their contact going forward to strengthen
55:35Kevin's chances of gaining legal custody of the children.
55:38A discovery made the next day, though, blew that out of the water.
55:42The bag's gone.
55:43The only thing more shocking than the bag's disappearance was where Ruby had gotten the
55:55funds in the first place.
55:57Kevin and his lawyer revealed the source of the missing $85,000 while speaking with police.
56:02That money, she cleaned out their bank accounts.
56:07The kids' savings accounts.
56:08Yeah, and yours too, your joint account.
56:11Yeah.
56:11That's where that money came from.
56:13So, I don't know if you can have, or if I need to have a discussion with the county
56:19attorney, Kevin would kind of like his kid's money back.
56:23Unfortunately, tracking down the money and attempting to return it to the children would
56:27likely become a separate civil case.
56:30While Ruby didn't comment on this directly while in jail, she had more thoughts to share
56:35the longer the longer she was behind bars.
56:37Just the devil is so sly and I embarrassed to take such, such huge slap in the face to wake
56:48up to her.
56:49On another call with her parents, Ruby Proof read a court statement she wrote to address
56:54her children and acknowledge her actions.
56:56I would do anything in this world for you.
56:59My willingness to sacrifice all for you was masterfully manipulated into something very ugly.
57:05I took from you all that was safe and soft and good.
57:09I took from you, your mother.
57:13How terrifying this must have been for you.
57:16I will never, ever stop crying for hurting your tender souls.
57:20But no apology in the world could begin to undo the horrible trauma experienced by the Frankie
57:32children.
57:33In contrast to Ruby's attempt to make amends, Jody's response was the same as it was at
57:38the beginning of the investigation.
57:40The Lord says, but first they'll lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you
57:47up to the synagogues and into prisons, and the children shall rise up against their parents
57:52and shall cause them to be put to death.
57:55That statement right there is what's going on with me.
57:59The children shall rise up and put their parents to death, and ye shall be hated of all men for
58:05my name's sake.
58:06Ultimately, Ruby and Jody were charged with six felony counts of child abuse and neglect each.
58:12Rather than go to trial, Ruby and Jody pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse.
58:17Though their cases were adjudicated separately, they received the same sentences.
58:21On each count, Jody and Ruby were sentenced to serve between one and fifteen years in prison.
58:27The sentences were to be consecutive, meaning both women could be behind bars for up to
58:31sixty years, which could be the rest of their lives.
58:35Kevin continues to lobby for custody of his children, who were taken by DCFS and placed
58:40in foster care.
58:42The Frankie's oldest daughter, Sherry, is writing a book about her upbringing, and has requested
58:46the public respect the privacy of her younger siblings as they attempt to recover.
58:51While their current status is unknown, we can only hope that the Frankie children are at
58:55long last experiencing the kindness and gentleness that they deserve.
58:59We'll see you next time.
59:01We'll see you next time.
59:01We'll see you next time.
59:01We'll see you next time.
59:02We'll see you next time.
59:02We'll see you next time.
59:03We'll see you next time.
59:03We'll see you next time.
59:04We'll see you next time.
59:05We'll see you next time.
59:06We'll see you next time.
59:06We'll see you next time.
59:07We'll see you next time.
59:08We'll see you next time.
59:09We'll see you next time.
59:09We'll see you next time.
59:10We'll see you next time.
59:10We'll see you next time.
59:11We'll see you next time.
59:12We'll see you next time.
59:12We'll see you next time.
59:13We'll see you next time.
59:14We'll see you next time.
59:15We'll see you next time.
Consigliato
2:23
|
Prossimi video
1:42:27
1:58:57
1:58:01
10:16
15:46
1:10
1:55
4:08
4:17
5:39
7:09
8:42
3:47
9:55
Commenta prima di tutti