UT - Parenting influencer, Ruby Franke, and blogger/podcast partner Jodi Hildebrandt, arrested for Child Abuse, Aug 2023

[Snoopster]

And there was Kevin,weeping at her sentencing.

IMO:
A loving father who had morals and compassion would have stood up and told the judge/courtroom that he will move heaven and earth to try and make sure both women remain behind bars for the 15 yrs max.for the torturous abuse to his children that will scar them for the rest of their lives.
Ruby's parents and brother are as sick as she is.

Well said Izzy!
It's clear that Kevin doesn't care about his children. He just cares about himself and Ruby.
During his interview with police, when he was told his children were taken to hospital, he didn't even ask how they were doing. He did say that he was worried about what might happen to his wife and he wanted to take his children home (so that Ruby could continue to abuse them??). But he never asked how they were doing and he didn't say that he wanted to go to the hospital to see them.

 

[Howl]

I'm confused about the parole board deciding the sentences...?

Rather than a judge pronouncing a sentence, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole determines the earliest date that the prisoner will be eligible for parole. Apparently, this determination happens 6 months into incarceration.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Interview with Jodi's niece,Jessi, from 6 months ago.
She also references a podcast she had done about Jodi and the abuse she suffered.
No questions were asked about her parents and why they handed her over to Jodi.
She went to the police when she was 16 to report Jodi.
She explains the support Jodi got from the church which in return would negate any complaints from her clients.
She experienced just about everything we've heard/read, accusations of non-existent addictions and the abuse to get them out of her.

A highly informative interview from a lovely, articulate, intelligent young woman.

Well worth the watch.

This is what I was referencing above - if this young woman experienced the exact same abuse as the children, then how can it be down to Ruby.

Perhaps Ruby was already using punitive and cruel techniques that are more common in abusive controlling parents across the board? I'm not interested in making excuses for her and the husband - I hope they are both legally prevented from ever having any child in their homes for the rest of their lives but it seems strange that the niece of Jodi had already been through the exact same very extreme physical and psychological torture that goes way and beyond usual child cruelty / neglect (a phrase that should not even exist).

JMO MOO
JMO MOO

 

[Howl]

New footage shows son of YouTube mom Ruby Franke getting help from neighbor after escape

Newly released footage from the Washington County Attorney's Office shows the moment YouTube mom Ruby Franke's 12-year-old son walked up to a neighbor's house to ask for help after escaping his home.

news.yahoo.com

This is so touching. A woman came out with a bottle of water and tells R., "You are such a good boy!"
So wonderful that these neighbors immediately realized the desperate urgency of the situation.

 

[Luna20]

Rats….. for once I wish I lived on the left coast. Basketball preempted on the east coast and the game ran long. Will read for updates. MOO

If you haven’t watched the 20/20 episode yet they do read some of her entries directly from the pages of the diary.

 

[gitana1]

@5:56 she says they're going before the parole board for the first time in Sept.
???

Ruby said that she thinks she's getting out before Jodi.

Evidence released in ‘8 Passengers’ mom Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt child abuse cases

Prosecutors in Washington County have released their case files containing a significant amount of evidence gathered during the investigation and prosecution of convicted child abusers Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt.

ksltv.com

Yeah because they’re eligible for parole after 1 year, on one count, it appears. So then that’s when they find out whether they have three more years to do, on the consecutive counts, or not. Because I doubt they’d give them one year on one count and 15 on another.
I wonder if the public can write into the parole board. I’ve read all her nasty journals now. She whipped her emaciated son who was swollen with infection and had his flesh eaten deeply from his ankles (I saw the unedited photos. He’s could have permanent disability from those wounds). She tormented those kids so horribly, and then was unrepentant only days before her sentencing. She’s evil.

I’m so scared she’s going to get away with it. Those kids are damaged for life from what they went through. To have one’s own parent play such twisted, sick psychological games, causes permanent damage, IMO.

She tortured those kids, claiming that was the way to get the devil out but when they became weak and/or incapable of complying with more torture scenarios, Ruby claimed that was satanic defiance and necessitated more torture.

She and her monster twin were buying land in an even more remote place with tons of cactus so they could torture them more efficiently and without the chance of escape for the kids.

Those children were steps away from death. That was the inevitable outcome of the situation she put them in. It was impossible for them to be able to do anything to satisfy her that more abuse was unnecessary.

 

[gitana1]

Seriously, water?

That is almost like attempted murder and also they lived in the desert.

I'm confused about the parole board deciding the sentences...?

They need to be locked up for years.

Yes. It really scares me.

 

[Howl]

Biographies of the members of the Board of Pardons and Parole. All have varied experience dealing with criminals -- as lawyers, clinicians, LE, parole supervisors -- long exposure to the worst of the worst.

There's no question about what they did: the deteriorated physical condition of the kids, Ruby's diary, Ruby's plea deal to spill the beans on Jodi. Both Ruby and Jodi perverted their respective roles as protectors (Jodi as a psycotherapist and Ruby as a mother) and horribly abused the most vulnerable. On the other hand, Ruby and Jodi are white, well educated Mormon women.

In her allocution Ruby claimed to have recanted the beliefs that led her to torture her children, referring to her Bishop by name.

In her statement to the court, Jodi claims to love the children and wanted to spare them a trial, but does not recant ANYTHING. Refresher from the Salt Lake Tribune READ: Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt's full sentencing statements.

What I really want to know right now: Are Ruby and Jodi in the same prison area, close enough to have contact with each other?

 

[lightofmine99]

I'm seriously curious about the public being able to write to the parole board. I know that the convict's potential threat to the public is a consideration. I'm far out of state so of course I couldn't write but people in Utah could. Probably worth looking into.

 

[wnk]

I'm seriously curious about the public being able to write to the parole board. I know that the convict's potential threat to the public is a consideration. I'm far out of state so of course I couldn't write but people in Utah could. Probably worth looking into.

Good question. Here's what I found:

Can I write the Board a letter about an inmate?

Yes, please address letters by mail to our office at the following address (ensure you include the individual’s full name and offender number*):
Utah Board of Pardons and Parole
448 East 6400 South #300
Murray, UT 84107
Letters may also be e-mailed to our office at bopinfo@utah.gov

Letters do not need to be notarized.

The inmate will receive copies of all disclosable material in his/her Board file at least seven days prior to the hearing. If someone writes the Board and wishes to have the letter withheld from the inmate, he or she must explain why disclosure of the letter could present a safety risk.

Offender #: 262747​

Offender Name: FRANKE , RUBY

Offender #: 262776
Offender Name: HILDEBRANDT , JODI NAN

Board Frequently Asked Questions – Utah Board of Pardons & Parole

 

[RickshawFan]

The place looks like an Armageddon Fort designed by and for the dark forces.
Scream!

When a child's safety is involved no search warrant is legally required.

Exactly. If you look at standard medieval castle design, and plopped it in the desert southwest, you'd pretty much get Jodi's house. See something as simple as going through one thick outside door, having to narrow down to single file, between vertical walls with confusing offsets and shadows, and then getting faced with that fortress "door". Note the arrow shapes on the light fixtures and door.

The maze of rooms is deliberate. Note: LE has to have a map of the house to get around it.

 

[RickshawFan]

Does anyone know anything about Jodi's planned move to Arizona? What was that about?

 

[RickshawFan]

One of the dumbest and dangerous cop moves ever or am I missing something?

The male cop let Jodi go into her bathroom, close the door and she was in there almost 5 minutes.
She could have come out shooting,OD'ed, split her wrists etc,

I wondered about that, too, but she wasn't under arrest.

 

[lightofmine99]

Does anyone know anything about Jodi's planned move to Arizona? What was that about?

I think they were looking for farm property to move the kids to in order to increase their "schooling" if you know what I mean.

The maze of rooms is deliberate. Note: LE has to have a map of the house to get around it.

Watching the bodycam footage I definitely found the design of her home to be extremely weird. I thought, "Yeah I know buildings are different out west but this looks like a military base, not where I would want to raise my kids."

Side note but I can't imagine walking outside to see my backyard being an open desert with vermillion mountains in the distance.

 

[RickshawFan]

Hopefully they're seeing their 4 other siblings.
I don't know where the 2 middle age kids are but none of the 4 children should ever be let anywhere near their father, mother's parents or RF's brother.

Does anyone know where the 2 middle children are?

R and E weren't allowed to see each other while they were at Jodi's. They were kept separate. E said she hadn't seen her brother for a month. I speculate this is why R thought 2 sisters were in the house. He hadn't actually seen either.

 

[RickshawFan]

He wanted to prosecute his daughter more than Ruby:

“Kevin stated that Shari is not allowed in the home, and that he believes she entered unlawfully and he wants her charged with burglary,” an officer wrote in police documents.

The officer reiterated that Shari was only in the home to get necessary items for her siblings, which Kevin “did not seem to think was relevant,” according to police documents.

There's an added possibility though. To LE, Kevin keeps talking about the 3" thick binder where Ruby wrote all the hallucinations and visions Jodi was getting. It was called the "Pen Papers". He thinks it's important, but doesn't know where it is. He might actually have been protective of that document.

I'll bet Pam has it.

 

[lightofmine99]

I'll bet Pam has it.

Who is this Pam? I have somehow missed any mention of her.

 

[RickshawFan]

I think they were looking for farm property to move the kids to in order to increase their "schooling" if you know what I mean.

Watching the bodycam footage I definitely found the design of her home to be extremely weird. I thought, "Yeah I know buildings are different out west but this looks like a military base, not where I would want to raise my kids."

Side note but I can't imagine walking outside to see my backyard being an open desert with vermillion mountains in the distance.

Yes. The neighbors' houses layout have more straightforward approaches (that's why the child can get to the front doors), and the roofs aren't as complicated.

I also wonder what the rescuer meant on the 911 call when he said there had been trouble at Jodi's before.

 

[RickshawFan]

Who is this Pam? I have somehow missed any mention of her.

Pam Boetcher (sp?), who is also in with Connexions. She had two of the other girls at her house when LE came to pick them up. Kevin also mentions her in his second (audio only) interview with LE.

FWIW that second interview blew my mind. Kevin was brainwashed, too. Isolated, buried in criticisms in public, manipulated, repeatedly told he was a liar and just didn't know it (same thing as the kids).... I had much more compassion for him when I heard this. These are standard brainwashing techniques used by e.g. the North Koreans during the Korean war, but other cults, cultures, individuals, etc..

 

[Howl]

I also wonder what the rescuer meant on the 911 call when he said there had been trouble at Jodi's before.

Yup, I wonder about this a lot. Speculating here, but I've been wondering if that would be something as simple as the house being used as an Air BnB or Jodi having conferences or meeting with clients or similar, with a lot of people coming and going at the house. That's a high-end neighborhood and the HoA would be pretty extreme. But those kinds of things wouldn't seem to rise to the level of "trouble" or "problems".

Exactly. If you look at standard medieval castle design, and plopped it in the desert southwest, you'd pretty much get Jodi's house. See something as simple as going through one thick outside door, having to narrow down to single file, between vertical walls with confusing offsets and shadows, and then getting faced with that fortress "door". Note the arrow shapes on the light fixtures and door.

Brilliant. While watching the body cam footage of the police approaching the house, I thought they were going around to the back of the house!
I wonder if Jodi bought the house already built or if she designed it.

Here's a bit of information about the Kayenta Development where Jodi's home is located. It's enormous and has been around for 30 years.