Ruby Franke trial: How '8 Passengers' family vlogger mom's YouTube channel could be used against her
IVINS, UTAH: In a shocking turn of events, a criminal defense lawyer claims that in some of Ruby Franke's YouTube videos, the mother appears to take her son's bedroom away after he pulls a prank on his sibling, raising red flags regarding potential abuse.
As per The US Sun, the disgraced mother and YouTuber of the '8 Passengers' channel is also shown refusing to give her 6-year-old daughter lunch.
Two of Franke's children were discovered to be malnourished, leading to accusations of mistreatment against the disgraced family vlogger and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.
The 'momfluencer', who previously co-ran the '8 Passengers' YouTube channel with her husband Kevin Franke, was arrested in Utah on August 30, 2023, on six counts of child abuse.
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Ruby Franke was seen threatening to refuse food or punishing her children
According to a neighbor, Franke's family exhibited unsettling red flags and signs of change in the months before the disgraced YouTuber's arrest for suspected child abuse.
One of Franke's children ran away from Hildebrandt's home in Ivins, Utah, and rushed to a neighbor to ask for food and assistance, leading to the arrest of both Hildebrandt and 41-year-old Franke. The youngster was discovered malnourished, with open sores, and his wrists and ankles taped.
According to police records, Franke's 12-year-old child fled from a window at Hildebrandt's residence in Ivins and approached a neighbor for food and drink.
The 10-year-old daughter of Franke and her husband Kevin was also discovered at Hildebrandt's residence in a similar malnourished state to her 12-year-old brother.
Ruby Franke's earlier YouTube videos can show 'the way of committing a crime'
A lawyer is already commenting on the possibility of using Franke's earlier YouTube recordings as evidence against her in court.
Criminal defense lawyer and legal commentator Natalie Whittingham-Burrell told INSIDER, "Normally it wouldn't be relevant because it's just prior bad acts not really relevant to the conversation of what happened here."
"But if they have this theory of child-rearing that includes a pattern of abuse, I think that might become relevant," she added.
Whittingham-Burrell stated that if the videos reveal that the mother had a "lack of mistake," Franke's prior YouTube footage may be extremely pertinent.
The lawyer continued, "So if she has a pattern of abusing them, she can't say, 'Oh, it was an accident, I didn't realize that this was abuse.'"
"It could show modus operandi the way of committing a crime," Whittingham-Burrell further added.
While their content has stirred controversy for several years, the last three have been especially damaging to the family as viewers began disseminating petitions and reporting what they perceived as proof of child abuse and neglect to local authorities.
Ruby Franke's earlier YouTube videos show signs of red flags
One of the most prominent instances involved Franke refusing to send her 6-year-old daughter's lunch to school because she had forgotten to prepare one.
Another saw one of her children complaining that he was being made to sleep on a beanbag because he had played pranks on his brothers, as per USA Today.
In another, she denied one of her young children Christmas as retribution for being "selfish." She was frequently seen threatening to deny her children meals or punishing them in other ways that viewers claimed to be harsh.
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Activists have used '8 Passengers' as one of several instances of family vlogging channels that have exposed children to danger and made them vulnerable to abuse.
When Franke and her husband Kevin started their YouTube channel in 2015, they had 2.2 million subscribers as they chronicled their daily lives as parents of six children. The channel was shut down earlier this year after the duo stopped uploading videos in January 2022.