Inside the Dark Mind of Ruby Franke: The Chilling Diary That Reveals Unthinkable Crimes Against Her Children

Warning: This article dives deep into a dark and disturbing tale, so buckle up—and maybe keep a box of tissues nearby. Ruby Franke, once the darling of YouTube parenting channels with millions watching her every move, turned out to be hiding a sinister secret behind the camera lens. While broadcasting seemingly normal family life, she was penning a chilling diary filled with graphic records of abuse against her own children. What kind of mindset allows someone to document their own crimes, fully aware that these notes could be their downfall—yet still press on? According to experts, Ruby didn’t just cross a line; she completely rewired her moral compass, wrapped in a web of religious extremism and a warped sense of righteousness. This case isn’t just about child abuse—it’s a haunting exploration of how belief systems can transform compassion into cruelty. If you’ve ever wondered how a “perfect” family image could mask such horrors, this story might just keep you up at night. LEARN MORE

Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.

Ruby Franke diary of abuses she inflicted upon her own children may have been written because she didn’t believe she was doing anything wrong, an expert has told LADbible.

Franke is a convicted child abuser who ran a popular YouTube channel documenting the lives of her six children but off camera she was abusing them, admitting to ‘physical torture.’

She was sent down on February 20, 2024, and part of the evidence gathered in the investigation was a journal in which she kept detailed and disturbing records of what she was doing to her children.

Associate Professor of Legal Psychology at Loughborough University, Dr. Dom Willmott, believes the fact she wrote down all her crimes, which she knew could have eventually led to her conviction, suggests she didn’t think she her actions were wrong.

Dr Willmott told LADbible: “Most offenders do not document their criminality in journals in the way that Ruby Franke did.

Ruby Franke was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the abuse of her two youngest children.

Instagram/ moms_of_truth

“Clearly doing so risks being caught and convicted and therefore this suggests to me that she likely did not think that what she was doing was wrong based on her distorted world view.”

There may have been an even darker alternative, too.

“Or at least did not care about the consequences, given how deeply entrenched and distorted her beliefs were at the time,” he added.

What was written in Ruby Franke’s journal

The diary entries included unnerving passages like: “Sleep outside, shaved her head, doused her with water, over his nose and mouth, head in the toilet, needs to be painful. Blood on his face, scream and scream.”

Another read: “I told the boy, he emulates a snake. If he wants to emulate the Savior, he needs to be a hundred percent obedient with exactness.

“The body must engage in good work and the good works need to be painful. I have the power of God and he must obey.”

Other entries saw Franke complain that one child had recently turned 12 but was still ‘pooping/peeing’ themselves, for which she blamed on ‘satanic’ choices.

She wrote of one of her children that they had a ‘cold, dead heart’ and that one of her sons told her he would ‘rather have a glass of water than me as his mother’.

She also wrote how she put on boots to kick a child.

One of the disturbing journal entries (Washington County)

Rather than solely an issue with mental health, Dr Willmott thinks Franke’s actions are a ‘shocking’ example of how the power of a belief system, religious extremism in this case, can turn a logical and healthy individual into someone capable of heinous crimes.

The Editor in Chief of the Journal of Criminal Psychology said: “This deterioration can be explained by a complex interaction between her narcissism and sense of self-righteousness which manifested in a desire to exert power and control over her children, before her view of the world became so distorted.

“Clearly though, her indoctrination to form of religious extremism meant her world-view became highly distorted and ultimately entirely disconnected from reality and in doing so, this allowed her to enact horrific acts of abuse upon her children.”

‘In a similar way to how terrorist groups justify acts of violence’

Ruby Franke oldest son, Chad ((Youtube/The Squeeze)

Dr Willmott even sees similarities in Franke’s actions to that of terrorists.

He continued: “In a similar way to how terrorist groups justify acts of violence against innocent people or people indoctrinated into cults cannot see how distorted their thinking has become, Ruby had become so deeply embedded in these distorted religious beliefs, that she had convinced herself that her innocent children were possessed by demons and being influenced by the devil.

“Mental health crisis alone doesn’t fully explain her behaviour as she did show some signs of understanding criminal responsibility in so far as she made efforts to avoid being caught and convicted, at least after the abuse came to light.

“However, the fact she openly recorded the abuse of her children in her diary, which would later be used to convict her, tells me that at the time of the abuse she was so deeply entrenched in a dangerous belief system that allowed a once good mother to harm her children so violently.”

Franke’s crimes were discovered when one of her sons escaped from the family home and alerted neighbours to his and his siblings’ dire predicament.

The 12-year-old had duct tape around his wrists and ankles, lacerations over his body and neighbours said he looked ’emaciated’. The rest of Franke’s children were found in a similar state.

Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were sentenced to prison, but due to a law about consecutive sentences, they will each not spend longer than 30 years behind bars.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.

Full timeline of the Ruby Franke case

2015-2023: Starting a YouTube channel and initial suspicions

Franke started her parenting YouTube channel ‘8 Passengers’ with her now-ex-husband Kevin, amassing over 2.5 million subscribers before it was deleted in 2023 following the arrest.

Several subscribers became suspicious of child abuse, with a petition being signed for the police to investigate the family, citing the numerous questionable videos uploaded.

2022: Franke joins ConneXions with Jodi Hildebrandt

Franke stopped uploading videos to the channel in 2022, joining Mormon therapist Hildebrandt’s ConneXions podcast.

Their divisive opinions on subjects such as eating disorders, blaming rape victims and criticising immigrants drew the wrong kind of attention.

2023: The arrest

Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on child abuse charges in August 2023.

The Santa Clara Public Safety Department were called to the Ivins neighbourhood in Utah after a neighbour was alerted by Franke’s ’emaciated’ 12-year-old son, who escaped to knock on their door to ask for help.

He had visible marks and wounds from duct tape put around his ankles, and asked for some food and water.

Police found his 10-year-old sister in a ‘similar physical condition of malnourishment’ in Hildebrandt’s house.

Family members speak out

Franke’s oldest daughter, Shari, wrote on Instagram on the day of the arrests: “Today has been a big day.”

She continued: “Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”

In November, Kevin also officially filed for divorce from Franke, and called her actions to their children ‘horrific and inhumane’.

Franke and Hildebrandt are charged with six counts of child abuse

Just one week after their arrests, the pair were charged with six counts of felony child abuse.

YouTube banned Franke, deleting both 8 Passengers and ConneXions channels and blocking her from the social media platform.

Franke blames the abuse on Hildebrandt

Her attorneys released a statement that said: “Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous,” according to Fox13.

It blamed Hildebrandt solely for isolating Franke from her family completely, distorting her morality.

Franke pleads guilty

Just three days after the statement was released, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. A court had heard how she had tried to convince her youngest children they were ‘evil and possessed’.

2024: Franke and Hildebrandt are sentenced to prison for child abuse

On 20 February 2024, Franke and Hildebrandt were convicted and given four separate prison sentences for one to 15 years, with the length of each sentence decided by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.

During sentencing, Franke apologised to her children and said she would ‘never stop crying for hurting their tender souls’.

The two women will not serve more than 30 years in a Federal Penitentiary because of a Utah law about consecutive sentences.

2025: The release of a Netflix documentary

In December 2025, Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story was released on Netflix which outlined the heinous crimes of both Hildebrandt and Franke, including an insight into how the two met and began collaborating with one another.

2026: Franke’s son Chad speaks out on social media

In early 2026, Chad, now aged 21, began posting on TikTok and revealed disturbing diary entries he wrote in the months leading up to his mum’s arrest.

Franke’s daughters urge lawmakers to pass child welfare bill

In March 2026, Shari Franke urged Utah lawmakers to pass a child welfare bill that failed in the Utah House.

The Senate Bill 124, also known as the ‘Gavin Peterson Bill’, would have allowed the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to seek a court warrant to physically see a child when there are safety concerns. While it was passed in the Senate, it was voted down on the House floor.

“Kids are dying and being traumatized left and right because, well I don’t know why, and that’s the problem, I see no reason with real logic behind it as to why this law shouldn’t be in place,” Eve said in a statement, while her sister added: “I am deeply disappointed in my state legislature for failing to recognize the protection this bill could bring to children across Utah.”