The moment YouTuber Ruby Franke was taken into custody on child molestation charges outside her home in Utah was captured on camera, the photo posted to social media accompanied by the caption, “Finally.”
Just days after Franke’s arrest, several of her neighbors have reported long-time concerns about the safety of the children of the host of the eight passengers.
Allegations of abuse first emerged in July 2020. The photo posted last week, along with the caption “Finally,” was posted by Franke’s oldest daughter, Shari, 20.
The 41-year-old was arrested Wednesday along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt on two counts of serious child abuse, after two of her malnourished children were found starving with open wounds and wrapped in duct tape.
Franke gained online fame through her YouTube channel 8 Passengers and had 2.2 million subscribers before she stopped posting in January 2022.
“I’m really mad because I said something. Other people have spoken up,” said a neighbor who chose not to be named NBC news.
Ruby, her husband, and their six children rose to fame in 2015 after she began sharing videos on YouTube that gave a glimpse into her life as a Mormon mother of six.
Earlier this week, Franke’s eldest daughter Shari, 20, posted about her mother’s arrest on Instagram, sharing a photo of police officers outside the home with the caption “Finally.”
The neighbor said she contacted child protective services in Utah in September 2022. When the authorities rang Franke’s doorbell, there was no answer, the neighbor claims.
“I want those kids to know that the community loves them and wants them to be safe,” another woman told the network.
“If people knew how many tears and how much time was spent talking to law enforcement and CPS over the past year, I want people to understand. And I want those kids to know that because I think they thought they were abandoned,” she added.
Franke’s husband, with whom she shares six children – Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve – was seen inside the property on Saturday when a man came to remove the YouTube branding from the van parked outside.
Over the weekend, DailyMail.com spoke to a neighbor of Hildebrandt’s, whose home is also in the Kayenta community, in the foothills of the Red Mountains in Ivins, Utah.
They remembered regularly parking Franke’s “8Passengers” van in front of the house at the time.
“One thing we noticed and we told the police the same thing: six to eight weeks ago when it was very hot, I was out late morning and afternoon pulling weeds and at Jodi’s house several children were also outside weed her house.
“During the day the temperature rose above 40 degrees and after a while I gave up because it was so hot, but I noticed that the children stayed outside,” explains the neighbor.
Ruby Franke’s home in Springville, Utah, is on display Saturday
Kevin Franke was walked outside his Springville, Utah home on Saturday
Ruby Franke, who ran the 8 Passengers page, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt on two counts of serious child abuse. In the photo her brand van
Ruby Franke, (left) who ran the now-defunct channel 8 Passengers, was arrested Wednesday along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right)
The resident also noted that they never heard any noises from the home, such as children playing outside, which they found unusual.
One day, a child reportedly escaped through a house window before running to a neighbour, who then called the police.
The neighbor said they believed the child chose that particular house after receiving cookies from them at Christmas and that they knew they were kind and “safe enough to go to them for help.”
Both Franke and Hildebrandt have previously been criticized for their parenting teachings — working with Hildebrandt’s life counseling service ConneXions.
“Everyone is breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,” another neighbor told NBC News after the arrest.
The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Security Department in Utah arrested Franke and Hildebrandt at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday after a report of a youth in distress.
Authorities said the child was described as “emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities” and asked for food and water.
“I remember her taking their Christmas away for a year and saying things like ‘They don’t repent’, which is a Mormon term for ‘they sin.’ Just complete madness,” explained a male neighbor.
The local residents also told how Franke would interfere in the lives of her neighbors.
One of them recalled an incident in which Franke lectured a neighbor about what she considered “inappropriate” posters of women posing in shorts on display in a garage.
Kevin Franke would have been evicted from the parental home last year.
He said earlier this week that he is “trying to keep his children together” after the arrests.
After the investigation, four minor children were taken into the care of the Child and Family Service and two were rushed to hospital. It has not been confirmed whether they were Franke’s children
Kevin’s attorney, Randy S. Kester, told Page Six that his client’s “urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his paternal care.”
After an investigation by the police, four minor children have been placed with the Children’s and Family Service. It has not been confirmed whether the children were related to Franke or Hildebrandt.
After Kevin moved out of the family home, a neighbor said it appeared the children had stopped going to school, while one of the daughters knocked on other houses in the area where there were children.