YouTuber Ruby Franke secretly divorced her husband Kevin 13 months ago over “a disagreement over their parenting” before she was arrested for child abuse.
Ruby, 41, was charged with six felony counts of child abuse after her 12-year-old son was found with open wounds and duct tape on his limbs.
She was arrested on August 30 along with business partner Jodi Hildebrandt on aggravated child abuse charges.
Kevin’s attorney Randy Kester claimed the 44-year-old father had not seen his children and was unaware Ruby had taken them to Ivans, Utah, about a four-hour drive from Salt Lake City. Law & Crime reported.
Kester claimed that Ruby “emotionally controlled Kevin because she knew how much he valued their marriage.”
YouTuber Ruby Franke secretly divorced her husband Kevin 13 months ago due to ‘a disagreement over their parenting’ before her arrest for child abuse
The 41-year-old was charged with six felony counts of child abuse after her 12-year-old son was found with open wounds and duct tape on his limbs
“His wish was to be able to return to the family and preserve his marriage,” Kester told the outlet.
“Kevin never had any reason to believe his children were being abused.”
Speak with Page six Kester could not comment on the marriage as he did not represent Ruby, but confirmed the couple were still legally married.
The Utah-based attorney also claimed that their marriage began to fall apart after Ruby started working with Hildebrandt.
“(He says) that she manipulated him along with Ruby, that she’s kind of spearheading the path toward destroying his life and destroying his family,” Kester said.
In her first public appearance last Friday, Ruby (pictured) contrasted her perfect social media presence when she learned she and her partner would remain behind bars without bail
Kevin is working to regain custody of his minor children, who remain in the custody of the state.
Ruby and Hildebrandt were arrested in late August on two counts of aggravated child abuse. They faced four more charges after being locked up.
In her first public appearance last Friday, Ruby contrasted her pitch-perfect social media presence when she learned she and her partner would remain behind bars without bail.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Ruby’s family revealed they hope she will be ‘put away forever’ as they distance themselves from their estranged relative.
Ruby’s sisters-in-law Cynthia and Jennifer Franke said they believed the abuse allegations against the mother of six, adding they were “shocked” and “sickened.”
During a court appearance last week, Ruby made astonishing claims that one of her minor children had sexually abused one of their siblings and other children.
‘I don’t know what to believe about her. I think she’s lying,” Cynthia said.
“She blames her two children to confirm what she did to her children. At this point I think she’ll say anything to save herself.’
Kevin (pictured) is trying to regain custody of his minor children, who are still under state custody
Cynthia, wife of Ruby’s husband Kevin’s older brother Alan, said: ‘We had no idea what was going on in the family.’
Jennifer Franke, 42, married to Kevin’s brother Aaron, said: ‘Ruby’s not really my thing. I never really liked her from day one. She always thought she was better than anyone else.”
“If you look up narcissist in the dictionary, there’s a picture of Ruby.”
Jennifer wanted to make it clear that her family is “not connected” to Ruby, adding that they have received a lot of hate since the arrest.
“None of us Frankes knew about the abuse,” she said, adding that she hasn’t seen Ruby or Kevin in about a decade.
Jennifer added that the rest of the Frankes looked down on Ruby for starting her popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers.
Ruby and Hildebrandt have both previously been criticized for their teachings on parenting – working with Hildebrandt’s life advice service ConneXions.
Jennifer said the family learned Jodi moved into the Franke family home between 2021 and 2022.
Jennifer said that at some point she heard that Ruby and Kevin were going to Jodi and her company for marriage counseling.
‘It was a cult. Kevin was in a men’s group at ConneXions, he had a checklist of what he needed to do to get better and if you did they would praise you and if you didn’t they would chastise you,” she said.
‘When Jodi moved into the family’s marital home in Springville, one of the first things she did was separate Ruby and Kevin, it was almost like the movie War of the Roses.
Ruby’s sisters-in-law Cynthia (left) and Jennifer Franke (right) tell DailyMail.com exclusively that she lies and ‘says anything to save herself’
“Ruby lived on one side of the house and Kevin on the other. Kevin couldn’t talk to Ruby unless Jodi was there.”
Kevin moved last July 2022. He lived in a mansion near his parents’ home, where he had a ConneXions nanny who would stay with him in the mansion and watch over him.
Jennifer said Ruby and Kevin’s eldest child Shari, 20, came to her and told her not to talk to her father.
“Shari told us that Kevin was kicked out last July 2022, at that time we never knew about Jodi and the influence she would have on the family.
‘Shari told us at the time: ‘My father doesn’t want to talk to me. He didn’t take phone calls, answer emails etc.”
She continued to tell Jennifer, “My dad thinks he’s a terrible person, they (Ruby and Jodi) are brainwashing him into believing he’s a bad person.”
‘Shari tried to contact her father after he moved out, but he blocked everyone on social media, his cell phone and email.
‘I feel sorry for Kevin, he’s almost brainwashed. I feel sorry for him.’
‘I’ve known Kevin since he was 11 years old, he’s a good guy. Ruby and Jodi brainwashed him into moving away and abandoning his family.
“After Ruby was arrested, my husband called Kevin and told him if he needed anything to let him know. Kevin responded by saying, “gaslighting is real. This is a mess.”
‘In some ways I think Kevin is also a victim to some extent, he was always the most nurturing in the relationship.
“I keep asking myself, why didn’t Kevin go back and get his kids. I have to believe none of us know the whole story.”
Ruby first rose to fame for her strict parenting style, which blew up online and made her “millions” of dollars, she claimed.
Ruby Franke’s home in Springville, Utah, is pictured. “Ruby lived on one side of the house and Kevin on the other. Kevin couldn’t talk to Ruby unless Jodi was there,” Ruby’s sister-in-law said
Ruby (left), who managed the now defunct channel 8 Passengers, was arrested on August 30 along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right).
She, along with husband Kevin, amassed more than 2.2 million subscribers for documenting their daily social media efforts.
The pair stopped uploading videos in January 2022 and the 8 Passengers page was completely removed from the website earlier this year.
When asked why she left YouTube, she said months later that she chose to stop uploading videos because she wanted to “save her children.”
In July, she was called out online after a video surfaced of her leaving her daughter hungry after the young girl forgot to make her own lunch for school.
In a video posted in 2020, Ruby said her daughter’s teacher texted her saying the youngster had nothing to eat for lunch.
She said all of her children are responsible for preparing their own lunch in the morning, so she wouldn’t bring food over for her daughter to teach her a lesson.
Ruby said, “My hope (is) that she will be hungry and come home and say ‘that was really painful to be hungry all day. I’ll make sure I always have lunch with me.’
“The natural result is that she will simply have to go hungry.”
It was this parenting style that led the women to fame and a huge following on YouTube.