Beep Beep! Let’s hop into the dark side of family youtubers, more specifically, 8 Passengers. 8 passengers was a well-known family channel that had over 4 million subscribers before the mom, Rubi Franke, was exposed for child abuse.
8 passengers was wildly successful since 2015 and was a household name that so many people loved. Mothers would look up to and take advice from Rubi Franke, since she appeared to have the perfect family and be the perfect mother. On August 30, 2023, Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in Washington County, Utah, and charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse of two of Franke’s children.
It started when a video was released from a neighbors ring doorbell that included Frankes 12-year old son ringing their doorbell asking for water, and a ride to the closest police station. The young boy seemed to have bloody duck tape covering his limbs, and was extremely dehydrated, so the neighbors called 911. The police then searched Jodi Hildebrandt’s, Rubi’s best friend, home and found another child. The police were met with resistance when they arrived at Hildebrandt’s, with her refusing to talk and step outside of her home. The police then forcefully entered the home and found Frankes 9-year old daughter, hiding in a closet, malnourished and with a shaved head. They also found more evidence of child abuse and neglect like rope, duct tape, a cayenne pepper paste that was used on the childrens wounds, handcuffs, and dirty bandages.
After the search of Hildebrandt’s house, the police then searched Franke’s home in Springville, Utah. Nobody in the Franke family was present at the house, later the 2 remaining children were found at a family friend’s home in another part of Utah. All that the officers could find were diaries that Franke wrote, including horrifying evidence about the abuse of her own children. A few of the things that Franke wrote about included, forcing her children to pick up glass in a cemetery, having her children sleep outside and work for long hours in the desert, shaving her daughter’s head forcefully, believing that her children were “spawns of the devil, and needed to be praying, fasting, and finding god”, forcing her son’s head underwater and plugging his nose, and starving them. These diaries further proved her involvement in the abuse and led her and Hildebrandt to be arrested.
The oldest child, Shari, was cut off by the family after leaving for college. After the arrest of her mother, she has spoken out about her childhood experience and said that as a child, she was also physically abused by her mother. Shari now helps her siblings in navigating life without their mother, and has written a book about her mother and being a victim of family influencing. “Sometimes I’ll, see myself in the mirror and I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, I look like her,’ or ‘I sound like her,’ but I don’t wanna be anything like her,” Shari Franke said.
The arrest of Rubi Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt has led to internet users being more aware about who they give their attention to. “Mommy Bloggers” and family youtube channels have been thrown to the side by consumers due to the exploitation of children and the increased awareness that the horrifying 8 passengers case has brought to the world. Hopefully in the future, a case like this will never happen again.
