This article contains mentions of child abuse.
Feb. 27 Hulu released the three-part documentary “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke,” detailing the history of the infamous family-YouTuber account, “8 Passengers.”
The 8 Passengers YouTube account captured the lives of the so-called “perfect” Franke family, a family part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — also known as Mormons — living in Utah with six kids. The account, which originally showed wholesome family content living their everyday lives, switched when tensions arose between family members over the years. Last February, Ruby Franke was sentenced to at least four years in prison, but could be incarcerated for as long as 60 years, for child abuse.
“Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke” drew 7.9M global views in its first five days of streaming, making it the biggest docuseries debut on Hulu to date, per Disney.
The documentary mainly features Kevin Franke (husband of Ruby), Shari Franke (eldest daughter) and Chad Franke (eldest son). The four youngest children’s identities have been protected for privacy reasons, but the other three family members provided detailed accounts of some of their most traumatic stories—with never-before-seen footage—throughout the series.
Episode 1: “Abundance”
The first part of this episode provided a lot of background on the Franke family. Kevin talks about how he and Ruby met, how the YouTube account started and where the issues began.
At the peak of their channel, the Franke family earned more than $100,000 per month thanks to Shari and Chad, as they were the “channel favorites.” During this peak, they received an outpouring of responses from people, telling them how their family restored their faith in God.
Kevin describes how this made Ruby believe, “She was meant to be some sort of instrument in the hand of God.” This may seem like just a small comment, but it sets up the context of most of Ruby’s actions in the documentary.
Shortly after this, the children’s attitudes changed, as they grew tired of their vulnerable moments being shared on YouTube. Any logical person can understand this, especially as videos titled “Bra Shopping with Brothers,” are posted online. No teenage girl wants some of their most private moments posted on the internet for the world to see.
During this time, Chad grew the most rebellious, defying any authority. At his parents’ request, he started therapy with Jodi Hildebrandt, who was a recommendation from another friend.
When he first met Jodi, she immediately called him out on his lies, which really pleased Ruby. This led to him having almost everything stripped away — including things like his phone and Xbox—to learn to live this “honest, responsible, humble” lifestyle.
Jodi advised Chad on how to live a more spiritual lifestyle, emphasizing truth and distortion. Although he showed serious progress in his parents’ eyes, the public view of the Franke family drastically changed.
In a YouTube video, Chad revealed that he had his bedroom taken away for seven months and was sleeping on a beanbag, leading to major public backlash with viewers pointing out child abuse.
After this moment in the documentary, behind-the-scenes footage was played, showing years of verbal child abuse. Chad mentions how he was physically beaten, and Shari had to help him clean blood off the walls.
For years, before the “major” incidents, these kids were brutally abused, while being portrayed as a “perfect family” on YouTube. Seeing how much went on behind the scenes was terrifying, and more was yet to come.
Episode 2: “Distortion”
Once the Franke family was “cancelled” by the public, Ruby became much more religious, elevating her partnership with Jodi and her business, Connexions. Connexions allowed Jodi to hold events like conferences, where she would reach a large group of people, teaching them how to be a “perfect” person — an ideal highly valued in Mormon culture — using the Frankes’ fame to her advantage.
In Connexions men’s group, they elevated Kevin to the status of the “perfect man” by protecting and providing for his family. They started working closer with Jodi, sharing personal details of their lives—including talking about sex—at Connexions conferences, with the hopes of increasing their audience and influence.
Jodi, Rub, and Kevin believed the devil was essentially possessing Jodi, so they invited her to move in with them. Shari was kicked out of her room so Jodi could sleep there.
Shari began researching Jodi and found out that she was not a licensed psychologist, as she claimed to be, raising concerns from Shari’s perspective. Her parents dismissed her, and Chad was brainwashed into thinking that she was so morally and spiritually correct that people just wanted to discredit her.
Jodi was now clearly damaging the Franke family’s relationships. After some troubles in Kevin and Ruby’s relationship, Chad admits to watching pornography and making out with girls behind his family’s back, wanting to be truthful with Jodi, whom he was still having sessions with. Ruby, shocked at first by her son’s actions, then “concluded” that Jodi’s possessions came from Chad lying and not living a life of truth, deciding to kick him out of their house.
Ruby believed that the only way to ward off the spirits was for Chad to leave the house. After kicking Chad out, she used it as an excuse to almost kick Kevin out, as well, claiming she wanted a break from their relationship.
After Ruby and Kevin had severed communication with Shari, Shari attempted to talk to her mother again, and Ruby claimed Shari had been “deceived.” Shari knew she had lost her mother, and she was devastated.
Episode 3: “Truth”
Now, it’s only Ruby caring for the four youngest kids. The neighbors reported the kids to be withdrawn and borderline depressed, and there were growing concerns from the entire neighborhood.
The neighbors realized that Ruby’s car had been gone for days, and the children were being left home alone. One of the neighbors contacted Shari, who contacted the police, asking for the children to be checked in on.
Many of the neighbors stepped up as witnesses, as it was adamant that child neglect was occurring due to Ruby. Child Protective Services opened a case, but once it was known that there was no sign of physical abuse, it was closed, and no further investigation could be done.
Flash forward to August 2023, where the youngest Franke son had escaped Jodi’s house in St. George, Utah, begging for help from the neighbors, with duct tape around his ankles and wrists. The police were called, the son was put into the ambulance and further investigation was to be done. The police were able to search Jodi’s house, where they found the youngest daughter with her head shaven and malnourished.
The police continued their investigation of the house, where they discovered rope, handcuffs and a cayenne pepper/honey paste, which had been put on the children’s wounds to hurt them. The police confirmed all of these details through Ruby’s journal. She had documented every single thing she had done to them in a journal, claiming that her children were possessed by demons due to their lack of obedience, justifying—in her head—all of her actions against them.
After these findings were released, Kevin and Chad realized they were brainwashed and began to try to rebuild their lives and the family’s relationships, especially when it came to Shari. Ruby and Jodi pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, potentially serving up to 30 years in prison.
The documentary highlighted how easy it is to portray a perfect life online when so much is happening behind the scenes that people will never truly understand. The idea of family vlogging raises controversy, leading states like California to set laws in place in attempts to stop this type of exploitation and abuse. To learn more about the family vlogging law, read California’s Senate Bill number 764, here.
“Devil in the Family: the Fall of Ruby Franke” can be streamed on Hulu.
This article was written by MaryKate Stepchuk. She can be reached at marykate.stepchuk@marquette.edu.
