The world was shocked when reports of former mummy blogger Ruby Franke‘s arrest on charges of child abuse hit the news cycle on Wednesday last week. But now, it turns out that neighbors and family of the ‘8 Passengers’ YouTuber had previously contacted authorities over her parenting style for “almost a year” before her arrest.
NBC News reported that two neighbours who wished to remain anonymous, had reported Franke to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services after allegedly seeing her worrying behaviour towards her children.
“Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief, because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,” a male neighbor said.
The male neighbour alleged that Franke also withheld food from her children – which was behaviour shared on her YouTube chanel – and alleged that Franke would leave her young children alone in the house for extended periods of time. He also claimed that the children would wander the streets during school hours looking for kids to play with.
“She would just knock on your door and say, ‘Hi, can your kids play?’” he recalled.
“And we’re like: ‘Well, they’re at school. They won’t be home for three or four hours.’ And she’d be like, ‘I’ll wait.’ She was like a lost child.”
Another female neighbour claimed she, along with others in the neighbourhood, had tried to get authorities to intervene on multiple occasions.
“I’m really angry because I spoke up. Other people spoke up. And nothing happened,” she said.
“I want those kids to know that the community loves them and wants them to be safe. If people knew the amount of tears and time spent talking with law enforcement and CPS (Child Protective Services) over the last year — I want people to understand that. And I want those kids to know that, because I think they thought they were abandoned.”
Page Six reported that Franke had kicked her husband, Kevin Franke, out of the house last year.
In case you missed it, mother-of-six Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested on Wednesday under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse. In Utah, this definition of this charge includes starvation, broken bones, head injuries from hitting or shaking and suffocaiton.
Authorities were called after an “emaciated” child with duct tape around their wrists and ankles escaped through a window of Hidebrandt’s home to ask a neighbour for food and water. The neighbour called the police, who soon found another child at the home. Both children were taken to hospital.
Following the arrest on Wednesday, Franke’s eldest daughter Shari, who is 20 years old, took to her Instagram Story to make a statement.
“Hi all. Today has been a big day,” she wrote.
“Me and my family are just 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. Kids are safe, but there’s a long road ahead. please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.”
Franke’s sisters, Ellie Mecham, Bonnie Hoellein and Julie Deru also made a joint statement condeming Franke’s behaviour which stated:
“For the last three years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe.
“Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.”
Hoellein has since posted a YouTube video, which has now been made private, where she claimed that she and her sisters did as much as they “could legally” to help the children.
“The only thing that we ultimately care about is that our nieces and nephews are safe and they are,” she said, per Page Six.
To read more about the troubling scenario, click here.
