A harrowing new Netflix documentary has laid bare the full, horrific extent of the abuse suffered by the children of family vlogger Ruby Franke, revealing the pivotal and sinister role played by family counsellor Jodi Hildebrandt.
The Descent into Darkness
Ruby Franke, 43, rose to fame by documenting her family's life with her six children and then-husband Kevin Franke on the YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which she started in 2015. Her world shifted in 2019 when she met therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, 56, through their shared Mormon church community. Hildebrandt, a powerful voice in the church and founder of a life coaching business, quickly became Franke's close friend and a constant presence in the family's life.
Warning signs had already appeared in Franke's online content, where she shared controversial punishment methods. In 2020, child protective services were called after viewers petitioned over her forcing her then 15-year-old son to sleep on a bean bag for seven months. She also filmed herself refusing to take a forgotten lunch to her six-year-old daughter. However, no one knew the true nightmare that was unfolding.
Torture Masked as Discipline
After Franke's marriage ended in 2022 and the YouTube channel stopped, Hildebrandt encouraged Franke to move into her remote £4 million mansion in Ivins, Utah, hundreds of miles from the family home. Hildebrandt became Franke's personal coach, and the home became a prison of twisted beliefs. Franke's diaries show she became fixated on the devil, labelling one of her own children as "Satanic".
The abuse reached its peak between May and August 2023. Franke's two youngest children were subjected to relentless torture. Her 12-year-old son was forced to perform physical labour outside for weeks without shoes in blazing sunshine, suffering severe burns. He was bound with ropes and handcuffs by Hildebrandt, causing deep wounds that tore muscle and tissue on his wrists and ankles. These agonising injuries were then treated with cayenne pepper and honey and covered with duct tape.
Both children were systematically denied adequate food and water. The boy was punished for drinking water without permission. His nine-year-old sister was similarly forced to work outside barefoot and was repeatedly told she was "evil and possessed".
Rescue and Reckoning
The horror ended on 30 August 2023, when Franke's emaciated 12-year-old son escaped and knocked on a neighbour's door, pleading for food and water. The neighbour saw his wounds and called the police. Authorities found his sister in a similar state inside Hildebrandt's mansion.
Franke and Hildebrandt were swiftly arrested. In February 2024, both women were sentenced to four consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison. At her sentencing, a remorseful Franke told the court she had lived in a "dark delusion" and had taken from her children "all that was soft, and safe and good".
The four minor children were placed in state custody before their father, Kevin Franke—who had been forced out of the home over a year earlier—was granted full custody after finalising his divorce. The family's two eldest children, Shari and Chad, were adults living independently. Shari, now 22, published a memoir in January 2025. Chad, now 20, has become an advocate for child protection.
The full story of their manipulation and the children's suffering is now detailed in the Netflix documentary Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, serving as a chilling cautionary tale about influence, extremism, and the hidden faces of abuse.
