Neighbors say they tried to help Ruby Franke’s kids before YouTuber’s arrest on child abuse charges
www.nbcnews.com
One neighbor said she called Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services seeking help for the kids.

Neighbors of Ruby Franke, the woman behind the 8 Passengers family YouTube channel who was arrested this week on child abuse charges, said several people in the close-knit community were concerned when police officers arrived at Franke’s home in Springville, Utah on Wednesday.

Franke was sometimes criticized on social media for how she treated her children in YouTube videos. The two neighbors, who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity citing concerns for their safety, said that they and others who lived near the family had long been worried for the safety of the children, and that neighbors in the community had previously alerted the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.

  • Margot Robbie
    9•1 year ago

    In one video, posted in June 2020, Franke’s then-15-year-old son said he’d slept on a beanbag chair for seven months after being banned from his shared bedroom for pranking his younger brother into believing he was being taken to Disneyland.

    In another video, Franke says she refused to bring food to her then-6-year-old after the child had forgotten her lunch at home. She defended that move, too, saying it was necessary to teach her daughter personal responsibility and that she was fed immediately upon returning home.

    There are also videos of Franke threatening to cut the head off her child’s teddy bear, taking away the children’s Christmas presents and sending her oldest boy to a behavioral camp where youth spend a minimum of 49 days in the wilderness with little gear.

    Police said Franke’s malnourished son escaped out a window with his arms and legs covered in duct tape, fleeing to a neighbor’s house seeking food and water.

    https://www.npr.org/2023/09/01/1197289217/ruby-franke-utah-youtube-child-abuse

    Just awful. Awful. I wish I hadn’t looked it up.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•1 year ago

      Wtf that’s the stuff they talked about in her YouTube videos? How did it take her so long to get investigated.