Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Infamous: The Truth about Ruby Franke

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Listen on the show ‘Infamous' to a story about a stay-at-home mom Ruby Franke. She starts a Youtube channel, joining a popular niche of Mormon women sharing their lives online as mommy vloggers. While Ruby gains a following for her videos of the everyday life of a big Mormon family, we hear from Ruby's former neighbhor, who sensed that something dark was going on in her home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Frankies were a picture-perfect influencer family. We're the drivers of the eight passengers. We're mom and dad. A mom, Ruby, a dad, and six kids. On social media, they called themselves eight passengers. They were blonde, fit, and color coordinated. They go to church with their LDS congregation every Sunday. All right, you guys, we're going to go check out another church. I'm really, really excited.

But everything wasn't as it seemed. Mom influencer Ruby Franke was strict. As a Mormon and as a parent. I'm only going to say it one more time and then you're going to lose the privilege to eat dinner. Ruby became close with another Mormon woman, a family therapist named Jody Hildebrandt. Welcome to Connections.

I'm Jody Hildebrandt. So glad you're with us. And Jody was even stricter. My dad's a bishop in the church. They couldn't be more Mormon, but in Jody's eyes, they were heathens. She would go into possession mode. She would talk in, like, different voices.

The voices would say, she's ours. She is Satan's bride. Jodie's therapy punished lustful husbands who'd watched porn. I didn't see my daughter for a year. I missed birthdays and holidays with my kids when they were young, and I'm never going to get that back. Jodi encouraged mothers to punish their children, too. And Ruby Franke, ever the disciplinarian, obliged.

Adults have a really hard time understanding that children can be full of evil and what that takes to fight it. I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help. He's emaciated, he's got tape around his legs, he's hungry and he's thirsty. Does he know his mom's name? Ruby Frankie is his mom's name. The podcast Infamous is covering Ruby Frankie right now. The truth about Ruby Frankie is about the world of Mormonism, parenting influencers, and a secret therapy group that ruined lives.

Listen to Infamous wherever you get your podcasts.