The camera was always rolling in the Franke household. Every morning was choreographed for an audience that wanted to see perfectly represented family moments. Disciplinary lessons that stayed between the family were now shown to millions as teaching moments for parents and children. Ruby Franke, the mother behind the popular “8 Passengers” YouTube channel, made her channel a focal point of wisdom, her strict parenting style showed both admiration and controversy. Behind the scenes of the thumbnails and staged smiles was a family going through much more than what people knew. The kid’s eyes seemed to stare toward the camera if searching for an escape. The virtual world that Ruby had created had conflicted with her morals and care for her children and the line between content and exploitation blurred.
Ruby always claimed she was teaching her children responsibility. Responsibility may not be the right word for a six-year-old forced to sleep on a beanbag as punishment, or a teenager sent to school without lunch as a “natural consequence.” Ruby told herself it was discipline. Though social media did not agree. Ruby Franke was a devout woman who filled her journals with passages about demons, possessions, and the dangers of temptation. She believed that every mistake was a gateway to bigger and worse sins. On camera, Ruby’s image was curated to show a family united. The Franke family had become a small-town sensation, their subscriber count climbing into the hundreds of thousands. When interviewed, Ruby said the channel helped her “live in the present and enjoy the kids.” Yet when the cameras stopped rolling, the Franke household was anything but joyful. Her children tiptoed around her strict rules, careful not to make any mistakes around her so they would not be punished, which may end up on film as well.
A mistake her son would never forget –playing pranks on his siblings changed his life for the next seven months. The night Ruby pulled out the sleeping bag, Chase stood in the doorway of his room, frozen. His bed frame gone, and the mattress missing. He tried to make sense of it, but he knew whatever his mom took action, she meant it. Ruby set the sleeping bag down in the corner with a calm look, like this was just another routine chore. Chase tried to explain himself, hesitating and panicking. He said that they were meaningless small pranks on his siblings and none of them were that upset. But Ruby didn’t change her mind. She told him mistakes had consequences and he had to deal with them. The normal comfortable sleep he was used to was gone after that, all he knew was the cold hard floor. Chase learned not to complain, and to deal with it silently. He didn’t know how long this punishment would last, but it didn’t matter anymore. Ruby continued to film the family’s life, angling out the sleeping bed so people wouldn’t notice. But that did not stop viewers from realizing that an entire bed frame was missing from the room. Many comments began to fill the comments asking questions that Ruby all ignored. She said that people love to criticize happy families and that people don’t know how to raise families. Though one day when a knock came on the door, a social worker stood on their front porch, and it was more apparent that someone wanted to confirm what was really going on in the Franke household. Though, because of the credibility and respect the family channel has surmounted over the years, the case was dismissed.
As weeks had passed, the kids couldn’t bear to handle the abuse any longer. One sunny afternoon, Frank’s twelve year old son had broken free of the restraints that held him. While being bruised and malnourished the boy walked to his neighbors houses hoping anyone could help him and his siblings. Though to no avail, the first two houses he arrived at did not open their doors. As hope was dwindling for the boy he went to the third house but to his surprise was greeted by an older man through a ring camera. The boy hesitating in his words, tears being held within, said through the camera, “ If you could take me to the nearest police station… well, actually just one [favor] is fine.” Immediately after the boy uttered these words, the older man and his wife stepped outside and sat the boy down on the benches and began to talk with him. Not wanting to reveal too much information out of fear of what could happen to him again; he stayed silent as the homeowners looked at his emaciated body. The boy sitting down only able to keep his gaze pointed towards the floor mustered the strength to ask for food and water as he had not eaten in so long. The phone call with the local police station did not last long as the homeowner was holding back tears describing the state the boy was in–urging them to arrive immediately. Sirens illuminating the entire neighborhood was the only thing to be heard. Still in fear and shock of the events that happened to him, Franke’s son led the police to the house where he and his other siblings had been abused. As the police searched the house they were able to find the boy’s sister in a closet, teary eyed with her head shaved in a similar physical state as the boy. Rushed to the hospital for their injuries the siblings were free from what they suffered. All that was left for Ruby Franke was to atone for what she had done to her family.
The arrest of Ruby Frank was news that an immediate and distant family had discovered. Ruby’s eldest daughter, Shari Franke, was the first family member to respond publicly. She turned this inner turmoil that she had been dealing with into a statement of relief and resolve.Shari had distanced herself from her mother’s increasingly strict and isolating parenting methods for years, but after the arrest this took a new turn. She went on instagram sharing updates of her suspicion of things being immoral and working with authorities to make sure her siblings were safe. She made it clear this was no longer a family affair and an injustice that needed to be brought to the attention of the whole world. Ruby’s sisters did similar actions, breaking their silence of the concern they had over the years. Bonnie Hoellein, one of Ruby’s sisters, spoke out publicly, sharing that Ruby had distanced herself from the family a long time before the arrests. Bonnie said they had seen “weird” parenting practices in Ruby’s home, but they had explained they did not know it was to the extent the police had described the extent. The sisters expressed heartbreak, feeling accountability for not stepping in further when they noticed such weird behaviors. The legal consequences for Ruby were swift and straightforward as there was no strong defense for her actions. The arrest was the end of her career as a family vlogger and the start of her life as a criminal and child abuser that would be shown for the world to see. The charges against her were multiple counts of aggravated child abuse that. As the investigation continued, more details of the Franke household’s dysfunction came to fruition. In court, Ruby’s demeanor changed from the confident, assertive mother she showed herself to be online to a defendant facing the reality of potential decades long sentences. The judge had given her four consecutive terms of up to 15 years each so that this may never occur in whatever household she may be in again. The influencer who built a brand on teaching others how to be a parent and educate children was now the face of what happens when individuals cross the line between the safety of their kids and control for power. The family continued to live on sharing their story past this dark moment that had damaged their youth. Shari continued to advocate for her siblings, by using her platform to share messages of hope and resilience. Ruby’s sisters remained strong on keeping their focus on the children’s recovery and well-being, and not on reconciling with Ruby. What happened to Ruby Franke serves as a reminder of how the pursuit of power and fame can lead to damage that may take years to rebuild.
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