2023-09-02 18:44:00
Ruby Franke and her work partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in Ivins, southern Utah, Wednesday after a scrawny, starving child was picked up by the neighborhood, local police said.
“The miner appeared emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and construction tape around the extremities. The miner was asking for food and water,” authorities said in a statement.
Another minor “in similar physical conditions of malnutrition” was found by the police in the residence. Both children were taken to hospital.
The two women were charged Friday with aggravated child abuse, local media reported, and were still in pretrial detention Saturday, according to county jail officials.
Ruby Franke, a mother of six, made a name for herself on social media thanks to her now deactivated YouTube channel “8 Passengers”, in which she portrayed her family’s daily life and promoted strict educational rules, including starvation as a punishment.
In excerpts from her videos, shared by Internet users since her arrest, Ms. Franke threatened her children with “losing the privilege of eating” or filming one of her sons who explained that he had been sleeping on a pouf for several months after having “lost his room” following a bad joke.
The “8 Passengers” channel has been suspended by YouTube. According to American media, the family was followed at one time by nearly 2.5 million subscribers.
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