Shocking journal entries from parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke reveal horrific extent of her child abuse
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Excerpts of Ruby Franke's journal that she wrote while abusing her children have been revealed.
Franke was arrested on suspicion of child abuse in August 2023, which she later pleaded guilty to.
Police were called to Jodi Hildebrandt's Utah home - Franke's business partner - last summer after one of Franke's children fled the property to a neighbor's house for help.
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Hildebrandt's home was then searched where another of Franke's children, a 10-year-old girl, was found in a malnourished condition like her brother.
They were rushed off to hospital at the time.
Franke, a mom-of-six, was later charged with six counts of felony child abuse.
In February of this year, Franke was jailed for a maximum of 30 years, while Hildebrandt (who was arrested at the same time as Franke) received the same.
Now, further details of the extent of the abuse Franke inflicted on her children has been revealed in her journal.
In her entries that were released by the Washington County Attorney’s Office, the 42-year-old continuously claimed that her children had been 'possessed' by the devil.
In one excerpt from one of her son's birthdays on July 10 2023, Franke referred to her child as a 'snake'.
The entries are redacted and refer to her children as 'E' and 'R'.
"It’s [R’s] birthday," Franke penned. "He doesn’t even know what month it is…I told [R] he emulates a snake. He slithers and sneaks around when no one is watching then he scurries."
She went on to say that her son was supposedly 'in and out of possession'.
Elsewhere Franke penned about her depriving her kids - whom she called 'spawns of Satan' - of food and water, as well as making them sleep outside.
One of Franke's children even made a rhyme about her abuse.
It went, as per the disgraced YouTuber's journal: "My mom starves me and calls it fasting. My mom won’t lift a finger and bring me food because all she does is lie on the bed and eat brownies."
Franke also penned about one of her children requesting more variety of food when they weren't fasting, and for a 'soft bed'.
Apparently her 12-year-old son would often soil himself and, on one occasion, this alerted Franke to the fact he was 'stealing' water as 'his poop was too watery to be fasting'.
Upon her sentencing last month, Franke apologized to her children and described herself as being 'so disoriented that I believed dark was light and right was wrong'.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Niamh Shackleton