In 2023, Jodi Hildebrandt was arrested alongside popular YouTuber Ruby Franke in Utah. The case garnered national attention due to Franke’s popularity on social media, where she gave fans an insight into her life with husband Kevin Franke and their six kids.
Things on Franke’s 8 Passengers YouTube channel took a turn when she struck up a friendship with Hildebrandt, a Utah-based counselor who founded a program called ConneXions. Viewers began noticing troubling behavior in Franke’s videos and started expressing concern over her strict parenting styles.
Everything came to a head when one of Franke’s sons, who was 12 years old at the time, escaped from Hildebrandt’ house and received help from a neighbor, who called 911 after witnessing the child’s emaciated body, tape around his legs, and more troubling signs. The call led to an investigation that eventually resulted in Franke and Hildebrandt’s deaths.
Why was Jodi Hildebrandt arrested?
After Franke’s son sought help from Hildebrandt’s neighbor in August 2023, police searched her Utah home and found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a similar troubling state. She and Franke were charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse.
According to a press release, both defendants were specifically accused of “causing or permitting serious physical injury to the victims in three different ways: (1) a combination of multiple physical injuries or torture, (2) starvation or malnutrition that jeopardizes life, and (3) causing severe emotional harm.”
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Franke and her younger children moved into Hildebrandt’s home in May 2023. At the time, the YouTuber and her husband were separated in an effort to save their marriage, per Hildebrandt’s instructions in their ConneXions classes. During their search of Hildebrandt’s home, police found Franke’s journals, where she described the abuse she inflicted upon her two youngest children, which included physical labor in the scorching sun.
In December 2023, Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. Days earlier, Franke also pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse as part of a plea deal, in which she agreed to testify against Hildebrandt. However, she never had to testify after Hildebrandt entered her own guilty plea.
How long is Jodi Hildebrandt’s prison sentence?
Hildebrandt and Franke were both sentenced to four consecutive prison terms that could range from one to 15 years each. The length of the prison sentences will be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
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The women received their sentences in February 2024. Their prison sentences could range from four to 60 years based on the charges, but Utah law prevents consecutive sentences from exceeding 30 years, so that would be the maximum time they serve, according to Insider.
Where is Jodi Hildebrandt now?
Hildebrandt is currently serving her prison sentence at Utah State Correctional Facility. In December 2026, she will make her first appearance in front of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
“I hope that Jodi serves more time than [the minimum] and I hope that she isn’t out of prison until everybody is completely confident that she’s no longer a risk,” prosecutor Eric Clarke said. “And to get there, she’s going to have to acknowledge that she has done wrong and that you can’t use religion as a means to justify your crazy behavior.”
Clarke said there are telephone conversations that will be provided to the Board of Pardons and Parole which feature Hildebrandt “repeatedly [claiming] that she is the victim and the children are the perpetrators.”
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, Tuesday, December 30, Netflix.
