Current:Home > reviewsYouTuber Ruby Franke's Chilling Journal Entries Revealed After Prison Sentence for Child Abuse -NextFrontier Finance
YouTuber Ruby Franke's Chilling Journal Entries Revealed After Prison Sentence for Child Abuse
View
Date:2025-04-17 09:16:22
Content warning: This story discusses child abuse.
Details into Ruby Franke's horrific mistreatment of her kids have come to light.
More than a month after the disgraced parenting influencer was sentenced to four to 30 years in prison on child abuse charges, prosecutors released scans from a handwritten diary belonging to Franke that detailed her behavior toward her children.
In the journal, which had the names of Franke's kids redacted to protect their privacy, the 42-year-old described one child as "Satanic."
"He slithers & sneaks around looking for opportunities when no one is watching & then he scurries," she wrote in an entry dated July 10, 2023, which was the boy's 12th birthday. "If he wants to emulate the savior, he needs to be 100% obedient with exactness. No wavering, no hiding."
Elsewhere in the diary, the mom of six detailed how she confronted the same son over his "deviant behavior" by holding him underwater in the family pool.
"I told him, 'Give your demon friend a message for me. I will not rest. I will not stop,'" she wrote. "'The devil lies and says I'm hurting you, abusing you.'"
In addition to her son, Franke also believed another one of her children was possessed by a demon. In multiple diary entries, the YouTuber described her 9-year-old daughter as "sinful" and "manipulative."
"These selfish, selfish children who desire only to take, lie, and attack have zero understanding of god's love for them," Franke wrote in a July 23, 2023 entry. "Oppositional force is required for growth, development and maturity. [They] have never experienced oppositional force. They are very weak-minded."
Throughout the journal, Franke also seemingly detailed a variety punishments she imposed on her kids, including beating, poking, withholding food and water and forcing them to jump on a trampoline.
"The world we live in today does not support children being uncomfortable," she wrote in an Aug. 15, 2023 entry. "They, the adults, are uncomfortable w/ children being uncomfortable. And so children are comforted, entertained, distracted from the need to confess + change. Stripping down a child's world to the basics of beans + rice + hard work would be considered abuse. And it's not. It's necessary for the prideful child."
Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in August after the 12-year-old boy ran to a neighbor's home for help, according to the Washington County Attorney's Office. Upon further investigation, prosecutors said in a case summary that Franke and Hildebrandt—a mental health counselor—"appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary to teach the children how to properly repent for imagined 'sins' and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies."
Three months following their arrest, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, while Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of the same charge as part of a plea deal.
Like Franke, Hildebrandt was ordered to spend four to 30 years in prison—the maximum sentence for this kind of an offense—when they were both sentenced in February.
E! News has reached out to Franke and Hildebrandt's attorneys for comment on the journal entries but hasn't heard back.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (38)
Related
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Lawsuits buffet US offshore wind projects, seeking to end or delay them
- Tupperware, company known for its plastic containers, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- California’s cap on health care costs is the nation’s strongest. But will patients notice?
- RFK Jr. grilled again about moving to California while listing New York address on ballot petition
- Commitment to build practice facility helped Portland secure 15th WNBA franchise
- Maternal deaths surged in Texas in 2020, 2021
- MLB playoff picture: Wild card standings, latest 2024 division standings
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- Eva Mendes Shares Her and Ryan Gosling's Kids Are Not Impressed With Her Movies
Ranking
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Refugees in New Hampshire turn to farming for an income and a taste of home
- Houston officer shot responding to home invasion call; 3 arrested: Police
- Senator’s son to change plea in 2023 crash that killed North Dakota deputy
- Mega Millions winning numbers for August 6 drawing: Jackpot climbs to $398 million
- Demolition to begin on long-troubled St. Louis jail
- Travis Kelce’s Jaw-Droppingly Luxe Birthday Gift to Patrick Mahomes Revealed
- Leaders of Democratic protest of Israel-Hamas war won’t endorse Harris but warn against Trump
Recommendation
Immigration issues sorted, Guatemala runner Luis Grijalva can now focus solely on sports
Blue Jackets open camp amid lingering grief over death of Johnny Gaudreau
What NFL games are today: Schedule, time, how to watch Thursday action
Weekly applications for US jobless benefits fall to the lowest level in 4 months
Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
Pregnant Gypsy Rose Blanchard Details “Unexpected” Symptoms of Second Trimester
Emily in Paris' Lucas Bravo Reveals He Wasn't Originally Cast as Gabriel
Tulane’s public health school secures major gift to expand