To find out more about the case of 8 Passengers YouTuber and convicted child abuser Ruby Franke, here’s how to watch the documentary IMPACT x Nightline: Ruby Franke: A Momfluencer’s Double Life? and if it’s streaming.
In the arena of new true crime, family vloggers have been in the spotlight amid Ruby Franke’s arrest. While giving insight into her family life with the YouTube channel 8 Passengers, the Utah-based Mormon momfluencer came under scrutiny for the questionable punishment techniques she used on her six children.
Franke faced backlash for a number of videos in which she discussed sending her son to a troubled teen camp, forcing him to sleep on a bean bag for months, and refusing to bring her six-year-old daughter’s lunch to school to teach her a lesson. But these details were just the tip of the iceberg — when one of her children climbed out of a window to get help, police uncovered years of extreme abuse.
Franke was arrested in August 2023, as was her “mentor,” Jodi Hildebrandt. In February, they received their sentences: between four to 30 years in prison. To find out more about the shocking case, here’s how to watch the true crime film IMPACT x Nightline: Ruby Franke: A Momfluencer’s Double Life? and what it’s about. Warning: Some may find this content distressing.
How to watch the Ruby Franke documentary
IMPACT x Nightline: Ruby Franke: A Momfluencer’s Double Life? is currently available to stream on Hulu.
The documentary dropped in October 2023 but is garnering interest once more amid Franke and Hildebrandt’s sentencing.
Is it on Netflix?
No, the Ruby Franke documentary isn’t on Netflix right now.
We’ll keep you posted if this changes, or if a new documentary or series is made about the 8 Passengers scandal.
What is the documentary about?
IMPACT x Nightline: Ruby Franke: A Momfluencer’s Double Life? centers on the rise and fall of the momfluencer-turned-convicted-child-abuser. This includes her rise to fame as a Mormon mom, who was known for her strict parenting style.
The doc came out as the case was unfolding, giving a detailed look into the allegations, while examining the warning signs of Franke and Hildebrandt’s abuse.
Hildebrandt’s niece Jessi says in the film: “We knew that Jodi does this. We knew 14, almost 15 years ago that she’s already done this to me.”
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Franke and Hildebrandt worked alongside each other at the latter’s parent counseling service, ConneXions. Their arrests took place after two of Franke’s children, her 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, were found “malnourished and with open wounds, with duct tape covering their extremities.”
What happened after?
In December 2023, the pair pleaded guilty to four out of six counts of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse. Ruby’s husband, Kevin Franke, has since filed for divorce, while their four youngest children have been placed into state custody.
On February 20, both women were sentenced to a minimum of four years and a maximum of 30 years in prison. Prosecutor Eric Clarke said (via Independent) that Franke’s children were “regularly denied food, water, beds to sleep in and virtually all forms of entertainment.”
He added: “Had the older of the children not had the courage to run away and ask a neighbor to call the police, heaven only knows how much longer he could have survived in that situation.”
Franke argued in court that she was under the influence of her business partner, but she said in a statement: “I take full accountability for my choices and it is my preference that I serve a prison sentence.”
Franke’s son had escaped from Hildebrandt’s home, telling police that she put cayenne pepper on their wounds, which were caused by being tied up with rope.
Hildebrandt also admitted to tasking a number of the 8 Passengers children into forced labor in the Utah sun, as well as coercing Franke’s youngest daughter to jump into a cactus and run barefoot in the blazing heat. The children were told these extreme punishments were acts of love.
Back in March, new details surrounding the case were released by the Washington County Attorney’s Office, including police body cam footage of Franke and Hildebrandt’s arrest, crime scene footage and photos, interrogation tapes, and diary entries in which Franke describes torturing her children and suggesting they were possessed by demons.
For more on the case, find out how to watch Ruby Franke: Momfluencer to Felon. You can also read about 50 Cent’s P Diddy documentary, how to watch the Burning Sun documentary in the US, and whether Ashley Madison’s Sam and Nia Rader are still together.