Current:Home > FinanceYouTuber Ruby Franke's Chilling Journal Entries Revealed After Prison Sentence for Child Abuse -EverVision Finance
YouTuber Ruby Franke's Chilling Journal Entries Revealed After Prison Sentence for Child Abuse
View
Date:2025-04-15 18:32:47
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! (76)
Related
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Gun deaths are rising in Wisconsin. We take a look at why.
- Sam Bankman-Fried testimony: FTX founder testifies on Alameda Research concerns
- Biden plans to step up government oversight of AI with new 'pressure tests'
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Death toll lowered to 7 in Louisiana super fog highway crashes involving 160 vehicles
- National First Responders Day deals, discounts at Lowe's, Firehouse Subs, Hooters and more
- Adele Pays Tribute to Matthew Perry at Las Vegas Concert Hours After His Death
- Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
- Maine police alerted weeks ago about threats from mass shooting suspect
Ranking
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- Gun control advocates press gridlocked Congress after mass shooting in Maine
- Bangladesh top court commutes death sentences of 7 militants to life in prison for 2016 cafe attack
- Steelers QB Kenny Pickett ruled out of game vs. Jaguars after rib injury on hard hit
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Police in Texas could arrest migrants under a bill that is moving closer to approval by the governor
- China holds major financial conference as leaders maneuver to get slowing economy back on track
- Russia’s envoy uses the stage at a military forum in China to accuse the US of fueling tensions
Recommendation
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
'Five Nights at Freddy's' movie pulls off a Halloween surprise: $130.6 million worldwide
Cyprus prepares for a potential increase in migrant influx due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war
She talked about depression at a checkup — and got billed for two visits.
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
The best moments from Nate Bargatze's 'SNL' hosting gig
All WanaBana apple cinnamon pouches recalled for potentially elevated levels of lead: FDA
Maine mass shooting may be nation's worst-ever affecting deaf community, with 4 dead