Current:Home > ScamsYouTuber Ruby Franke Denies Doing "Naughty Things" in Jail Phone Call to Husband Kevin Franke -GrowthInsight
YouTuber Ruby Franke Denies Doing "Naughty Things" in Jail Phone Call to Husband Kevin Franke
FinLogic FinLogic Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-06 15:00:56
Content warning: This story discusses child abuse.
Prosecutors have shared more insight into Ruby Franke's mindset following her arrest.
The Washington County Attorney's Office in Utah has released a jailhouse conversation between the former YouTuber and her estranged husband Kevin Franke, in which she blamed the devil for her Aug. 30 arrest over child abuse charges.
In the phone call—which took place just two days after Ruby and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were taken into custody—Ruby told her husband, "The most upsetting thing is that I am completely misunderstood."
"Satan has taken everything away from me that I love," the 42-year-old said Sept. 1 in the call from Purgatory Correctional Facility. "And I'm a good woman. I don't do naughty things. I don't do naughty things. I'm a really good girl."
The mom of six also told Kevin that she would stay away from their kids if she were acquitted. However, Kevin predicted she would likely have legal restrictions placed on her access to the children until they reached the age of 18.
"I figured such. God told me," she said. "God told me when I was driving before I called you."
"The Spirit said, ‘Your children are gonna be removed,'" she continued. "And I just cried out loud. I'm like, ‘No, I'm not done. I'm not ready.' And God told me I'm done."
Kevin can be heard telling her at that time, "I'm committed to our family. I'm committed to you and our marriage, no matter what happens. I will be here to support you in any way that I can."
He has since filed for divorce from Ruby, with his lawyer saying the pair had been living apart from for more than a year before her arrest.
E! News has reached out to lawyers for Ruby, Kevin and Jodi for comment on the phone call but has not heard back.
Ruby—who ran the 8 Passengers YouTube channel—was sentenced Feb. 20 to four to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. Following her sentencing, her lawyer made it clear she had no intention of appealing the sentence.
The family vlogger was originally arrested over aggravated child abuse charges in August when Utah police received a report of a starving child and investigated the allegations, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department said in a press release.
Authorities determined the child was in "severe" condition, looked "emaciated and malnourished" and had "open wounds and duct tape around the extremities."
During her hearing, Ruby apologized to her children and husband.
"For the past four years, I've chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion," Ruby said in court, per the livestream on the Utah court's website. "My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me."
"I believed dark was light and right was wrong," she added while addressing her kids. "I would do anything in this world for you. I took from you all that was soft and safe, and good."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (8)
Related
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- GOP legislatures in some states seek ways to undermine voters’ ability to determine abortion rights
- China’s top diplomat at meeting with US official urges Washington not to support Taiwan independence
- Climate activists throw soup at the glass protecting Mona Lisa as farmers’ protests continue
- Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
- 'You have legging legs': Women send powerful message in face of latest body-shaming trend
- 'Buffalo Fluffalo' has had enuffalo in this kids' bookalo
- Lionel Messi and the World Cup have left Qatar with a richer sports legacy
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- WWE Royal Rumble 2024 results: Cody Rhodes, Bayley win rumble matches, WrestleMania spots
Ranking
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Iowa vs. Nebraska highlights: Caitlin Clark drops 38 in Hawkeyes women's basketball win
- Philippine troops kill 9 suspected Muslim militants, including 2 involved in Sunday Mass bombing
- China orders a Japanese fishing boat to leave waters near Japan-held islands claimed by Beijing
- Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expected to return to Pentagon Monday for first time since hospitalization
- After LA police raid home of Black Lives Matter attorney, a judge orders photographs destroyed
- Houthi attacks in the Red Sea are idling car factories and delaying new fashion. Will it get worse?
Recommendation
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
Thousands march against femicide in Kenya following the January slayings of at least 14 women
Native tribes don't want statue of William Penn removed. They want their story told.
Where Sophia Bush Thinks Her One Tree Hill Character Brooke Davis Is Today
All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
Plastic surgery helped murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong stay on the run
Lionel Messi and the World Cup have left Qatar with a richer sports legacy
As a boy he survived the Holocaust — then fell in love with the daughter of a Nazi soldier. They've been married 69 years.