Ruby Franke's Prison Call Reveals How She Turned on Jodi Hildebrandt

Content warning: This story discusses child abuse. One turning point in Ruby Franke 's child abuse case has come to light. Before the disgraced YouTuber and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt each pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse-for which they are currently serving up to 30 years in prison-Ruby found herself doubting Jodi's credibility. In Netflix's new documentary Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story , a recorded phone call from Ruby at Purgatory Correctional Facility on Dec. 2, 2023-two weeks before her guilty plea-revealed that being separated from Jodi since their August 2023 arrests had shifted her perspective. "That's when things started turning. I was like, 'She's not been honest,'" Ruby-who, along with Jody, offered life-coaching service through their ConneXions channel-said in the recording. "This has been the strangest and the most miraculous intervention." "It separated me from Jodi, so I'm not hearing her," she continued. "And I think just being gone and not hearing her has cleared a lot of things up for me." The former influencer-who made her name vlogging her family of eight on the now-defunct YouTube channel 8 Passengers-reflected on her partner’s behavior since their arrests. "Jodi denies everything," she said in the call. "She denies having anything to do with this and I was shocked. I think putting the pieces together-it's embarrassing, too. It's like, 'Oh my gosh, how gullible was I? How much power I gave this person and I didn't see it?'" Ruby's initial reaction to her and Jodi's arrests was starkly different from her feelings after being separated in prison. "This is a witch hunt," she said in a phone call with now-ex-husband Kevin Franke the day after her arrest, per the recording (which was also released by prosecutors and obtained by ). "Adults have a really hard time understanding that children can be full of evil and what that takes to fight it. So, I don't know any adults who are willing to see the truth." People "Poor Jodi," she said in the recording heard in the doc. "They misinterpret her and they misunderstand her. She puts her neck out on the line for people and then they get mad at her. It is just horrendous." The business partners were arrested in August 2023 when Ruby's son-who police said was malnourished and had duct-taped wounds around his ankles and wrists-escaped from Jodi's Utah home and ran to a neighbor's house for help. Since Ruby and Jodi have been behind bars, the former influencer's family has spoken out, including her adult daughter Shari Franke . "Me and my family are so glad justice is being served," Shari wrote on her Instagram Stories after her arrest. "We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up. Kids are safe, but there's a long road ahead." E! News has reached out to Jodi's lawyer for comment on the phone calls, but hasn't heard back. For a closer look at...

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