Ruby Franke eerily teased about having a “dirty little secret” days before she was arrested for aggravated child abuse.
In a since-deleted video posted Aug. 28 on her now-defunct Youtube channel, “ConneXions,” Franke — alongside her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt — discussed the matter of victimhood, which they linked to dishonesty.
Despite talking about hypothetical scenarios, the episode’s statements can now be interpreted differently.
“Victim is a place where I live, a place where I have pity for myself because I don’t want to be responsible for me,” the mom of six said in the video, per Insider.
“I want to control everything around me so I can be comfortable but I refuse to take responsibility for me.”
Franke, 41, furthered, “I could be dishonest, and I think I’m getting away with it because nobody knows.”
“It might be five years, 10 years, I might even take it to the grave with me. My dirty little secret. So it appears I don’t have any outcomes and I get away with it,” she said.
Hildebrandt, who was also arrested under suspicion of child abuse, added that being dishonest has consequences.
“Even though you may not sense them, even though you may not overtly experience them in the tangible world, you are having spiritual outcomes,” she explained.
“Just like you’re having an outcome of taking a step off of a tall building.”
The video was uploaded two days before the women were arrested for aggravated child abuse after a minor escaped Hildebrandt’s Ivins, Utah home.
On Aug. 30, the child ran to a neighbor’s home to ask for food and water before the latter noticed they had traces of tape on their arms and legs.
Ruby Franke arrest: What you need to know
Ruby Franke was a “momfluencer” who had one of YouTube’s biggest channels, “8 Passengers,” which documented her and her husband, Kevin, and their six kids.
Franke was arrested on Aug. 30, 2023, on two counts of aggravated child abuse and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Franke’s arrest came after an emaciated child with duct tape around their extremities escaped and ran to a neighbor’s house for help.
Franke’s sisters released a joint statement saying they did everything they could to protect their nieces and nephews “behind the public scene” and that the arrest “needed to happen.”
Through a lawyer, Franke’s husband denied having any part in the abuse.
Franke in court accused one of her own children of sexually abusing a sibling for years.
YouTube has deleted Franke’s account and banned her from the platform.
Police took the minor to the hospital, describing them as emaciated and malnourished. They later found another child in similar conditions back in Hildebrandt’s home.
Ruby — who shares Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve with husband Kevin — is being held without bail at Washington County jail. It is suspected that she knew about the alleged abuse because she filmed at the home days before.
The couple’s four youngest children were also taken in by the Department of Child and Family Services on Wednesday.
Through his attorney Randy S. Kester, Kevin told Pvnew Thursday that his “urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care.”
