Heartbreaking moment mom blogger Ruby Franke's traumatized 9-year-old daughter ... trends now
This is the heartbreaking moment police found Ruby Franke's traumatized nine-year-old daughter 'petrified' and refusing to leave a closet for four hours before her mother was sentenced to prison for abusing her own children.
Bodycam footage shows cops searching the home of Franke's business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, in August last year after the YouTuber's 12-year-old son escaped and ran to a neighbor's home to raise the alarm about their treatment living in what prosecutors have described as a 'concentration camp-like setting'.
The nine-year-old, referred to by the initial 'E', is shown later, found during a sweep of the Ivins, Utah home, cowering and cross-legged in a large closet. A police officer asks the girl if she is okay, but gets no response as he tries to coax her out of the wardrobe.
'The officers responded to Ms. Hildebrandt's home, placed her under arrest, and conducted a search of her sizable property where they found Ms. Franke's 9-year-old daughter, petrified and hiding in a closet,' the county attorney's office said in a statement, releasing the shocking footage.
Disgraced blogger Ruby Franke, 42, was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison in February for brutally abusing two of her own children after chronicling their lives on YouTube - leading to a slew of horrifying allegations of abuse from alleged victims of Franke and licensed therapist Hildebrandt.
Disturbing video shows responders trying to coax Franke's 'petrified' daughter out of a closet
The young girl stayed for four hours in the closet after officers found her, they said
'E' appears to go through a bag as officers try to encourage her to leave with them
In another clip, an EMT is seen attempting to engage with the victim, but she tells her she is 'just nervous'
Child protective services took both E and R.F., along with two older siblings, into custody after arriving at Franke's home in Springville, Utah to make the arrest
The YouTube channel vanished from the internet in January 2023, after years of people calling out Franke's style of disciplining her kids
In the shocking footage, 'E' was seen sitting very still in the closet as officers approached her.
She was found at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt, a licensed therapist who ran an online self-improvement program with Franke, on August 30, 2023.
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on child abuse charges after officers from the Santa Clara Public Safety Department responded to the home in Ivins, Utah, after a neighbor called 911 to report Franke's 12-year-old son - referred to as R.F. - raised the alarm.
Police said R.F. had visible wounds and marks from tape around his wrists and ankles when he arrived and asked for food and water.
'E' was found in a 'similar physical condition of malnourishment', according to police.
The children were later taken to hospital and family members said they are stable.
Child protective services took both E and R.F., along with two older siblings, into custody after arriving at Franke's home in Springville, Utah to make the arrest.
Franke and Hildebrandt were both charged with six counts of felony child abuse nearly a week later, before YouTube banned Franke and deleted her channels.
Franke's niece, Jessi, said their aunt had abused them while under her care for about a year more than ten years ago.
'The things that I experienced while living with Jodi — I experienced being tied, I experienced being duct taped, I experienced being blindfolded, I experienced severe isolation, I experienced severe emotional, spiritual and psychological abuse,' they alleged.
Jessi said they were 'isolated for up to 12 hours a day' and were once 'forced to sleep outside in
