20/20 ‘Ruby Franke: From Momfluencer to Felon’

It's a hot summer morning in Ivan's Utah's Caya neighborhood when a doorbell camera captures a barefoot boy approaching a house, ringing the doorbell, and no one answers. A minute later, another doorbell camera from the neighboring house captures to the same child. He tries to ring the doorbell, at first it seems like no one is home, but then the door opens. Yeah, hey, why am I surprised you could do some favors? Well, what are they taking me to the nearest police station? Well, actually, this one is fine. What's going on? I have a sit there and what happens next will start an investigation that will shake up this otherwise sleepy quaint suburb;

In fact, it will shock the world. 911 tells me exactly what happened. I just saw a 12 year old boy appear here at my front door. asking for help and said he just came from a neighbor's house, he's a bricklayer, he has duct tape around his legs, he's hungry and thirsty, okay, one of the most heartbreaking things about that 911 call that you can hear in the voice of that owner. He begins to cry talking about the child he has taped around each ankle. I think it's very likely that he was. This kid has obviously been detained. He's obviously covered in wounds.

Okay, we need the police to be here to defend themselves. Where are his mom and his dad? He just says he doesn't live around here. Does he know his mother's name? Ruby Frankie is his mother's name. Within minutes of the call, paramedics and officers arrive. The first thing that caught my attention was The second we got to the scene was when we first saw it and realized something was wrong with the paramedics. The child appears malnourished and has serious injuries to protect his identity. We called him r and what you are about to see may be disturbing, he had duct tape wrapped around him and under the duct tape there was Saran Wrap wrapped around both legs and on both wrists they were the same.

I don't think there's one emotion you can use to describe this call, there was sadness. It was everywhere, it was heavy, it was felt by everyone around, the moving scene is unfolding in this quiet neighborhood with this stunning backdrop and Sergeant Nick Tobler arrives on the scene with his body camera moving, you were looking at the med tent at him and he was lining up with any guy. of pain when they lift his legs and that indicates that he has been through a lot of pain. He was very calm. He never cried. He was simply stoic like an unbreakable force.

You could see the joints of this child's legs. They were normal. you can see malnutrition there's just not enough food there's not enough intake officer Pit's body cam captures a revealing conversation about how those injuries got who put the ropes on you when I asked him how he got hurt he told me his mom and Jody are he said his arms and feet were tied to weights on the floor which restricted his movement when I heard him say he hit me pretty hard I had to excuse myself to get out of the ambulance then the detectives found out it wasn't just the ropes that They tied him up and caused those injuries.

They were also handcuffs and did he tell them how he escaped? He told us later in interviews that he removed the cuffs from his wrists and ankles and then left through the sliding glass door of the room. And did he tell you about his motivation? His mood at that time was just hungry, he was hungry and thirsty and he saw the opportunity to leave while R was being treated. He tells the officers that he has two brothers who he believes are still in the hospital. The house we didn't know if another brother would be in the same condition or possibly even dead in the house there are two other children there, we have to go do a security sweep in that house that the police discover does not belong to the house. the boy's mother, but for someone named Jodie, jod hilderbrand and R's mother, Ruby so far is nowhere to be found, so we get there, we jump out of the vehicles, we get to the front door, the police officers open , she finally opened the door, Jodie, I need you to get out I have got my that's great get out of the house when she answered she had a phone in her hand w w w w I'm just going to take a seat there for myself do you have a search warrant?

We'll explain it after this. We were able to enter Jody's house due to the demanding circumstances surrounding us. We found R. Under these circumstances, this is an effort to save lives. Officers entered the home and began cleaning the home. Police officers at the home searched for the other children. Clear it, yes, police, anyone. just over 10,000 square feet, take it well, in short, you got it, this house has multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, living room almost like a complex, we entered a room that had a bed with an attached bathroom and an attached closet , it was empty like there are no clothes hanging none of the drawers are full and in the middle of the floor come on buddy I'm a police officer hey you're okay is it just you here?

I'm Sergeant Toler, what's your name? At first we thought about it. It could have been a little boy sitting there cross-legged just looking at us. You're okay, you don't want to talk to me, yeah, okay, what was the expression on that kid's face? He looks scared. The boy seems scared at that moment. Sergeant Toer called me and I was at the hospital with R, so I started asking R, hey, do you have a little brother? He said no, I have a younger sister there, 9 years old, and she told me that she had a shaved head and brown hair.

I told him when he last saw her and he said it had been over a month, they were in the same house and didn't see each other for a month. Yes, at that moment we connected the dots that that was Sergeant Toer. She was sitting inside the closet, it's okay if I'm just here with you, we don't have to say anything if you don't want to, did she say something about her being afraid of you? Yeah, she kept asking where Jodie is, could Jod be? Okay, if they did come in, she was worried what Jodie would think if she mentioned her mother.

No, I do not understand. If you're scared, I would be too. You don't have any problem. I'm not here to hurt you. You, I just want to make sure you're okay for more than 2 hours. Tobler has been sitting with you. This is how we refer to her, trying to make her feel more comfortable with her presence, but he remains still and scared, but a suggestion catches her attention. I said, "I bet you like pizza," and she nodded. She ate it all, so they ordered another one. She also ate half of a large pizza along with a milkshake.

What does that tell you about how hungry she was without food? as R was at the time while e remains in the closet, officers are still searching the house for a possible second child. I get to a room back here, they don't find that kid, but they do find a big safe room. What did you find? We find a rope. We find wives. It was actually set up as a private room more than 4 hours after the police entered Jody's house. She finally agrees to come out as he is taken to the ambulance where Jod Hild Debran is placed. a safe room in the house is then when the children's mother, Ruby Frankie, arrives at the house.

Okay, just put your hands behind your back for me immediately. We're surprised she's here and who Ruby Frankie is. It turns out that she is tremendously famous for everything bad. reasons