Ruby Franke was abusing her kids. When her friend moved in, things took an even darker turn.

In February 2024, Ruby Franke and her life coach and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were each sentenced to 30 years in prison for child abuse. 

Since the case went public, there has been much conversation about the nature of their partnership – which saw the eldest children and Ruby's husband estranged from the house and the youngest children objected to shocking physical and psychological abuse. 

Now, a new Netflix documentary, Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, is examining Jodi's role in it all and where the pair's relationship stands today.

Before we dive into their relationship, let us quickly recap what happened to put Ruby Franke in jail, and her shocking descent from 'momfluencer' to 'monster'.

Watch: Shari Franke speaks to Utah lawmakers about the dangers of family vlogs. Post continues after video.

What did Ruby Franke do?

At first, Ruby Franke appeared to be the epitome of a loving parent. She chronicled her family life with six children on her YouTube channel 8 Passengers. 

She may have been known for her no-nonsense parenting style, but no one could have ever expected what was going on behind the scenes. She was abusing her children. 

Franke wrote journals during this time, detailing how she restricted food and water from the children, restricted their movements and even shaved their heads when they were disobedient. At one point, she said she poured dirty mop water over her child as a punishment.

Jodi had significant sway in parenting decisions, with the new documentary Evil Influencer alleging the counsellor had planned to drop Ruby's children in a desert before her arrest.

According to the documentary, the duo bought "several acres" of property in the desert in Arizona, where investigators believe they planned to move to further isolate the children.

Detective Jessica Bate of the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department read from Ruby's journal, where the mother allegedly wrote about how the "escalation of the kids is not manageable here".

"The girl, I will bring into the cool house, and she can sit in the pantry," Bate read in Evil Influencer.

"They will think they won. They will they they got what they wanted. They will relax, then pop! We will drop them like hot potatoes in the desert."

The nightmare came to an end when one of the younger children – emaciated with his ankles wrapped in tape to restrain him – was able to escape the family home and ask neighbours for help. 

"If that young boy hadn't escaped that day," Evil Influencer director Skye Borgman told Tudum, "I think those kids probably wouldn't be with us today."

"Just the simple fact that this little boy escapes from Jodi Hildebrandt's house, where the abuse is happening — not from his mom's house. That, to me, was the simplest and the most diabolical part of the story."

Since Ruby was sent to jail, her eldest daughter Shari Franke has been opening up about the abuse the kids experienced, which she told Good Morning America, started when they were young children. 

Ruby Franke is the momfluencer now spending time in jail for child abuse. Image: Instagram

Ruby Franke was abusive before Jodi's influence.

Many have wondered if the abuse the Franke children endured could be chalked up to Jodi's influence alone.

However, according to Shari, the abuse started long before the Mormon parenting advisor, behind the 'cultish' life coaching business ConneXions, joined their family unit. 

According to Shari, Ruby had always been extreme in her approach with the kids. 

"When I was younger, around five and six, Ruby was really physical," Shari told GMA. "A slap to the lop, a slap to the cheek… it was really scary, and honestly, when she met Jodi that kind of stopped." 

However, very soon Hildebrandt's unique psychological approach to parenting became the ubiquitous rule of the household. It took a very dark turn.

"I could feel a shift," says Shari.

"I was like, oh Jodi, I don't like her but maybe this is one good thing that's come from it. [Ruby's] not yelling, she's not hitting us anymore."

"But it did become psychological and in a way that was more damaging to me," she added. 

From there, Ruby and Jodi's relationship became much closer. They almost acted like dual parents to the children, opening up their channel Moms Of Truth. 

Were Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt together?

Ruby Franks and Jodi Hildebrandt were sleeping in the same bed. Image: Jodi Hildebrandt.

As the pair got closer, Ruby and Jodi's lives became further intertwined. 

The exact nature of their relationship has been largely kept under wraps, although conversations have abounded online about whether there was more than shared friendship and parenthood between the two. 

You see, in 2022 Jodi moved into the family home. GMA reports that Ruby's husband Kevin moved out "shortly after". 

The move prompted questions, ones that Shari had herself. 

"I certainly got weird vibes from Jodi and Ruby," says Shari. "I don't think it's normal at all that a therapist would move into her client's home."

It was during this time that Shari was preparing to finally leave the family home and move to college. She says she hadn't even left the house, and yet Jodi was already moving into her room and sleeping in her bed. 

Shari says she never saw anything concrete to suggest that Ruby and Jodi were lovers, but her memoir alleges there could have been intimacy between them. 

"Ruby tried to be secretive about it and so I don't know all the details but the vibes I was getting was that something was strange between them."

Shari says that there was a bedroom sectioned off, which only Jodi and Ruby were allowed to enter. It was forbidden for the rest of the family, including Ruby's now ex-husband Kevin Franke. 

Soon Jodi was experiencing "demonic night terrors" and Ruby would sleep in the room with Jodi, calling it their "sanctuary". 

Shari once snuck back into the bedroom, noticing that it was filled with candles and massage oils, as recorded in her memoir and reported by The Independent. 

In the book, Shari describes the scene as a "honeymoon suite" but without the rose petals on the bed. 

She adds that she caught Ruby sneaking around in the middle of the night "like a teenager" exiting the room with "flushed cheeks" and "messy hair". 

Shari said her father seemed largely oblivious to what may, or may not, have been going on under his nose. 

Shari Franke is exposing what went on in her mother's home in a new memoir. Image: Instagram.

In the memoir, Shari opens up about the moment she found messages between the two mums on Ruby's laptop, following her arrest. 

She said what she saw, "confirmed for me the truth about the nature about her relationship with Jodi and how it had spilled over into the physical."

In terms of what we know of the content of those messages, Ruby was "expressing her frustration about having to cater to Jodi's needs for physical affection without getting anything in return."

While the pair openly denounced queer behaviour on their online platforms, Shari said she wishes they'd come clean about what was allegedly going on.

"It would have been preferable to living like … this," she wrote. "In this house of lies that I couldn't bear to step foot in anymore."

Where are Jodi and Ruby now?

Both women are being held in different sections of Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.

Audio recordings featured in Evil Influencer indicate Ruby has begun to distance herself from Jodi. While Borgman doesn't have concrete evidence the split has lasted, she told Tudum she suspects it has.

"I think this separation helps Ruby recognise where she was and what Jodi was doing," Borgman said.

"I also think it's a form of self-preservation. She's looking at the potential time that she could be spending in prison. I think that she's kind of going, 'Wait a minute, if I separate myself, maybe I won't get judged as harshly.'"

Meanwhile, Jodi, Borgman said, seems to be up to her usual tricks.

Despite ConneXions no longer operating, Jodi appears to be "continuing to do what she was doing outside".

According to Borgman, "[Jodi] was creating these little groups of women and talking to them about addiction, and seeking out people who have drug addictions or alcohol addictions. She's looking for people who have vulnerabilities and trying to coach them or counsel them within this prison structure."

Borgman spoke to Jodi's former clients, who shared stories of manipulation and exploitation of trust.

"She used sort of this intersection of trust and power and harm to really obscure their own sense of self and family and religion, and how it can happen to pretty much anybody," she said.

Jodi still maintains her innocence. Image: 8 Passengers.

On what Shari would say to her mother if she could see her now?

"I'm happy without you," Shari responded. "I was scared of her for so long and I am here without her approval and I am just fine."

"Forgiveness is something I've had to study a lot and think about what it means, but for me forgiveness would look like not letting that consume every moment of my life and all of my thoughts. 

"I'm just trying to move on with my life and trust that things are going to work out the way they're supposed to."

Featured image: 8 Passengers.