Kriti Mehrotra
It was in August 2023 when the entire world turned upside down for the Frankes as family vlogger Ruby Franke was arrested for child abuse alongside her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt. The truth is, as explored in Lifetime’s ‘Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story,’ the former used to run a YouTube channel before she got involved in business, but she was almost always shrouded with suspicion. However, that was not the case for her husband, Kevin Franke, despite them being married parents of six as well as sharing a home for over 15 years, making many wonder about his reality.
Kevin Franke Was Once His Wife’s Supporter
While not much regarding Kevin’s early years or upbringing is publicly available, we do know he is a proud native of Ogden, Utah, and spent most of his life surrounded by strong Mormon beliefs. It thus comes as no surprise that when he fell in love with accounting major and fellow LDS Church member Ruby Griffiths while pursuing civil engineering at university, he decided to take the biggest leap of faith with her. The couple actually tied the knot in a beautifully intimate ceremony in December 2000, following which they blissfully welcomed six kids into their world — Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t until 2015 that this family came into the limelight, with Ruby launching a (now-defunct) YouTube channel by the name of 8Passengers to chronicle their everyday lives. They had no idea they would soon amass not only millions of loyal subscribers but also everyday activists, only for it all to begin coming to a head in 2020 as fans became seriously concerned about their home environment. In fact, numerous well-wishers signed an online petition asking for local child protective services to investigate this family over claims of stringent household rules and possible extreme neglect.
Kevin himself was actually featured in many of the YouTube videos that raised these concerns, yet he wasn’t even in the picture when Ruby was finally apprehended in the summer of 2023. As per records, the couple had separated more than a year prior at her directive, even though he desperately wanted to continue working through concerns as a family, and it soon led to him losing contact with everyone. He was seemingly ready to do everything for those he cared for as long as they were happy, unaware it would change their entire lives and leave him alone to pick up most of the broken pieces.
Kevin Franke Believes Jodi Hildebrandt to be the Catalyst for Everything
While Kevin had told investigators he loved his wife and did not want to say anything to incriminate her during his initial interview following her arrest, he changed his mind a mere two weeks later. By this point, a lot more information regarding the abuse his wife had put forth had come to light, making him tell investigators he had had no contact with anyone in his family for over a year. He then stated that this all started after they had started working with a marriage counselor named Jodi Hildebrandt, who specialized in addiction treatment and worked mostly with families from the LDS church.
According to Kevin’s statements to the police, he and Ruby had separated “because of ways that I treated my wife and some of my own addictions… with uh, pornography.” However, his attorney has since asserted that he was never addicted to pornography, but Jodi had somehow managed to convince them that he was, adding that he was “manipulated” every step of the way. The worst of it actually came after Jodi became Ruby’s business partner and moved into their Springville home following the crumbling apart of her own marriage, which was “just hell, psychological hell,” per his claims.
Kevin even went as far as to say that before their separation, there were rules placed on him in his own home because of the business partnership between Ruby and Jodi. He then asserted that his wife actually changed after becoming involved with Jodi’s ConneXions, a life coaching service she had established in 2007, describing it as a “religious cult” more than anything else. This led to their in-home separation, only for him to decide to go forward with a legal divorce in December 2023, four months after Ruby and Jodi’s arrest.
Kevin Franke is Now Doing His Best to Move Forward in Life
With Kevin and Ruby now in the process of a divorce, he is now trying his best to gain custody of his four youngest children – his oldest two are already adults and building new lives for themselves. As if that’s not enough, this former Brigham Young University professor has since also dedicated himself to convincing lawmakers to change how police and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services investigate cases of abuse. After all, even though claims against Ruby had been being made since 2020, it wasn’t until the last year before her arrest that they increased in number, and still, he asserts, they did nothing.
Kevin actually asserted that this is the reason Jodi was able to take advantage of his family, saying she knew the childcare system like the back of her hand and knew all she needed to do was remain silent. “Not answer the door, not speak with authorities, DCFS or police.,” he said in a hearing back in March 2024. “Just remain silent. As long as everybody remains silent, then within a specified amount of days, typically 30, the case closes by itself.” It’s actually unclear what Kevin’s relationship with his kids is like at the moment, but he and his lawyers have made it clear that they are trying their best to ensure he gets custody soon. After all, he was never charged with any crime because there was no evidence of abuse against him.
Read More: Ruby Franke: Where is the Child Abuser Now?
