How Jodi Hildebrandt Enabled Ruby Franke's Child Abuse

Yahoo

28-02-2025

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In May 2023, therapist and life coach Jodi Hildebrandt and successful family vlogger Ruby Franke began to physically and emotionally abuse Franke's two youngest kids. The women had gone from counselor and client to business partners and roommates. Their horrific abuse only stopped when one of the children escaped and got help from a neighbor months later, on August 30. Police arrested Hildebrandt and Franke that day, and they have been behind bars ever since.
Franke has become the focus of many news articles and TV shows, including the new Hulu docuseries Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke. Much less has been shared about her accomplice. Here's what's to know about 55-year-old Jodi Hildebrandt, her own children, and where she is today.
Jodi Nan Hildebrandt, born on June 18, 1969, was one of seven children in a Mormon family. She spent her childhood in Arizona playing sports and singing. Troublingly, Hildebrandt has written that she was a young victim of sexual abuse. By early adulthood, she was living in Utah and attending Utah Valley Community College.
Hildebrandt received her license to practice as a clinical mental health counselor in July 2005. But after she revealed private information about one of her patients, Utah's Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) put her license on probation from late January 2012 to early August 2013 for the unprofessional conduct.
Hildebrandt's focus then shifted to her life-coaching program, ConneXions Classroom, which became popular with many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. People turned to Hildebrandt for help with their marriages and families, despite her being divorced with two estranged children.
In 2019, Hildebrandt began to counsel Chad Franke, the second-oldest child of Ruby and her husband, Kevin. The Frankes, who have six children, were Mormon like much of Hildebrandt's client base. The life coach also became Ruby's mentor, and the couple joined ConneXions to improve their marriage.
In 2022, Ruby suspended her family's 8 Passengers YouTube channel to work with Hildebrandt and ConneXions. The 8 Passengers Instagram account became 'Moms of Truth,' where Ruby posted content with Hildebrandt.
In 2021, Hildebrandt told the Frankes that 'shadow figures' were tormenting her, and she moved in with the family for support. This was followed by Ruby's request for 'an in-home separation' from her husband, who she no longer allowed upstairs.
Ruby eventually began sleeping in the same bed as Hildebrandt. According to Kevin, the two women experienced spiritual visions together while sharing a bedroom. Hildebrandt lived in the family home until early 2022. The following year, Ruby and her two youngest children had moved into Hildebrandt's home in Ivins, Utah, as her separation from Kevin continued.
Four months after her arrest, Hildebrandt agreed to plead guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in December 2023. Her plea agreement described what she'd done to the Franke children who were then ages 9 and 11. She forced them to perform physical outdoor labor, spend long hours outside in the summer heat, and in a particularly cruel instance, made the young girl repeatedly jump on a cactus. Hildebrandt denied both children adequate food and drink, improperly treated their injuries, and told them all this was necessary because they were evil and had to repent.
Years earlier, police had tried to talk to Hildebrandt about other child abuse allegations. Jessi Hildebrandt, Jodi's niece who uses they/them pronouns, said they were a victim of Jodi's abuse as a teenager before running away. Biography is naming Jessi because they have since given several interviews about their experience. A 2010 police report noted Jessi's statements, such as their aunt forcing them to sleep outside in winter with only a sleeping bag and duct-taping their mouth. Police weren't able to speak to Jodi but talked to Jessi's parents. The case was closed without any charges being filed.
For her crimes against the Franke children, Hildebrandt was sentenced in February 2024 and could spend up to three decades in prison. Today, she's incarcerated in the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. She resides in women's general population, called Dell, where Ruby also lives.
However, the women haven't reunited as roommates. 'Although they are both in Dell, it is divided into a high side and a low side, and then several units within each of those sides. One of them is housed on the high side, and the other is housed on the low side,' Karen Tapahe, a public information officer for the Utah Department of Corrections, tells Biography via email.
Hildebrandt will spend between four and 30 years behind bars, depending on what the state's Board of Pardons and Parole decides. Hildebrandt's first parole hearing is currently set for December 2026. This original hearing could result in a release date, another hearing being scheduled, or a decision for Hildebrandt to serve 30 years and be released on August 30, 2053.
In the wake of Hildebrandt's arrest, ConneXions clients have come forward to criticize the program. Men have said Hildebrandt diagnosed them with addictions to sex or pornography, issues they didn't experience before seeing her. She also encouraged spouses to separate for these reasons. Former patient Stephanie Jones told 20/20 that Hildebrandt instructed female clients, 'Oh, your husband looked at porn, have him sleep on the couch downstairs. He masturbates, couch. Does it more than once, he should move out.'$20.73 at amazon.com
This January, a former client named Michael Tilleman filed a federal lawsuit against Hildebrandt, Ruby, and ConneXions. The suit says ConneXions sold fraudulent services, such as leadership training programs that cost thousands of dollars. The suit also claims ConneXions encouraged clients to participate in child abuse. Tilleman's daughter suffered from sunburns, injuries, and dehydration while with his ex-wife, a follower of Hildebrandt's who is also named in the suit. Tilleman seeks millions in damages as well as an injunction to keep ConneXions from operating.
Ruby's estranged husband, Kevin, has also pursued legal action against Hildebrandt. In January 2024, he filed for restitution to get Hildebrandt to help fund the treatment his children will need. He then sued Hildebrandt that April for negligence and causing intentional emotional harm to his children.
Hildebrandt's therapist's license is currently frozen. Once she leaves prison, a licensing board would need to decide if she could once again be a certified therapist. DOPL Director Mark Steinagel told KSL 5 TV, 'The more serious the crime, the less likely they're going to get a license back.'
But unless Utah starts to regulate life coaching, Steinagel admits there's little stopping Hildebrandt from returning to that job. A bill outlining requirements for life coaches in Utah was introduced in the state senate during the 2024 session but was put on hold so the DOPL could study the matter.
Given their personal and professional connections, rumors sparked that Jodi and Ruby were intimately involved. Shari Franke, Ruby and Kevin's oldest child, touched on this her recent memoir The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom. She went to her childhood home following her mother's August 2023 arrest, and while there, she accessed Ruby's iCloud account. 'I read some text messages, emails, and journal entries in the Notes app that confirmed for me the truth about the nature of her relationship with Jodi and how it had spilled over into the physical,' Shari wrote.
However, Shari, who has cut ties with Ruby, said in an interview with Good Morning America that she couldn't be sure if her mother and the life coach's relationship went beyond friendship. Neither Jodi nor Ruby has ever spoken about being romantically or sexually involved.
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