Ruby Franke Tells Husband In Jailhouse Call: ‘I Don’t Do Naughty Things. I’m a Really Good Girl’

Mar. 15, 2025

Ruby Franke and Kevin

Moms of Truth/Instagram; Washington County of Utah

“I will do everything that I can to keep truth in our family,” responded Kevin, who has sincefiled for divorcefrom his wife with whom he once shared a parenting vlog on YouTube with 2.5 million subscribers.

Two days before, the couple’s youngest son, referred to in court documents as RF, hadescapedthe family therapist’s home in Ivins, Utah, where he and his younger sister, EF, were held captive, and rang a neighbor’s doorbell,asking for the police.

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Forced to work long hours in the desert sun without shoes, the 12-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl had been kept in the home for months and rarely given food or water, according to the plea agreement.

Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt in court appearance 20/20 Exclusive

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The women “regularly sought to indoctrinate” RF “and convince him that he was evil and possessed,” per the plea agreement, which added that he was made to believe that the torture he endured constituted “acts of love” and that “the punishments were necessary to repent.”

Ruby and Kevin Franke and their children.

Ruby Franke Jailhouse Interview 20/20 Exclusive

And in another call that same day, she tells Kevin – who was cleared of participating in the abuse – that most people wouldn’t understand why she had taken the measures she did against her own children.

“Adults have a really hard time understanding that children can be full of evil and what that takes to fight it,” she told him. “You’ve seen what it takes to fight evil. It’s not the person you’re fighting. And it can look like something it’s not.”

Kevin Franke (in sunglasses) with his lawyer, Randy Kester, leaving a child welfare hearing at the Fourth District courthouse in Provo, Utah, Sept. 18, 2023.Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune

Kevin Franke, right, estranged husband of Ruby Franke, is joined by his attorney Randy Kester as he leaves a child welfare hearing for their four children in Division of Child and Family Services custody on Sept. 18, 2023, at the Fourth District courthouse in Provo.

Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune

She continued on, and after a pause, Kevin – who was silent throughout her commentary – told her: “I’m preparing to step up” to try to regain custody of their four minor children. (Those children remain to this day in Utah’s foster care system.)

“I figured such,” she responded, recalling her long drive to Hildebrandt’s home after police had learned of the abuse, which led to her arrest. “God told me. God told me while I was driving, before I called you. I didn’t have any information, I didn’t know anything, and the spirit said, ‘Your children are going to be removed.’ And I just, I cried out loud: ‘No I’m not done, I’m not ready.’ And God told me I’m done.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go towww.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com