Mommy blogger Ruby Franke’s neighbors feared police would pull ‘body bags’ from home | EUROtoday

The neighbors of recently-arrested YouTube household vlogger Ruby Franke had been reportedly not stunned to see her Utah home swarmed by police. Some had been simply joyful that the authorities weren’t pulling our bodies from the home.

“Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,” one in every of her neighbors instructed NBC News.

Ms Franke, a 41-year-old mother-of-six, was arrested this week and charged with six counts of aggravated baby abuse after one in every of her sons escaped her home and sought assist.

The baby, aged 12, was reportedly struggling from malnutrition and had proof of duct tape on his limbs and lacerations from being restrained, in response to police. When officers arrived on the home, they discovered one other baby in the same situation.

Ms Franke grew to become widespread on-line for her “8 Passengers” household YouTube channel, which had 2.5 million subscribers at its peak, in response to USA Today. She finally partnered with fellow household influencer, Jodi Hildebrant, becoming a member of her “Connexions” life counseling service.

Both Ms Franke and Ms Hildebrant have been charged with six felony counts of aggravated baby abuse. Ms Franke was arrested on 30 August.

Neighbours mentioned that Ms Franke often butted into their lives. One recalled Ms Franke giving them a lecture for having photographs of girls modeling in shorts hanging inside their storage.

They additionally accused Ms Franke of punishing her youngsters by withholding meals as a punishment. She additionally allegedly cancelled the childrens’ Christmas one 12 months.

“I remember that she took away their Christmas one year,” a male neighbor instructed NBC News. “And she would say things like ‘They’re not repenting correctly,’ which is a Mormon term for ‘they’re sinning.’ Just complete insanity.”

Despite the acute management she appeared to need to exert over her youngsters, neighbors mentioned that she would often disappear for weeks at a time, leaving the youngsters home alone.

“In early 2022, it started getting weird,” a neighbor instructed Rolling Stone. “People were concerned because Ruby completely stopped her YouTube stuff. And then it just kind of turned dark. She taped up paper over all of her windows. She would disappear for weeks at a time and there’s all these little kids just left alone in this house.”

Her youngest daughter, Eve, aged 10, would allegedly be left to wander the neighbourhood to search for pals.

“She would just knock on your door and say, ‘Hi, can your kids play?’” the neighbor mentioned. “And we’re like, ‘Well, they’re at school. They won’t be home for three or four hours.’ And she’d be like, ‘I’ll wait.’”

The man mentioned that “she’s like this lost child,” and mentioned it appeared as if she wasn’t enrolled at school.

Police reportedly discovered a 10-year-old woman malnourished and struggling related restraint lacerations because the 12-year-old who escaped.

The Independent has contacted Ms Franke for remark.

Neighbors mentioned they tried to get police to intervene however that previous welfare checks had been rejected by Ms Franke.

The household vlogger gained notoriety for the severity of the punishments she would dole out to her youngsters.

One video confirmed an alternate between her and one in every of her older sons, who she mentioned had been sleeping on a beanbag for months as a punishment for pranking his youthful brother.

In one other video, Ms Franke’s daughter forgets to pack a lunch for college. Ms Franke goes on to clarify that not solely will she not take her a lunch however that she doesn’t need anybody to assist her daughter, in hope that the ache of being hungry will train her by no means to neglect her lunch once more.