Ruby Franke’s “petrified” daughter refused to leave a closet for four hours after police discovered her hiding while they searched Jodi Hildebrandt’s Utah home.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office released an enormous amount of evidence against the disgraced YouTube star over the weekend, and among it was footage of authorities finding the 9-year-old girl, referred to as “E,” sitting timidly in a dark closet.
Wearing oversized clothing and appearing very thin, the child doesn’t respond to police who try to coax her out to help her.
“The officers responded to Ms. Hildebrandt’s home, placed her under arrest, and conducted a search of her sizable property where they found Ms. Franke’s 9-year-old daughter, petrified and hiding in a closet,” the county attorney’s office said in a statement regarding the evidence release.
EMTs, police officers and more first responders delivered pizza and a drink to the girl in an attempt to get her out, and even played Maroon 5’s “Payphone” in an attempt to make her more comfortable.
“You’re more than welcome to eat,” someone off camera can be heard telling the youngster. “That’s all you.”
After “E” begins eating, an EMT issues a “pinky promise” to her that they’re there to help and shared that they also helped her brother — the 12-year-old who fled the abusive home to a neighbor’s house for help.
Police arrested the former “8 Passengers” host, 42, and Hildebrandt, 54, in August and the women have since have pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated child abuse.
Franke admitted to torturing her young children and was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Newly released entries from Franke’s journals detail the horrific abuse two of her kids, “E” and “R,” suffered at her Hildebrandt’s hands.
Warning: graphic description of child abuse
In one entry, the momfluencer described holding her 12-year-old son, whom she believed to be possessed by a demon, underwater while she placed her hands “tightly over his nose and mouth.”
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“These selfish, selfish children who desire only to take, lie, and attack have zero understanding of god’s love for them,” Franke wrote in her journal.
Franke also withheld food and water from her son, which she justified by writing, “I will not feed a demon.”
Meanwhile, Franke told her now-estranged husband, Kevin Franke, in a jailhouse call that she didn’t do “naughty things.”
“Satan has taken everything away from me that I love,” Ruby said during a Sept. 1 call, “and I’m a good woman. I don’t do naughty things. I don’t do naughty things. I’m a really good girl.”
Kevin then told her he was going to “do everything that [he] can to keep truth in our family.”
“I am committed to our family,” he said. “I am committed to you and our marriage no matter what happens. I will be here to support you in any way that I can.”
He’s since filed for divorce and has requested to become a guardian of their teen daughter Abby.
