8 Passengers: Youtuber's Take Son's Bed and Refuse to Give Daughter Lunch

[Howl]

An article reported that the two middle kids (teens) living with "family friends" in American Fork, Utah, have been found safe and in good shape (and were taken into protective custody) but the two youngest were starved and tortured? 

Various reports noted deep lacerations, wounds and malnutrition severe enough to require hospitalization.  There was duct tape and rope involved, presumably used to bind the children.  My mind is taking me to a very, very dark place on why the kids were found in this condition, as in, were they being filmed?  

Ruby lived to post sh*t on line; she flaunted her cruelty to her children.  Heidi apparently specialized in treating men with porn addictions and earlier in her career horribly mistreated at least one male client.  It wasn't a simple slip up with patient confidentiality; she was busy destroying his life.  

So maybe a situation where two psychopaths/sociopaths discovered each other and joined forces?  

 

 

 

[hoipolloi]

Watched all of Kiki Chanel's commentary which I mostly agreed with, especially given Ruby's sisters' social media presence. They may indeed have been trying to do something behind the scenes during the past 3 years but the fact that they just rolled out endless content on their IG & YT channels at the same time does not sit well with me. FTR, I can also believe that LE & CPS did nothing with what were apparently multiple complaints.

Watched portions of the Mormon Stories mega-video. Jordan & McKay's breakdown of the whole family's vlogging empire is quite something. 

 

Ruby is on the left in the photo of the Griffiths siblings. Jordan & McKay's background on Mormon vloggers is also worth listening to. 

ETA: Someone posting in the sisters' IG accounts is linking to this YT video made by a man who knew the Griffiths back when he was a Mormon vlogger - his ex-wife was a good friend of Ruby's sister Ellie. Haven't watched or listened to it yet so can't comment further.

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by hoipolloi

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Watched all of Kiki Chanel's commentary which I mostly agreed with, especially given Ruby's sisters' social media presence. They may indeed have been trying to do something behind the scenes during the past 3 years but the fact that they just rolled out endless content on their IG & YT channels at the same time does not sit well with me. FTR, I can also believe that LE & CPS did nothing with what were apparently multiple complaints.

Watched portions of the Mormon Stories mega-video. Jordan & McKay's breakdown of the whole family's vlogging empire is quite something. 

 

Ruby is on the left in the photo of the Griffiths siblings. Jordan & McKay's background on Mormon vloggers is also worth listening to. 

I didn’t listen to Jordan and McKay but I have always known there’s a link between Mormons and social media influence. They’ve been around since the blogging days of the early 2000s. It’s like MLMs. Women in Mormons communities are expected to be SAHMs. But many have more than the average 2.3 kids. Their husbands may not make enough money to support 5 kids. So the women try to find ways to make money for the family without working outside of the home. Because that’s looked down on. So they get into MLMs and try to make money  from blogging in the early 2000s, starting family channels in the 2010s, and now trying to be influencers on Instagram or tiktok. Mormons have always had a culture of appearing perfect on the surface. Which works well when creating a social media presence. And on top of being influencers, they will also shill MLMs. They overlap a lot. 

[hoipolloi]

1 minute ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

there’s a link between Mormons and social media influence. They’ve been around since the blogging days of the early 2000s.

Just started listening to the ex-Mormon guy. He says that the LDS church actually has a budget for LDS family outreach via social media. He & his former wife received church funds for their vlogging. He is showing various screenshots from his former vlogging channels that include lots of shots of the Ellie & Bonnie (Ruby's sisters).

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Just started listening to the ex-Mormon guy. He says that the LDS church actually has a budget for LDS family outreach via social media. He & his former wife received church funds for their vlogging. He is showing various screenshots from his former vlogging channels that include lots of shots of the Ellie & Bonnie (Ruby's sisters).

This doesn’t surprise me in the least. The Mormon church is rich as hell. I’m talking billions. Their congregants are expected to always give 10%. That adds up. And they invest their money as well. So giving money to social media influencers that make Mormonism look good online? That totally checks out based on what I know about the Mormon church. 

[Howl]

45 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

So giving money to social media influencers that make Mormonism look good online? That totally checks out based on what I know about the Mormon church. 

Yup, they check all the boxes for attractive, successful, mostly blond siblings, and just the right number (5!).  And mom and dad (still married!) are on a missionary year! 

[clueliss]

They have a redacted copy of the probable cause affidavit over in the 8 passengers sub at Reddit.

 

https://reddit.com/r/8passengersnark/s/ZbNvMh8Z8N

[ifosterkittens]

Natalie Lawyer Chick is a practicing criminal defense attorney and legal commentator on YouTube. I'm linking her video covering the Charing Documents related to 8 Passengers. Skip to minute 20:55 if you just want coverage of 8 Passengers Charging Documents. She opens with an AITA from Reddit, does a little poll, a little chit chat, and then covers 8 Passengers. I'm linking a second video (that actually came out first) covering the arrest; this video is only about 8 Passengers. The video with the arrest has a guest host of Dr. Patrice Berry. I've watched part of the Charging Documents video, and always enjoy Natalie's legal insights. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

On 9/4/2023 at 1:40 PM, clueliss said:

They have a redacted copy of the probable cause affidavit over in the 8 passengers sub at Reddit.

 

https://reddit.com/r/8passengersnark/s/ZbNvMh8Z8N

You know what’s sad? Eve refused medical treatment for 4 hours before giving in. She was probably afraid she would get in trouble if she got medical treatment. Those poor kids. 

[clueliss]

That rather gutted me.  

[hoipolloi]

A local news source reports that DCFS and/or police went to the Franke home in Springville, UT at least a dozen times since 2019, after receiving calls from neighbors & family:

Quote

 

Springville police visited Franke's home 15 times between March 2019 and Aug. 31. During at least five of those visits, police were assisting DCFS.

In April 2022, a Springville police report revealed the agency had been alerted that two children were "running out in the road unsupervised," and the caseworker requested police drive through the area. The officer wrote they responded but did not see any kids in the street.

Months later, on Sept. 18, 2022, police responded to the Franke home again, this time at the request of Franke's oldest adult daughter. According to the report, neighbors informed her that her younger siblings had been left home alone for days while Ruby Franke was in St. George with her friend.

Officers responding wrote they saw children in the home, but the children would not answer the door. "Officers (saw) the children on the phone and go upstairs where they were out of sight," the report states.

When police approached neighbors who'd gathered outside, "They immediately started telling (us) about how the mother of the residence, Ruby Franke, will leave her children home for extended periods of time and go to St. George to spend time with her friend Jodi Hildebrandt," the officer wrote.

 

 

[clueliss]

Law and Crime Daily has at least 3 “sidebar” videos on YouTube.  The latest has a cousin of Ruby’s with disguised voice etc.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

A local news source reports that DCFS and/or police went to the Franke home in Springville, UT at least a dozen times since 2019, after receiving calls from neighbors & family:

 

So why wasn’t she charged in 2022? This is bullshit. If she had been black and not rich, I guarantee she would have been charged. Rich white privilege at its finest. Your kid has to literally climb out a window with duct tape around their wrists and ankles, cuts on their body, and thin as can be to actually get her arrested. Sick. 

[noseybutt]

Plus, she was in a part of the country where parental rights are taken very seriously. (As opposed to human rights which are defined as inherent to the individual.)

[clueliss]

8 passengers sub at Reddit has a TikTok posted with the audio from the 911 call

Spoiler

https://reddit.com/r/8passengersnark/s/TsFYCk7OF7

 

[FiveAcres]

Just now, clueliss said:

8 passengers sub at Reddit has a TikTok posted with the audio from the 911 call

  Hide contents

https://reddit.com/r/8passengersnark/s/TsFYCk7OF7

 

I listened to it. At one point I wondered if the caller was going to break down completely, and whether he started to tell the 911 operator that the child had been tortured.

[clueliss]

Law and Crime Daily is apparently all over this one.  I’ve lost track of all the videos.  I’m watching one right now where they are analyzing the affidavit and charges.  
 

Spoiler

 

I also tossed a video in my watch later list from Nancy Grace.  

[Pleiades_06]

I want to know how she’s going to plead in court tomorrow.

 

[FiveAcres]

There is a longer video post of the 911 audio call from the neighbor posted on Youtube by a Salt Lake City news station. Identifying details of the child have been blanked from the audio. Content warning: child abuse.

Spoiler

 

[Gobsmacked]

13 hours ago, FiveAcres said:

I listened to it. At one point I wondered if the caller was going to break down completely, and whether he started to tell the 911 operator that the child had been tortured.

He sounded very emotional. I could imagine opening the door to find a child in that condition asking for help.  He asked if it would be ok to give the boy a banana too. Ruby and Jody are evil to their cores. Hopefully her parents come home asap. They cannot stay in Serbia or wherever they are under these circumstances. 

Just now, Gobsmacked said:

He sounded very emotional. I could imagine opening the door to find a child in that condition asking for help.  He asked if it would be ok to give the boy a banana too. Ruby and Jody are evil to their cores. Hopefully her parents come home asap. They cannot stay in Serbia or wherever they are under these circumstances. 

Quoting myself should say could not imagine opening a door. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

According to reports, multiple calls were made to children services over the past couple of years. Some from family and some from neighbors. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the neighbor was a person worried about the kids before this happened and was emotional that one finally escaped and asked for help. 

[Xan]

Excellent article by Amanda Marcotte over on Salon.

https://www.salon.com/2023/09/08/another-christian-influencer-arrested-for-child-abuse-why-conservatives-keep-falling-for-these-cons/

[FiveAcres]

I want to clarify because I posted t2o links to two recordings to the 911 call.

The first call was a shorter call between the rescuing neighbor and the 911 dispatcher.

The second call was apparently the entire call with some information blanked out to provide some privacy for the neighbors and the child. In the second call I was struck with the professional, but calm and compassionate, demeanor of the dispatcher, who was clearly doing her best to keep both the neighbors and the child calm as possible under the circumstances. I was also struck by how the neighbors made the decision to keep a child who had obviously been restrained outside on the patio in attempt to promote a feeling of trust and safety in the child.  In the second call, one can hear the female neighbor and the child, who clearly expressed a desire that the police be called while simultaneously maintaining that his bondage was "his fault."

[clueliss]

Nancy Grace podcast (not the YouTube I thought)

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvZTczYzk5OGUtNmU2MC00MzJmLTg2MTAtYWUyMTAxNDBjNWIxLzJkYmI4M2Y1LTUzZjYtNDA0OC04NGZhLWFlNTEwMDExZGJmNi9kOGQyZDM1Ny01ZmViLTQ5OTItOGJiMy1hZTUxMDAxMWRjMDQvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M/episode/OWY0ZDA3NmMtYjMzZS00Y2I5LTg0ZDAtYjA3NDAxMzUzMGZm?ep=14

[Gobsmacked]

The neighbour reported that Russell said his sisters were  in the house. Did Russell mean another sister beside Eve or did he mean two sisters in His family home? 
Ruby apparently left ( in some reports) on a family emergency. What family? She has cut herself off from them all. I’m wondering if She was driving either Abbi or Julie back from Hilderbrands house to her own house. It’s not clear but I’m guessing Julie and Abbi were found in the Franke house.