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

[Hane]

@Smee, I’ve read in sites that discuss Mormonism that many Mormons believe that a sip of alcohol=alcoholism. When it comes to certain things the religion disapproves of (masturbation, erotica, drugs), the leadership believes that a single instance is sinful and dangerous and will trigger “addiction.”

[Howl]

10 hours ago, Katzchen24 said:

He deserves none of the things. The children are the only ones who should be given all the assets of these three human excrescences.

So first, Ruby had gotten control of the family money.   Ruby's legal fees would have been, and will continue to be, substantial.  She'll surely appeal her sentence. 

Kevin was paying the family bills when he lived alone for a year in his little apartment.  Now he's still responsible for paying the bills, presumably including the big mortgage on the family home/ miniMansion in Springville.  He's still responible financially for his four minor children.  Their family has imploded and mom's in prison for the foreseeable future. All of them, Kevin included, desperately need counseling/psychiatric care and I hope they receive it. 

So yes, Kevin should be suing Jodi H for everything he can get.  Jodi H should walk out of prison (if she doesn't die there) a pauper for what she's done to this family. 

The siblings are surely missing each other.  I wonder if Shari and Chad can visit their siblings in foster care. 

[clueliss]

I don’t recall the exact dollar value involved, but there was an entire question about a proverbial or literal bag of money. And my impression is that the money belongs to the Franke family and in the course of what went down in Ivan, nobody knows exactly what happened to the money. So Kevin could just be trying to recover the funds.

 

And, as Howell said (without having read any of the legal filing yet) Kevin Jody on behalf of his minor whether they are in state custody or not under his responsibility.

 

and, as Howell said (without having read any of the legal filing yet) Kevin Jody on behalf of his minor, whether they are in state custody or not under his responsibility.

 

That said, I have Kevin filed in my personal category of negligent, dad. And absentee dad. And because of my childhood, I have decided opinions about absentee that. They really typically have a very difficult time buying bodies BS excuses regarding why they didn’t act like the parent.

[Howl]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

(without having read any of the legal filing yet)

Here ya go, this is the legal filing (Kevin Franke v. Jodi Hildebrant), straight forward and easy to read.  Kevin wants a trial by jury, although that may just be boiler plate legal language to force a settlement.  The basis for the lawsuit is pain and suffering. 

I'd assume, based on the value of the Ivins home, that Jodi also had substantial assets, a robust stock portfolio, other property. 

Edited April 12 by Howl

[clueliss]

Law &Crime Daily posted a video about Kevin’s lawsuit.  And they mentioned something I found interesting.  Due to the dollar amount involved, a certain amount of discovery will be involved.  I took this to mean we could eventually learn more details than came out related to the criminal suit.

Spoiler

 

 

[waltraute]

Any sympathy I might have had for Kevin went out the window when he tried to have Shari arrested for burglary  - which he continued insisting even after the police informed him that they were the ones to kick in the door and that Shari accompanied them into the house to aid their search. I don't care what she might have taken at the time or what she might have been withholding. If Kevin suspected that more was removed than was reasonable, he should have asked police for mediation with Shari and NOT immediately demanded arrest. 

In my opinion, Shari and Chad have also been damaged by the Franke's parenting and the callousness Kevin showed toward his eldest daughter sickens me. He is not a fit father, IMHO.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, waltraute said:

Any sympathy I might have had for Kevin went out the window when he tried to have Shari arrested for burglary  - which he continued insisting even after the police informed him that they were the ones to kick in the door and that Shari accompanied them into the house to aid their search. I don't care what she might have taken at the time or what she might have been withholding. If Kevin suspected that more was removed than was reasonable, he should have asked police for mediation with Shari and NOT immediately demanded arrest. 

In my opinion, Shari and Chad have also been damaged by the Franke's parenting and the callousness Kevin showed toward his eldest daughter sickens me. He is not a fit father, IMHO.

I think both Ruby and Kevin started out with a heavy punishment mindset before they even got involved with Jodi. I think a lot of fundies have this mindset and they genuinely think they are doing the right thing. Im not making excuses for Kevin. I just think he has the mindset that punishment is what will make his children better. And he likely thought Shari deserved to be punished for what she did. The best thing Kevin can do is get into therapy and take parenting classes. So he can get out of the punishment mindset. Because I think that even though he likely didn’t agree with Jodi’s punishments, I think he would be fine with punishments that wouldn’t be considered abuse by CPS but we all would find harsh and harmful. Punishments like taking away one meal a day or sending them to a wilderness camp in the middle of nowhere. 

[Howl]

I have to think that Kevin is deeply into the LDS patriarchal mind set.  And yes, hopefully he'll get hard-core counseling, start to understand gentle parenting and being tender and kind to his children isn't a form of weakness. 

I have zero idea on how one even begins to unfuck the crazy that's been perpetrated by Jodi and Ruby, though.  The kids will need specialized counseling indefinitely, Kevin is going through his own grief because his marriage is over -- I do think he truly loved Ruby -- he misses his children and realizing that the family life that he knew is OVER. 

I'm curious how much of the Jodi crazy  the two middle daughters were exposed to.   The Jodi-Ruby insanity was going on in their home...Jodi moved in,  their dad got the boot and Jodi is hanging out intimately with their mom...Were they told their two younger siblings were evil and demon possessed?

Now they are suddenly living with a foster family and THEIR family life is over. 

 

[onekidanddone]

7 hours ago, clueliss said:

Law &Crime Daily posted a video about Kevin’s lawsuit.  And they mentioned something I found interesting.  Due to the dollar amount involved, a certain amount of discovery will be involved.  I took this to mean we could eventually learn more details than came out related to the criminal suit.

  Hide contents

 

 

Is he suing for himself or four youngest? Any money won should go straight into a trust for them. 

[clueliss]

@onekidanddone A lot of the details behind what’s going on with this suit or in the video link I put in there and short he’s suing for himself. This suit with the minor children was filed against the criminal proceedings against Jody’s estate as I recall. So yes, Kevin is putting himself over his minor children. And yes, I am being highly judged about that because of my own past with my own father.

[CTRLZero]

11 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm curious how much of the Jodi crazy  the two middle daughters were exposed to.   The Jodi-Ruby insanity was going on in their home...Jodi moved in,  their dad got the boot and Jodi is hanging out intimately with their mom...Were they told their two younger siblings were evil and demon possessed?

I think about the two middle daughters, especially as they were so distrustful of the officers who initially showed up at Pam’s house.  Imagine being taught that what was going on with the two younger siblings was normalized behavior.  Just as bad, I wonder if they blame the brother who escaped and exposed the family secrets.  Although extreme, they are still in a culture that supports that sort of behavior to a lesser degree.  I hope the family gets tons of therapy, but it’s going to take a lot of work.  

[Gobsmacked]

On 4/9/2024 at 3:42 PM, Howl said:

So about Kevin.  Horrible human? Clueless dad?  Victim of Jodi H?  I'm a strong yes on his vulnerability to Jodi H.

He  spent a year in a small apartment reading his Bible and trying to be a better Mormon man in order to be united with his family, not realizing that in Jodi World, no man can ever be good enough. 

Meanwhile, Ruby (under Jodi H's tutelage) was torturing demons out of the two youngest.  At what point did Kevin discover the actual extent of what Ruby and Jodi inflicted on those kids? 

Now Ruby's in prison, his four minor children are wards of the state, he's a divorced man on the hook to pay a mega mortgage on the mini mansion in Springville where he's living solo.  

 Should any of the kids ever live with him or should he have supervised visitation? 

Supervised visitation for as long as needed. He certainly shouldn’t get the children back just because he is their father. He certainly didn’t have the spine to behave like a caring father. 

[Howl]

40 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I think about the two middle daughters, especially as they were so distrustful of the officers who initially showed up at Pam’s house.

Ruby was leaving the four youngest at home alone for long stretches of time to be with Jodi in Ivins.  When the police went to the house to check on them, the kids were home alone but wouldn't answer the door.  I think they had been taught that anyone not Jodi or Jodi-adjacent was not to be trusted. 

I have a somewhat different take on Kevin's behavior than many.  I never watched 8 Passengers, other than a clip of Ruby threatening to cut the head off of a stuffed toy belonging to one of the young daughters. I don't know if Kevin in any of the 8 Passengers videos showed affection and was a loving father to his kids and the kids showed affection to him, or if he was a complete asshole. 

So this: Ruby asked Kevin for a "separation" so Kevin went to live alone in an apartment, was totally cut off from wife and family, read his Bible everyday, blah blah, still paying the bills (his words),  while Jodi took control of his wife and family. 

So, first, I've never seen it noted anywhere that Kevin graduated magna cum laude (BS),  followed by an MA in mechanical engineering and a  PhD in civil engineering.  He's a very, very smart guy, at least in his chosen field.  Emotional intelligence?  Maybe not so much.   I'm assuming since he stopped teaching for BYU he's an independent consultant or working remotely for an engineering firm. 

Whatever his employment status is, he's still has financial responsibilities and he has to sort through the smoking ruins of his marriage and his life and salvage whatever he can. 

His ongoing legal bills are substantial just for the divorce. He had to hire a criminal lawyer to deal with whatever potential issues were arising.   Ruby's legal bills have added up, at least in the tens of thousands of dollars if not in the six figures. 

He's still on the hook for whatever family bills, mortgage, HoA fees, taxes, everything, his own living expenses, possibly therapy, that are piling up.  He's almost certainly paying college tuition and living expenses for Chad and Shari. And probably still tithing to  the church. 

Add up what he's paying for and the burn rate is significant.  Does he have financial responsibilities for four kids in state custody -- is the state charging him something on a monthly basis?  He has to get sole title to the Springville McMansion so he can deal with that albatross. 

Apparently, when Jodi was on the scene, Ruby wanted total access/control over family finances and Kevin granted that.  How much of their marital assets are tangled up with Jodi and ConneXions?  Oddly, Ruby was ADAMANT that she was not "in business" with Jodi and had never received $$$ from ConneXions.  Was she PAYING Jodi to be a "life coach" with ConneXions? 

Jodi completely, utterly destroyed Kevin's life and family.  It makes total sense to me for Kevin to sue Jodi for everything he can get his hands on and I hope he's awarded all of her assets.   She should walk out of prison with the clothes on her back. 

I'll throw this out there.  I have to wonder if Jodi has previously been sued for damages in civil court and paid up, but with iron clad NDAs silencing her victims. 

[CTRLZero]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

I'm assuming since he stopped teaching for BYU he's an independent consultant or working remotely for an engineering firm. 

Or he could have been pressured to leave or outright fired.  The church really hates negative publicity, especially of this scale.  I’m just musing, but am interested in what really transpired. 

Here is a link to a Mormon Stories episode where an undergraduate found [alleged] evidence of plagiarism by the church founder, and the lengths she felt she had to go to not get expelled just prior to graduation (plus potentially thwart her attempts to get into a competitive graduate study program at Notre Dame).  Since the video is long, the relevant portion is from approximately 1:51 - 2:01.  Mormon Stories Episode 1338
 

Edited April 14 by CTRLZero

[waltraute]

16 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think both Ruby and Kevin started out with a heavy punishment mindset before they even got involved with Jodi. I think a lot of fundies have this mindset and they genuinely think they are doing the right thing. Im not making excuses for Kevin. I just think he has the mindset that punishment is what will make his children better. And he likely thought Shari deserved to be punished for what she did. The best thing Kevin can do is get into therapy and take parenting classes. So he can get out of the punishment mindset. Because I think that even though he likely didn’t agree with Jodi’s punishments, I think he would be fine with punishments that wouldn’t be considered abuse by CPS but we all would find harsh and harmful. Punishments like taking away one meal a day or sending them to a wilderness camp in the middle of nowhere. 

I think this is plausible but I'm having difficulty wrapping my mind around it since I don't live in their world.  If I had been shown evidence that my two youngest children had been tortured, I would not immediately be insisting that another child be arrested because I think she might have my laptop. This is a bizzaro response in my opinion and makes me feel like he has no real tenderness or sympathy for any of his kids.  But you are correct, he is looking at this with a different worldview than I have and so might be showing his concern for his children in a manner that is completely foreign to me.

I wouldn't want to be an authority working out the children's living situation. When children have been abused under the guise of religion by one parent, how do you decide what is a safe amount of religious rigidity allowable for the remaining parent who is striving to regain custody? 

Yes to therapy and parenting classes. For the kids' sake, I hope he will be able to change, and God, I hope he doesn't get them back unless the change is sincere and profound.

On 4/9/2024 at 7:42 AM, Howl said:

So about Kevin.  Horrible human? Clueless dad?  Victim of Jodi H?

I think he can be all of those things at the same time.

[waltraute]

I was watching the lawsuit video on the Law & Crime Network on YouTube and it was mentioned that E and R are not residing together while in state custody. I must have missed this before. Apologies if it has been discussed here earlier, but it was news to me and I thought I'd share.

[clueliss]

1 hour ago, waltraute said:

I was watching the lawsuit video on the Law & Crime Network on YouTube and it was mentioned that E and R are not residing together while in state custody. I must have missed this before. Apologies if it has been discussed here earlier, but it was news to me and I thought I'd share.

I caught that. The idea that they were together with the very very end, the DA said they were together in foster care. So I don’t know who’s right and wrong but there’s conflicting information. It’s not you. It’s people put things out there in the media that think they know what they’re talking about and really talking about. (I’m specifically meaning vloggers and news types not folks in message boards)

[Howl]

5 hours ago, waltraute said:

wouldn't want to be an authority working out the children's living situation. When children have been abused under the guise of religion by one parent, how do you decide what is a safe amount of religious rigidity allowable for the remaining parent who is striving to regain custody? 

Exactly this.  Perhaps likely that the local Bishop/LDS will try to insert themselves into the situation. 

Edited April 14 by Howl

[CTRLZero]

Paige Hanna is producing some YouTube videos to get her side of the Connexions story out.  Paige Hanna - first video - Jodi was “dark” and harsh

It seems like carefully phrased apologetics to me, but Paige explains how they came to Connexions, a few initial opinions of Jodi Hildebrandt, and how Paige and her husband only wanted to ease pain, etc.  When she uses the term “dark”, it gives Chad Daybell vibes.  She also mentions Ruby Franke.  An interesting piece of the puzzle.  She indicates there will be more videos (cliffhanger!).

I found this through Jessica Danielle’s commentary video, which I’m linking in case Paige changes her mind.  Jessica Danielle commentary - YouTube

 

Edited April 15 by CTRLZero
Can’t spell.

[Coconut Flan]

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