Since the start of YouTube, many people have created what they like to call “family channels”. These accounts find it easy to conjure large fan bases because of the amount of vulnerability and consistency they share, making the audience feel like a part of the family. But, many people who create content like this are not who they put themselves out to be on the internet.
In early 2015, Ruby Franke created the channel 8Passengers where she documented her and her husband, Kevin Franke, getting through their everyday lives with 6 children.
Franke was always very open with her parenting tactics and how they differed from others’ ideal thoughts on parenting. One example is in a now-deleted video from 2020 where Chad Franke, their oldest son, calls Ruby for her unfair punishment” towards Chad for the pranks he played on his little brother, Russell.
“My bedroom was taken away for seven months– I was sleeping on a beanbag since October.” Ruby denies these allegations, claiming that her son was offered their pullout couch and he willingly took the beanbag, this was later proven false, again, by Chad.
Another example of Ruby Franke’s insanity is in another now-deleted video, she explains that she will not bring her 6-year-old daughter lunch at school because she forgot it that day, leaving her child with no food. “I responded [to Eve’s teacher] and said, ‘Eve is responsible for making her own lunches in the morning, so the natural outcome is she is just going to be hungry, and hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her lunch,”. This also batted some eyes, bringing more attention to the 8Passengers family.
Whether or not people thought she was really doing these things to her kids or not, it was known that her children were against the channel, and the oldest siblings, Shari and Chad, made it known that they cut off all contact when they moved out of the house.
On August 30th, 2023, Ruby Franke was arrested on two counts of aggravated child abuse and as of now can possibly face up to 15 years if convicted. Her arrest came about after her son, Russell, ran to the neighbor’s house emaciated with duct tape around his hands and feet
“I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help. He’s emaciated. He’s got tape around his legs. He’s hungry, and he’s thirsty,” the 911 caller claimed. When the house was investigated, they also found the 10-year-old daughter, who was also visibly emaciated.
After studying records, it was discovered that the police had taken calls related to the Franke home as early as 2018 all the way up to 2022. Shari Franke, the eldest sister, had called in need of helping her siblings at home, who she claimed had been left there alone for “about four or five days”.
It’s safe to say now that these children are safe with their father, Kevin, who also confessed to struggling with Ruby’s abuse later in their relationship, Ruby Franke is in Washington County Jail without bail, and the 8Passengers channel has since been deleted off of youtube.
