This true crime documentary leaves viewers shocked
Thanks to YouTube and TikTok we can watch the lives of influencers every day, sometimes even entire families. From gender reveals to graduation ceremonies, at every milestone we also have a front-row seat. As fun as it is to ‘experience’ these moments, this family vlogging also has a dark side. This becomes more than clear in the new Disney+ series ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke’. This docuseries shows how the picture-perfect life of the Franke family was actually a huge nightmare.
8 Passengers
Ruby and Kevin Franke live together with their six children in the American state of Utah. The family starts the YouTube channel ‘8 Passengers’ in 2015, giving a glimpse into their life. They seem like the perfect family, with a lot of attention for each other and their Mormon faith. The account becomes a hit and soon they have over 2.5 million followers. Something Ruby is particularly happy about, and they earn a lot of money from it. Besides their daily life, the mother also shares parenting advice. She receives a lot of positive feedback and is seen as an inspiration; but in 2020, concerns arise. The children are said to have to appear in the videos against their will, and the parenting is said to be extremely strict. Especially the fact that oldest son Chad was not allowed to sleep in his bedroom for seven months as punishment raises alarm bells. Kevin and Ruby try to defend themselves by saying that all rumors are taken out of context, but the criticism does not stop there.
In 2022, the couple separates and the situation seems to escalate further. Ruby starts working with therapist Jodi Hildebrandt and together they spread even more extreme parenting theories. It goes so far that the mother moves in with her four youngest children at Jodi's. No one knows what is really happening behind the front door. Kevin was barely allowed to speak to his children during that time. In August 2023, Ruby's then 12-year-old son manages to escape from the house; the boy looks emaciated, has open wounds, and tape around his legs. He seeks help from a neighbor and the police are called. Jodi and Ruby are arrested and later convicted of child abuse. Only during the trial do all the horrific details of those years come to light.
The real story
That the situation surrounding the Franke family was extreme is made even clearer in the new docuseries. For the first time, the two oldest children share what they, and their younger siblings, sisters, have experienced all this time. Father Kevin also shares his side of the story. From the flying start of the YouTube account to Ruby's eventual conviction; step by step we see it spiral more and more out of control. The creators managed to obtain thousands of hours of footage of the family; all videos that were very deliberately cut out of the YouTube videos and show what really happened in the house. And that truth hits hard; viewers cannot comprehend how a mother can do this to her children. A small warning for those who are going to watch: the story leaves you quite shocked. Still, the three-part series is definitely a recommendation, especially for all my fellow true-crime fans.
‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke’ is now available on Disney+.
Image: Hulu / Disney+
