Jessi recalled that they were “isolated for up to 12 hours a day” and were once “forced to sleep outside in the snow” while under Jodi’s care. Jessi hasn’t spoken with their aunt in roughly 10 years since last seeing her at a family member’s wedding.
Jessi also alleged that Jodi “accused me of being a sex addict” and “of being addicted to masturbation” and that they decided to speak out about their experience after reading a report last week about Franke’s claims of sex abuse within her family.
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The neighbor’s emotional 911 call describes the 12-year-old boy as “emaciated” with visible wounds on his body. Officers from the Santa Clara Public Safety Department arrived and then found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter allegedly in “a similar physical condition of malnourishment” inside Hildebrandt’s home. The children were taken to the hospital.
Child protective services then took them, plus two older siblings in their teens, into custody after police arrived at Franke’s home in Springville, Utah. The women made one brief appearance in court last week and have yet to enter pleas after each being charged with six felony counts of child abuse.The womenremain in custodywithout bail and are due back in court on Sept. 21, records show.
Moms of Truth/ Instagram
Franke first rose to prominence online as a family vlogger who documented her life with husband Kevin Franke and their six children on their “8Passengers” YouTube channel.
The family stopped uploading videos to the account in 2022 after receiving backlash online about their parenting methods, and Franke soon announced she was joining Hildebrandt’s “ConneXions” podcasting page, which offered parenting advice and often fell under scrutiny for its aggressive teachings.
YouTube deleted both the “8Passengers” and “ConneXions” pagesand banned both women from its platform following their arrests last month.
A number of Franke’sfamily membersandneighborshave offered similar accounts in recent days, claiming they too attempted to warn authorities about “red flags” and potentially abusive behavior.
“Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” Franke’s oldest daughter Shari, 20, wrote on Instagram after her mother’s arrest. “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
