Ron Chaffin/St. George News via AP
Franke, the mother of eight whose parenting YouTube channel once had millions of subscribers, kept her 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter in what prosecutors called “work-camp like” conditions in Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah. In her diary, Franke reveals in-depth what her children wereforced to go through.
The diary entries are dated from July 9 to Aug. 27, 2023, three days before she was arrested after her sonescaped the homeand went to a neighbor’s home, who then called the police after seeing what he described as the boy’s “emaciated” body.
In her diary, Franke says she shaved her daughter’s head on several occasions, in response to her crying and screaming. The girl, identified as “E” in a redacted version of the diary, was denied food for three days at one point, due to Franke’s claim that her daughter was being “manipulative."
Sheldon Demke/St. George News via AP, Pool; Ron Chaffin/St. George News via AP, Pool)
In response to not being allowed food for a third day, E began chanting, according to Franke.
“My mom starves me, calls it fasting,” the girl said according to the diary. “My mom won’t lift two fingers and bring me food because all she does is lie on the bed and eat brownies.”
Franke would also deny R food, at one point writing in her diary that she told her son, “I will not feed a demon.” The children were doused with water, made to stay outside and forced to do labor, such as moving boxes.
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Previously, Franke had written that R had told her he belonged in jail, which she dismissed, writing that he only wanted the “air-conditioned car ride to juvie.”
MOMS OF TRUTH/ INSTAGRAM
Franke wrote that Hildebrandt had traveled to Arizona several times that month to look for land. She wrote that her podcast partner, a family therapist, intended to sell her house in order to buy property with more acreage. Franke also expressed a desire to start a ranch so the children could do more hard labor, which she referred to as “good.”
“Satan cannot be where there is good,” Franke wrote.
When police searched Hildebrandt’s home and found E in a closet, the girl was “petrified” andspent nearly four hourssitting on the floor before first responders were finally able to coax her out.
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
