Newly released video shows the malnourished son of a parenting advice YouTuber approaching a neighbor for help on the morning that his mother and her business partner were arrested on child abuse charges.

The malnourished and badly bruised son of a parenting advice YouTuber politely asks a neighbor to take him to the nearest police station in newly released video from the day his mother and her business partner were arrested on child abuse charges in southern Utah.

The 12-year-old son of Ruby Franke, a mother of six who dispensed advice to millions via a popular YouTube channel, had escaped through a window and approached several nearby homes until someone answered the door, according to documents released Friday by the Washington County Attorney’s office.

Crime scene photos, body camera video and interrogation tapes were released a month after Franke and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, a mental health counselor, were each sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. A police investigation determined religious extremism motivated the women to inflict horrific abuse on Franke’s children, Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke announced Friday.

“The women appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary to teach the children how to properly repent for imagined ‘sins’ and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies,” Clarke said.

  • ULS
    237·
    3 months ago

    I don’t think society understands the scale of ignorance and evil of other humans that walk among us. I used to always say it’s 50/50. But I think it’s more like 75/25 and decent people with respect for life are the minority. It feels like it’s game over for humanity.

    • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
      32·
      3 months ago

      its the opposite. most people are genuinely decent folk. the world is actually getting safer despite what you see and hear because we now see and hear so much more than we used to. its a confirmation bias.

      at some point we will realize that religion itself is a cancer. like most cancers, it has a strong benign composition with many deadly streaks.

      just like with benign cancers, it must be excised and treated as the mental health problem it is.

      • hypnotoadEnglish
        61·
        3 months ago

        Unfortunately too late I think. It’s metastasized.

    • forrgott@lemm.ee
      4·
      3 months ago

      Left to their own devices, a very strong majority of people default to being “good” people (I generally consider “good” is self sacrifice for the good is the many, and similar thinking and behavior - “evil” is selfish actions and ‘the end justify the means’). However, people are unfortunately not left to their own devices due to algorithms, echo chambers, propaganda, etc.

      And evil is far easier to spread than good is…