SERIALously - 250: Kevin Franke: “This is A Story of Love” | Is He Still Protecting Ruby Franke?!
Episode Date: March 10, 2025Follow the podcast for FREE on all podcast platforms! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6HdheEH8WeMTHoe5da34qU Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id151945...6164 . Shop the Merch!: https://www.annieelise.com Join the 10 to LIFE Community for Exclusive Content & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise . Today’s Sponsors: Factor: Get started at http://FACTORMEALS.COM/FACTORPODCAST and use the code FACTORPODAST to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping! June’s Journey: Click https://wooga-junes-journey.onelink.me/M4rK/de6f3d47?c=jj_us_mobile_proseeders_uspodcast_serialously_march25 to check it out for yourself RoBody: Head to http://Ro.co/AE to see if you qualify Become a Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOK0fZAUx82plnLhTKZW6qg/join . For Business Inquiries: 10toLife@WMEAgency.com . Follow me on Social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_annieelise Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/10toLIFE Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_annieelise . Episode Sources: Today.com People.com Eonline.com *Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research.
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Some days, parenting requires uncomfortable conversations.
But a disturbing reality was revealed after Ruby's youngest son escaped in August of 2023.
This chilling 911 call leading to her arrest.
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.
My wife Ruby soul ambition was to be seen as the perfect mom.
Frankie's estranged husband Kevin and oldest son Chad now
opening up in a new hulu docu series devil in the family the
fall of Ruby Frankie.
Hey true crime besties welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise.
Now as I'm sure a lot of you probably already know, especially the ones who have been following
this case for years now, a new three part docu-series titled Devil in the Family, The
Fall of Ruby Frankie was recently released on Hulu.
I also did an episode a couple weeks back where I did a deep dive into this,
where we talked all about, you know, the documentary, still some things that the
documentary didn't show, just the overall story of Ruby Frankie and Jodie Hildebrandt,
and I would say that this documentary wasn't necessarily a look into anything
super new or anything revolutionary or groundbreaking. Nothing that really wasn't necessarily a look into anything super new or anything revolutionary or groundbreaking.
Nothing that really wasn't already known before, but it was definitely now a new look into certain
perspectives. And what I mean by that is certain perspectives that maybe we haven't heard much of
up until this point. And although there were a few interviews in this documentary, such as
interviews from neighbors, police officers, and so forth, the main focus was really on the children. The main focus was on Sherry, Chad,
Kevin, and Chad and Kevin, Chad the son and Kevin being the father, they really were at the
forefront of this. Within the first few minutes of the very first episode, we hear a background
voice stating that ever since the arrests, Kevin has been trying to clear his name. And when he said that, that really got me thinking because Kevin Frankie is
an extremely polarizing topic. We all know this. I think we can all agree on this, especially if
you've been following the case. Most people either feel very sorry for him and their hearts are, you
know, bleeding for him because they see him as a victim in all of this and they feel like he was just as much a victim as the children but then others can't stand him and
others think that he should have been punished because not only was he an active participant
in what I believe to be like the crescendo of all of the allegations and what they were convicted of
but he stood he enabled it He stood right alongside his wife
and he thought that those methods were okay.
He co-signed them, he enabled her, he was right there.
So now that he's coming in after the fact,
after Ruby and Jodie have been charged,
it just doesn't really sit right with me.
Because it's like, okay, now that they've been charged
and convicted, you're sweeping in and saying,
oh, I love Ruby,
but I'm so glad she's not here anymore.
The kids are laughing again, they're smiling again.
I just want custody of them.
I'm gonna fight for custody as though you're their savior.
When Nobro, actually, you participated.
You were a willing participant in this for years,
and you co-signed her.
You enabled her all the way up until when
Ruby was arrested and one of the children went to go get passports,
hard drives, and things from the house to seize and give to the police. He tried to
actually file charges against his own child for, I don't remember if it was
burglary, robbery, or something within that realm because they were trying to
take that because they were going against Ruby. So like now for you to come out and be like, oh yeah the
kids are just so much happier now with me and we're rebuilding and this and that.
Just because you weren't there when the arrest went down does not in my opinion
make you any less responsible. So my point in this follow-up episode is it's
gonna be all about Kevin and we are gonna drag his ass because I want to show the clear contradictions from what he is saying
now to what his behavior, his documented behavior was in the past and how he
truly did enable this. He co-signed it but now he's backpedaling and acting as
though he's the children's savior because he doesn't of course want to be
thrown in prison like Ruby and Jodie. But it's disgusting and I know there are like I said a lot of different opinions
about Kevin. This is my opinion. I'm sure you have your own as well. But I want to
dive into Kevin a little bit deeper and I want to talk about all of his
questionable life choices and I also want to talk about his involvement with
the 8 Passenger's YouTube channel. That channel that Ruby had started that was their rise to fame.
Millions of dollars, millions of subscribers, all while exploiting their children, humiliating
their children, and also then even abusing their children.
So we are going to talk about all of that.
We're going to talk about his connection with connections the freaking alleged cult
I'm gonna say alleged but hello if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. It's a freaking cult and
his connection with connections and how he's
Cosigned to that as well and thought Jodie was great too and practice the principles and all of those other things
And we're gonna talk about then his absence when everything escalated with Ruby and Jodie and what he was doing.
Why were you away from your kids for a year?
Especially knowing the kind of conflict
and the kind of methods and punishing methods.
And it's just, how can you even call yourself a father?
Honestly, and I'm sorry,
but if you're a Kevin Frankie Stan,
this episode probably isn't for you
because we are here today to drag him.
Parenting
does not take a break.
So the reason why Eve did not go skiing with us was because she left her ski coat at school and
over the Christmas break before New Year's, they took everything from the lost and found and took it to donate. And Eve said, well that's okay, just I just just buy me a
new one, just buy me a new ski coat. I said that is a very entitled attitude
and that is not how we work around here. If you lost your ski coat, you lost your
privilege to go skiing. Now although this episode is going to be strictly
Kevin based, I will bring up a couple of points
regarding other family members and other dynamics
just because it helps illustrate the story as a whole,
just so that, you know, it's not super disjointed
and you can understand where we're going.
Now, of course, Kevin, he was his own person
before ever meeting Ruby.
But for the purpose of this video,
I really wanna start with when he and Ruby first met,
because truthfully, that's when all of this started.
So let's jump right in.
If you've read their daughter Sherry's book
or even listened to the episode that I did
covering this book, you know that Sherry had a lot to say
about her parents' relationship.
She described that her mother Ruby, in her opinion,
was just way more hyper-focused on finding a man, a man who checked all of the right boxes, all of her personal boxes, rather than actually genuinely looking for true love.
She literally had a checklist of all of these things that had to be checked off in order for her to find her potential partner. You know, were they willing to get married? Check. Would they be open to having as many children as she ever dreamed of?
Check.
Were they close to God?
Were they in the LDS faith?
Check, check, check.
I mean, a literal checks and balances.
Now, Kevin himself really validated all of this
in that documentary,
but he also kind of had this whole new
behind the scenes type look into it, if you will.
He claimed that when it came time to winning Ruby
and then standing out against all of these other
potential suitors, that he cheated,
that he rigged the game, that he thought it was some type
of board game or I don't know, some kind of competition
and that he cheated so that he would come out on top.
See, apparently Ruby had this handwritten poster
that was hidden in her closet and this poster had columns
of all of the different men
that she was talking to or the people that she was dating.
And their names were all written down horizontally
at the top and then vertically down the side.
She wrote everything that she was looking for in a husband.
Just again, all of her check boxes and checks and balances.
And then as each man checked off those boxes,
she would just fill them in,
basically keeping track of who was doing what.
Which, look, everybody does their own methods, whether you're online dating, whether you're in-person dating, whether you want to have a freaking
pros and cons list, a Venn diagram, whatever it is, this to me doesn't exactly read authentic love.
But, you know, who am I to judge? Maybe I need to make a diorama or something.
So as Kevin
is talking about all of this, he even claimed that somehow he saw this poster
and that he studied it. That he memorized this poster like it was life or death.
Pretty much molding himself into this perfect person that Ruby had been
looking for her whole life. Red flag, okay? First of all, mega red flag. Like, how
about, what's that song?
Be yourself, be yourself, be yourself.
Like this guy, he's crafting himself
into who he thinks Ruby, not even who he thinks,
but who Ruby wants as a partner.
Now, not only is that a red flag
because you're changing yourself,
but it's a huge red flag because it's showing
you are fixated on Ruby.
You are willing to change yourself,
change your personality, change your hobbies, your dreams, your aspirations, everything,
so that you can be with Ruby. Which, case in point, look where it got us. You allowed and
participated and endorsed and co-signed and all of these things that Ruby wanted to do that were
dangerous to your own flesh and blood, all because Ruby was endgame. She was the
goal. You wanted her no matter what and you were willing to, quite frankly, do anything. You were
willing to do anything to your own children to be with Ruby. So this moment where he's trying to be
this yes man for Ruby, it really does end up being this huge foreshadowing moment of seemingly their
entire adult lives together. So of course he's checking off all these boxes.
So they quickly get engaged, they get married, and then right away they start having children.
And something that I think is really important to note here from this documentary itself
is that it seems like there are still a lot of varying feelings from Kevin, Chad, and
Sherry when it comes to Ruby.
Specifically, when it comes to the old Ruby and then the, hypothetically speaking,
new version of Ruby where she turned into
this awful evil person.
A lot of people on the outside looking in
think that maybe it was YouTube
and maybe it was the fame and the money
that began to corrupt Ruby.
While some people think that it was when she got involved
with Jodie and with all of Jodie's insane teachings.
But what's interesting is that even her family members,
the people who were around Ruby the most,
cannot really agree on one specific thing.
And to be fair, each person's feelings are valid.
It could be either one of those things.
So it's their own version of events
and really their own truth.
Now Sherry's feelings are very clear cut.
She has always believed that Ruby was not a good person
or a good mother.
Not at all.
And her earliest memories of Ruby are even of her yelling at her and smacking her.
When I was younger, around like 5, 6, Ruby was really physical.
Whether it was a slap to the lip or a slap to the cheek.
When I would practice the piano, her know, like her hand would slam and like, it was really scary.
She even specifically said in this documentary
that she believes that Jodie only set off the things
that were already deeply rooted inside Ruby's heart,
which I kind of imagine that almost as like
a ticking time bomb, that it's just been years,
just somebody, something waiting and waiting
for something to come along and just set it off.
And that's how Sherry describes it.
Then there's Ruby's son Chad, and it seems like maybe he still holds some kind of soft spot for her deep down.
You can tell that he seemed slightly more wary than Sherry. I mean just not quite as
angry or resentful as her.
He mentioned in the first episode that Ruby, quote, was always a good mom
until she just kind of wasn't. Which is clearly very different than from what Sherry had felt.
She felt like Ruby was born in bread evil. Now, of course, Chad did get into the rougher times
where their relationship was strained, but it seems like he didn't even really start to have
those negative feelings toward his mom until her YouTube became a full-time job and really the
priority in the home.
That took the focus over everything.
It was YouTube or nothing.
And it's almost as though every decision she made was reliant on what the outcome was going
to be with YouTube.
So that's when he started feeling like his life was scripted and like he just was never
in control of anything.
And that's also when he started acting out, both at school and at home.
And then lastly, there's good ol' Kevin. Because he's a lot harder to read, as you will see and hear in this video. Because it really does seem like he's always choosing his words very carefully,
very crafted, whenever it comes to, you know, bashing or I guess not bashing Ruby. And it's
almost like he always has Ruby still in the back of his mind.
Still, how's she gonna respond to this?
Am I saying too much?
Once she gets released, will she be with me
if I speak too freely?
Something like that.
And again, this is strictly my take on things
based on what I'm seeing
and what I know so deeply about the case.
So maybe I'm totally wrong.
You tell me if you come to that same conclusion.
So this sort of leads us to the creation
of the 8 Passengers YouTube channel.
Because Kevin claimed that when Ruby first started
picking up the camera and documenting every single thing
in their house, in their lives,
and turning it into content,
that he was really uncomfortable with it.
But what's crazy is he wasn't uncomfortable
because she was documenting the private moments
like a child getting their period,
or a child being punished,
or a child having their door ripped off their hinges.
No, he wasn't uncomfortable with the children's faces being shown or all of their
personal moments and thoughts and behaviors being exploited.
He was just uncomfortable because he said it was quote awkward for him. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was awkward for you, Kevin.
I'm sorry that it was awkward for you.
So Ruby could put on this mask,
honestly kind of like a trained actress,
where she knew the lines that she wanted everyone
in her house to say.
She knew where she wanted them to all be standing,
she knew how she wanted them to be dressed,
how they should act.
But Kevin, he said, you know, for me it was difficult
because I'm not a natural at that.
I'm not able to have that vision,
at least not in the way that Ruby was.
He says that he would forget his lines, he would forget when he was supposed to interject in
conversations and jump in the scene, and that he just couldn't quite figure it out. He says,
even the times where I did remember that I needed to jump in the scene and say something,
it just sounded too scripted, it sounded fake, it wasn't like a natural flow in the conversation.
Yet, he still sat next to Ruby, just smiling for the camera, trying to do whatever it was
she wanted.
Which, again, this just ties back into that poster that was inside Ruby's closet.
He knew what she wanted.
He molded himself to fit it.
No questions asked.
He was going to do whatever Ruby wanted.
Now interestingly enough, Kevin admitted during the first episode
of this series that after he saw the paychecks that were coming in and that they were increasingly
getting bigger and bigger, he just wanted more. He saw green. All he saw was money in his eyes. He
just wanted more of that. Now their first check was only around $85, but month after month those
numbers just started doubling, then tripling,
then quadrupling, and then I don't even know what the next word is, but you know what I mean? Just
snowballing, just getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and he then says that sometimes they would
bring in as much as six figures a month. Can you imagine? Six figures a month. That is what some
people don't even earn in a year,
yet they were earning that monthly.
So at this point, it's like greed just is tunnel vision.
And it's like, we don't care about our kids.
We don't care about anything.
We need to keep churning out this content
because now there's no glass ceiling
and we can earn as much as we can possibly make
by however much content we put out.
I haven't decided yet.
We are live!
Hi guys!
Russell you just got out of bed!
Russell just came out of bed to join us.
Russell is supposed to be in bed.
Russell!
Alright, jump up here by daddy.
Does it flip it like this?
No.
No.
I don't think so.
Well, we'll just make do.
So we're almost all here except for
Eve.
Eve's asleep.
So
we're excited to have another live YouTube
session. So we're going to just shout
out and say hi to a few folks as you
hop on. So hey
Lexi, hey Kendra Skinner, welcome to the session. It's a lot of fun. So just like
that he completely changed his tune. Now that he saw the money and the amount of
money that they had the potential to earn, he went from being you know
slightly annoyed that Ruby had a camera out and was documenting every single
moment, every single moment,
every single interaction, to now making sure that they always caught every single thing that they
could on camera and that they could always interject it into their latest vlog.
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There was another moment in this documentary where I kind of scratched my head almost because
Kevin never says or admits that they shouldn't have exploited their kids online for money.
He never really even says that he believes what they were doing was harmful, which it's
like how can you not come to that conclusion at this point unless you are just so beyond
it dense that you can't even have a thought that's clear in your mind.
But during one of the episodes,
he even had the freaking audacity to bring up the fact
that if there was anything to do with Chad in the episode
or Chad in the thumbnail or the video title,
that that would perform better when it came to views.
And that is sick because that tells me
that they were watching the analytics, they were
gauging the performance, and they knew what child performed better over the other, and
then they would cherry-pick that child out and exploit them even further, because they
knew that that's what the audience wanted.
And speaking of Chad, people would all the time very often comment how he was so handsome,
how people wanted to marry him, how they had a crush on him.
And keep in mind, Chad was a minor during all of this at the time, so it is beyond gross
and just disgusting.
But instead of Ruby or Kevin stepping in and seeing that these comments, this behavior,
this fixation and interest on their minor son was gross or predatory, they used that knowledge to
their advantage. They used that information to exploit him. In this, Kevin
even mentioned that Ruby specifically exploited Chad for views, and the
interviewer then chimed in and asked if he felt like he had also exploited Chad
in all of this, to which finally he did say absolutely.
Who are you texting?
No one. Any girlfriend? No. of this, to which finally he did say absolutely. Who are you texting?
No one.
Any girlfriend?
No.
Whoa, whoa.
I really like you.
I saw you in my dreams last night.
I'm telling you, it's not her.
It was her brother.
Look, go down.
She said, I'm so sorry.
That was my brother.
Did she?
I saw you in my dreams last. Look, excuse me, no.
Oh my gosh, sorry, that was my brother.
What is the nature of your relationship
with this individual?
I mean, there's like 300 texts in here.
Do you like her, like her, or do you just like her?
She's your new friend.
That is really, really messy. Do you like her like her or do you just like her? She's new friend
Does she like you back what I will say is it something about that specific scene didn't exactly sit right with me personally
Maybe it was his tone of voice, maybe it was his facial expressions, I'm not really sure, but to me,
he really just did not seem sorry for it.
It did not land, it did not seem authentic to me.
In my own personal opinion, it sounded very much
like he was just kind of admitting like,
yeah, absolutely, to almost like a business model
or something so topical and surfacey,
something that they had followed for years,
not something as serious
as the exploitation of their own son who was a minor.
And this just seemed so different than the solid open stance that Sherry takes against
family vlogging and all of the hard and amazing work that she has been doing to raise awareness
about how harmful it is for any family vlogging channel and just how hurtful it is to all of the kids,
even pre-Jodie and pre all of her batshit crazy teachings. But in the documentary,
Kevin just didn't say much about that topic specifically. And it made me wonder,
does he regret it? Does he see what he did was wrong? Does he wish that his children were not
left vulnerable and exposed to millions of people on the internet.
Okay, so I'm pulling out the camera because Kevin is laughing his head off
and he's like you have to film this story, you have to film it and I'm like
I'm in too nasty of a mood to film it but you're saying it's worth filming?
Oh, anyone who knows Eve has got to hear this story.
Now, in an effort to be as unbiased as possible and give you the full story, you know, both
aligned with what I think and not, after this documentary was filmed, Kevin did end up speaking
up about his thoughts and opinions on the family vlogging space.
And it seems he does have some regrets and also some negative feelings towards it.
So that was most recently on February 18th, 2025.
I have three statements to read. One is my own and two are statements that were prepared
and written by two of my minor children at their request. And I will be reading them
verbatim to you. I'd like to also clarify that these statements went through the process of approval in the juvenile court and the judge agreed that these statements could and should be
read to this committee. My name is Kevin Franke. I am the father of Sherry Franke
and the former husband of Ruby Franke. I am a former family vlogger who is
intimately familiar with the world of family content creation on social media.
I have my own story and journey to share when I'm ready, but obviously now is neither the time nor the place to do that.
Today I want to be direct and clear. Vlogging my family, putting my children into public social media was wrong, and I regret it every day.
Children cannot give informed consent to be filmed on social media, period.
If we as adults cannot understand the emotional and psychological impacts of sharing our lives to millions of strangers online,
how can we expect our children to understand them?
Few, if any, legal protections currently exist
for those children, and I believe it's time to change that.
I support Representative Owens' bill,
and I believe it to be a great first step
towards protecting child influencers
here in the state of Utah.
And there is much more to do in the future.
Now that video alone is probably going to have a lot of
different opinions and I'm honestly curious to know your
thoughts on this.
Do you feel like it was too little too late or that he's
only sorry because he's been caught?
Do you think that he is now trying to save a face because
he knows that the public probably is not going to receive
what he was peddling before so warmly? Or do you stand more on the side of better late than never, like I'm glad
he finally figured it out. We're all capable of growing. We're all capable of
educating ourselves on topics that maybe we once in the past felt strongly about.
As a parent, I just don't really personally allow for that kind of grace.
I think that you know when you are being a good parent
or not from the get-go.
I don't think that that needs to necessarily
be something you should be educated on over time,
that you need to grow from being a parent
who exploits your child and uses them for money,
but maybe I'm too harsh, I don't know.
I'll be honest, it's just really hard for me
to ever take things that he says seriously,
especially things like he said in that last clip, but then also saying things like what he says
in this next clip, where it sounds like he's almost justifying the abuse.
The things that you see that are concerning in the documentary, such as the sternness,
the yelling at the kids to get them to comply and the filming and those kinds of things,
I think a lot of people that aren't familiar with family content creation
would look at that and go, that's horrible, that's abusive, and it is
abusive. But what I want people to understand is that was not unique to our
family. I don't know a single family content creator that did not have
interactions like that with
their children.
And I think what a lot of people have issues with when it comes to Kevin, myself included,
is that just because he wasn't present during that year where Ruby was really losing her
mind starting to spiral and physically abusing the youngest two children, it doesn't mean
that he wasn't there or present for other very questionable behavior
and very, very questionable parenting choices.
I'll go to the most well-known example,
and I'm sure you're already gonna guess what it is here,
but this is when Chad, their son,
had his bed taken away from him.
You've been sleeping on a beanbag.
I've been sleeping on a beanbag since October.
Chad showed that he was not able to manage himself
sharing a bedroom with Russell.
So when we moved, the bigger room in the basement
was automatically his and I didn't have a room,
but we like put one on hold for me.
So a lot of you are like, hey that's not fair
because Chad got the bigger, the lesser bedroom
and Russell got the bigger bedroom.
The smallest bedroom.
Russell got the big bedroom
and Chad got the smaller bedroom.
And Russell's bigger bedroom also had a bathroom.
But what you guys didn't know was Chad didn't get any room.
He didn't get anything.
He was sleeping on the floor in the family room
and he just got the bedroom back
and it's because he's
shown up consistently without bullying the kids. Here's another example when
their youngest daughter would continuously go hungry at school because
she would forget to pack her own lunch. As a reminder a six-year-old child.
Her teacher is uncomfortable with her being hungry and not having a lunch. And it would ease her discomfort if I came to the school with lunch.
But I responded and just said, Eve is responsible for making her lunches in the morning.
And she actually told me she did pack a lunch.
So the natural outcome is she's just going to need to be hungry. And hopefully, hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her
a lunch.
Now yes, Jodi was in the picture at this point.
At least she was for that Chad incident.
I'm not 100% sure about the lunch situation.
So sure, you could argue that the weird connections, ideologies,
and the cultish mindset was already starting to settle in
and that it was starting to take root.
But regardless, these were parenting moves
that Kevin was still present for, that he co-signed on,
he enabled, he greenlit it, like,
he hadn't left the house yet.
So he was okay with this behavior,
and that's why it enrages me
that he's now trying to get a pass.
In a recent interview
that Chad and Kevin did with People magazine, Kevin even actually
brought up the time that Chad didn't have a bed.
But instead of actually taking accountability or just simply saying like, you know, I really
shouldn't have allowed that.
That was a big mistake in hindsight.
I can't believe I ever let that happen.
He just blamed the entire thing on Jody.
As far as the things like sleeping on a beanbag,
removing Chad from sports teams and things,
all of those directives came from Jody,
the licensed mental health counselor.
I definitely voiced my opposition and concern,
and it was always flipped back on to me of saying
well you know this is why your children are disobedient this is why you're
having problems with your children because you just enable them all the
time you're the problem Kevin now look I don't think that anybody is denying that
at some point Jody instructed him and Ruby to do these things especially when
it came to Chad since she was technically his therapist.
But the problem lies with not just jumping in,
not saying, you know, this doesn't feel right.
This isn't something that I'm comfortable with
with doing to my kid.
This doesn't feel good.
I'm not going to do this.
Just because your therapist tells you
to take your child's bed away,
it doesn't mean that you should do it.
Just like the age old saying,
if somebody tells you to jump off a bridge,
are you gonna do it?
If a therapist tells you to torture
or to ridicule your child, are you going to do it?
That at what point do you man up as a parent
and as a man, sorry, excuse my cussing,
and realize like, and say no, I'm not gonna do that.
Like I would never treat my child like that.
Especially if Kevin was so against it
at the time as he claims.
It's not like she was in their home pointing a gun at them,
forcing them to do this.
They did this of their own volition.
They made these choices.
They executed these horrific actions.
When you become a parent,
it is your duty to step up and advocate for your child,
not to inflict harm on them
and exploit them.
And it's like these children, in my opinion,
they were failed every step of the way,
both of these parents, equally damaging.
I don't care if Ruby is the one that was there
for more of the physical stuff,
and when that all went down, in my opinion,
Kevin, he is just as responsible.
If you're not gonna stand up and make sure
that your kids are protected and safe and happy and healthy,
who will?
Who do you expect to advocate for your child?
Surely not nut job Jody.
Now, when this specific incident
was brought up in the documentary,
Kevin described at the time feeling persecuted
for his parenting style, feeling persecuted
for his religious beliefs.
And his exact words to the viewers, apparently very harsh reactions to the video, were,
"...we saw it as an innocent religious family that's being attacked unjustly by cancel
culture, and cancel culture is winning."
Those were his exact words.
His exact words, like, give me a break, you're sad fishing.
You are not taking accountability.
You're pointing the finger at everybody else.
Like, it enrages me.
Now remember, those were the things that were going on
in his mind at the time.
So the interviewer even asked if he felt now
that the people's reactions were justified.
And his response, sure, that's it.
Not, yeah, you know what, they were justified
and I wish that I had listened at the time.
And in hindsight, I wish I could have gone back
and I would have listened.
They were right and it should have been more eye-opening
to me and that they were seeing something
that I unfortunately at the time couldn't see
or refused to see.
But instead he just says, sure, sure they were justified.
Like, like so casual, so casual, like it's not a big deal.
So very similarly to the topic of family vlogging in general,
my question with that is, does he actually regret any of it?
Or does he just know what people want him to say?
I mean, this is for each and every one of you to decide.
Now there is one more thing I wanna mention
about Kevin pre-leaving the house.
I have a lot more to mention, but this is about Kevin before he left the house, and
it really stuck out to me.
At the end of the first episode, there's a very interesting conversation that is brought
up about whether or not Kevin ever actually saw Ruby physically or verbally abuse any
of the children in their home.
And he straight up said, I had no idea that this is what was going on in my family.
That is a direct quote.
And I'll be honest, it's gonna be a little bit hard for me
to not get angry or share my opinion about that,
because right after he said this,
the clip then jumped to Sherry,
where she says that she tried to help her brother Chad
whenever he would get in trouble or whenever he got hit,
and that she would try to help him as best as she could.
And she said that sometimes all she knew that she could do was get him toilet paper if his
nose was bleeding and that she could just offer him comfort and be there for him.
Another time she said that she helped him clean his blood off of a wall after a very
intense beating.
And remember, this was all before Jodie ever moved in, pre-Kevin not seeing his kids for
a year.
So it was well before the younger kids
had apparently turned into demons who were possessed
and way before Kevin, Sherry, and Chad
were all kicked out of the house.
So I find it pretty damn hard to believe
that his oldest daughter,
who is of course obviously much younger than him,
that she remembers multiple instances
of having to intervene and step in
and clean blood off of the walls and blood off of her brother's face or comfort her brother and
remembers all of these surroundings in vivid detail, yet he had no idea that any of it was
going on. The math ain't mathin'. It does not equate. It doesn't make sense. He can also be
heard in the background of videos
where Ruby is yelling and where she's being just incredibly harsh toward her
kids. Yet, he claims he had no idea that any of this was going on.
Sit down right here!
Go sit on the couch.
Sit her down on the flipping couch!
He was there during the times that Ruby would post parenting tips and different
parenting guides that are incredibly concerning, yet he apparently had no idea that these things were going on.
This is what love sounds like.
When you see someone hurting, if you acknowledge the hurt,
if your kid came to you on fire, would you say,
I'm so glad you trusted me to tell me you're on fire,
that if I put out the fire that's gonna really hurt and you're gonna end up with scabs anyway.
So I'm just gonna love you where you are right now.
No, you throw them on the ground and you start rolling them.
You get a blanket and you start hitting the flames.
And they're gonna say, you're hurting me.
You're beating me.
You're controlling us.
Like, no dear, hold still.
I'm getting the fire out.
That's what a loving parent does.
Because nobody will do it. It'm getting the fire out. That's what a loving parent does because nobody will do
it. It looks to the world crazy and because they've never been loved before, it looks like I'm angry
to them. It looks like I'm controlling. It looks like I'm militant. It looks like I'm a monster. It
looks like I'm mean. It looks like I'm full of hate. It looks like I'm not accepting it." Because they don't know what love looks like
or sounds like. So this is something that he has seemed willing to die on that hill about.
A lot of the physical violence that was described was hidden and kept from me. I didn't even know
that those things happened. And I think Ruby was really careful to hide a lot of that for me.
Again, that's for you to decide. This is just my opinion and maybe you really do
believe that he has somehow had no idea about any of this as it was going on and
that's totally fine. Maybe I'm just more skeptical because it just doesn't make
sense to me. How could you not know? I think it's way more likely that you knew
and you were a witness to this,
but your bank account was growing
and so you chose to look the other way.
That's my personal opinion.
I think that the content was good enough,
the paychecks were good enough, so why stop it?
That's my opinion.
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Now we're caught up to when the 8 Passenger's YouTube channel was created.
But I want to get us to when Jodie became more heavily involved in the Frankie family dynamic.
Because the documentary and even the interviews that Kevin did within this documentary I wanna get us to when Jodie became more heavily involved in the Frankie family dynamic.
Because the documentary and even the interviews
that Kevin did within this documentary
really start to point to this huge shift,
describing it as almost a pre and post cancellation
for that Chad video.
And instead of taking constructive criticism
or feedback from their viewers
after a lot of people saw this huge issue
with how Chad was being treated,
they just kind of doubled down on all of this.
They treated this criticism as people who just didn't understand,
who didn't agree with their parenting methods,
and who just didn't understand that this was the right approach,
although it was super harsh, Kevin included.
There's so many culturalisms today that are being just promoted and celebrated and, you know, taught from
the highest towers in every part of the land.
And some of these parenting-isms, these culturalisms that have contaminated parenting are things
like beliefs that it's my job to make my kids happy.
It's-
Give them a magical childhood.
It's my job to give my child a magical childhood.
It's my job to make my children smile and laugh.
It's my job to make my children successful.
It's my job to prevent my children successful. It's my job to prevent my children from having pain.
All of these, they all come from the same place.
And it all comes from this belief,
this distorted belief that I can measure my worth
as an individual by how I parent.
And I can judge how good of a parent I am
by how my children turn out.
And there is not a greater untruth than that.
That leads to so much pain.
That leads to so much resentment
on the part of the parent to the child
and the part of the child to the parent.
And instead of stepping away from Jodi
or lessening her therapy sessions with Chad
until they could decide on a different route of treatment,
Jodi's involvement just increased.
Chad was seeing her multiple times a week
and Kevin was also at the same time
attending this men's group session every week with Jodi.
And Ruby, of course, well, we know she was just turning in and morphing into this little
like Jodie Hildebrandt prodigy, just terrifying, this little evil culty dictator.
And these men's group sessions were just yet another time when Kevin was actively molding
himself to whatever Ruby wanted.
He said that Jodie would praise him in front of all of the other men, and that he knew
that the praise would get back to
Ruby and so he loved the idea that he just wanted to be a perfect little puppy dog on his best behavior
listening to Jodie wagging his tail doing everything she said because, oh if I do everything I say I'll get a treat and
Jodie will go tell Ruby that I was a good doggy
So I want to make sure that Ruby knows I'm a good doggy. And like I know that that sounds so cringe and juvenile, but like that's literally what this was.
He is such a sad sack of garbage in my opinion. Like grow a backbone, grow a ball sack, be a man.
Like this is so embarrassing and it would be even more pathetic than embarrassing if it wasn't so dangerous.
And what he allowed, in my opinion,
to go on and go down in that house.
So he said that during this time in particular,
while he was doing these little men's sessions,
barking at every single need
that Jodie and Ruby were throwing at him,
his relationship with Ruby, of course, just grew stronger.
She was finally seeing him the way he always wanted her to. He was finally getting the accolades and the attention of beautiful Ruby, you know, perfect
Ruby on a pedestal. The validation that he was receiving from Jodi and Ruby both, that was his
literal drive for attending these men's sessions and for getting more involved in connections.
Hi, we're here at Mann School in St. George, Utah.
These are two of these lovely men,
Kevin just got done giving a talk
about from hodl to cradle.
And we're here together with about 40, 45 men
who are interested in learning how to connect.
And you probably don't know this,
but in order to be able to connect,
you have to live three principles.
They are being honest, responsible, and humble.
And so these men have, you know, pretty much perfected, right guys? Perfected.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
No more problems.
Here's the adulator, here's the denigrate.
That's right.
That's right.
Living honest, responsible, and humble.
That's what we're all practicing so we can have relationships of connection.
So Kevin just gave this amazing talk about coddled.
Will you share a little bit about what that was? so we can have relationships and connections. So Kevin just gave this amazing talk about coddled.
Will you share a little bit about what that-
Yeah, we focused a lot and had a great discussion
with the men here about the principles of self-reliance
and about responsibility and being able to not run away
from responsibility, but to embrace it and to accept it
because those responsibilities are exactly what will lead you
to greater connection and happiness.
So he got deeper and deeper into the cult
that is connections.
The documentary talked a lot about how Jodi
and her teachings had all of the typical characteristics
of a cult too, which definitely wasn't really unknown
before this documentary came out,
but I think we all have long suspected it was a cult,
but it was nice to hear from some of the people
that were on the other side of things,
closely working within connections as well.
One member even said in the documentary
that she really believed at the time that Jodie was God.
Feels very reminiscent of Chad Daybell, doesn't it?
And Chad even said basically the exact same thing
in a newer interview with Good Morning America. Looking back, I treated her as a
god and I trusted her so much and thought that she was someone that was
chosen, someone that was special. I mean, it's hard to not say that that is a cult
through and through, especially with that kind of information. Jody was
incredibly convincing. She made you feel like you were doing the right thing and she encouraged you to isolate yourself from
anybody who didn't agree with the teachings or those way because you know
as Scientologists say I think it's you're a suppressed being. She said that
you are living in distortion or in untruth or whatever she said. It's like
this perfect cult-like mentality concoction, just the perfect recipe to isolate somebody
and to cut them off from everyone.
Now skipping ahead a little bit,
I wanna talk about the moment that Kevin decided to leave
because this is another really huge part
in this entire story.
We're already familiar with all the things
that happened in between, right?
Jodie got possessed, she moved in with them,
Ruby started sleeping with Jodie
to apparently keep the demons away.
She would come out of the room, you know,
under a love spell, candles lit, sweaty, hair a mess,
just, you know, awful.
And I'm gonna use my words really carefully here,
but me saying that he decided to leave
is pretty purposeful.
He did choose to leave.
Yes, Ruby told him he needed to pack his bags,
he needed to go, he needed to get out, but he's an adult.
He's the husband.
He's the father.
He had free will.
At any moment, he could have said,
Ruby, you're insane if you think
that I'm gonna move out of this house
that we bought together.
You're insane if you think I'm gonna leave the children.
You're insane if you think
I'm gonna stop talking to them.
He could have decided that it was the last straw
and that he was gonna be done with them
and actually be a parent,
but he didn't. He chose not to. He chose once again, wag his little tail, put it between his legs,
do whatever boss lady Ruby wants him to do because he always wants to be in her good graces.
And I feel more sympathy for Chad and Sherry being excommunicated from the family because
they were still basically kids themselves. Nothing that was happening to them
or that had ever happened to them was ever of their own free will. They had no choice in who
their parents were. They weren't able to just be like, screw this, this is crazy, I'm out.
They didn't have the same luxuries that Kevin did. And Kevin was the adult. He should have made those
decisions. Tough decisions? Sure. It wouldn't be very tough for me, but let's chalk it up to,
okay, maybe it was a tough decision to make. That is what you have to do when you are
a grown-up, Kevin. You have to make the tough decisions to protect your children.
So Kevin had the choice, and he made his choice. He did what Ruby said, and this is
despite a very heartbreaking moment which he described where one of his
younger children was sobbing in his arms, hugging him,
pleading with their eyes because they were fearful that if they used their words and verbalized their
fear that they would get in trouble, so sobbing and pleading with their eyes not to do this,
not to leave them. And he left anyway. Even when he was out of Ruby's watchful eye and now living
on his own, he still chose to ignore Sherry and Chad, who he knew were out on their own as well.
It wasn't like they were locked up with Ruby
and he couldn't contact them, he just chose not to.
When Sherry tried to talk to him
and when she tried to reach out, he blocked her
with seemingly no second thoughts, no remorse,
no question about it, just uh, blocking my own kids.
And that's not even under the direction of Ruby anymore.
That is a independent choice that he made.
Now I know I sound like a broken record
and I need to like get it together,
but I cannot even just for a second,
imagine putting myself in Kevin's shoes
and doing the things that he did.
It is baffling to me.
And I'm not the most perfect person in the world.
Trust me, I'm not.
But the idea of blocking one of my children
when they're trying to get in touch with me
and not talk to them, not reach out,
not make sure they're okay,
it makes me sick to my stomach.
His children were excommunicated from their family,
alone in the world, lost, scared,
trying to figure out who loved them, who cared about them,
who was there to help them, and he f***ing blocked
her.
It makes me sick.
So Kevin mentioned in the documentary that even though he was sad about this, and even
though he didn't quote, love the idea of it, he did it because he was terrified of Ruby
asking for a divorce.
So once again, you will cut off your children because you're scared of Ruby, because you
don't want precious Ruby to not be in love with you anymore.
It's like you are the biggest twerpy nothing bag of just garbage in the world.
Like again, I've said it before, grow a backbone.
Like you're so embarrassing.
It's so embarrassing and pathetic.
He just completely put his trust in Ruby and Jodie.
And those are words that have come from his own deadbeat mouth.
How could you have left your family?
The bottom line is that I was choosing to trust a licensed professional mental health
counselor and my wife.
And they gave some terrible counsel.
Again, molding himself to who Ruby wanted him to be. and my wife, and they gave some terrible counsel.
Again, molding himself to who Ruby wanted him to be.
She didn't want him to be the husband
who questioned her authority
or undermined her rules and her boundaries.
She didn't want him to have his own feelings
or opinions on how they parented,
how they share their children.
She wanted a husband who obeyed her.
So he just did that, he became that.
Now, obviously I think it's clear
where my feelings lie with all of this, but I am trying to be as fair as possible.
So there was a moment in the documentary
that Kevin did admit that he does feel guilty
for leaving his kids behind like that,
because he knows that he was, as in his words he said,
quote, their last line of defense.
Which am I glad that he admitted to that
and hopefully truly does feel that way?
Of course.
Does that kind of seem like the bare minimum in the grand scheme of things when you find
out that you could have avoided and saved your children from being literally starved,
duct taped, and chained to walls because they were, quote, demons in your wife's
eyes?
I don't really know about that.
Towards the end of the documentary, there was a point when Kevin talked about the moment
that his eyes were finally opened to the fact
that he was in a cult, that he had been brainwashed,
and that what happened to his kids really actually happened.
And I wanna go over that quickly
because it leads into something to this day
that has stuck with me and has been one of my bigger issues
that I take up with Kevin.
Sometime after Ruby and Jodie's arrest,
Chad and Kevin had apparently began texting back and forth.
Chad had basically reached out saying he saw the news,
he was confused, he didn't know who to talk to,
he was trying to get some clarity as to what was going on.
So Kevin told him that he was gonna go over to the house
that following day to check things out
and for Chad to meet him there so that they could talk.
Now, even though I don't know the exact day
that this happened, it was after the arrests,
and that is key.
This was after Kevin had heard the conditions
that his kids were living in
and all of the things that they had faced.
It was after he had full knowledge of the situation.
And he describes that before he stepped foot
into that house, he didn't really believe any of it.
Just like when people were commenting about Chad and all of those things, he felt like the police
were setting him up or that it was all fake or it was orchestrated or whatever.
But he claimed that when he saw that the house was a complete mess inside, the
gears in his brain started turning. He was slowly realizing, walking room to room,
that none of that correlated with the ruby that he was picturing in his mind.
Then one of the neighbors, a couple that they had come to know and like since living in
that neighborhood, they came over.
And they ended up staying up with Kevin for six hours, answering any and all of his questions,
just giving him all of the details.
So at this point, it's like he's armed with information from the neighbors, he's seeing
the house, he's hearing from the police different things.
He has a full comprehensive picture
of what was going on in that house
and just how bad this had become.
These neighbors even described what the kids were like
after he left.
They told him about all of the times that they called CPS
when the kids were seen in the window,
seemingly left home alone for days on end.
And it again was apparently after talking with them
that he had this great revelation of everything. However, let's not forget what
happened two days after Ruby's arrest because Sherry had gone back into the
home and she had taken a bunch of electronics. She took passports,
electronics, but when Kevin found out about this, he tried to have Sherry
arrested for burglary. According to the incident report, Sherry had taken three
tablets, three cell phones, three cameras,. According to the incident report, Sherry had taken three tablets,
three cell phones, three cameras, written journals from the family members, and three passports.
Now, I've always held the belief that Sherry was probably doing this to protect her siblings.
I truly believe that. She is the only one who has denounced what Ruby has done from basically the
get-go. So I think that she was probably terrified that Kevin hadn't changed and that she knew
deep down that he would probably do whatever it took to protect Ruby, hiding these tablets,
hiding the hard drives, hiding passports, whatever it may be.
Maybe she was worried that he was even going to wipe the devices of any possible evidence
of abuse throughout the years.
I don't know.
But despite everything that Sherry went through, she always had her siblings' best interest
in mind.
And at the end of the day, all she wanted to do was prove that they were never truly
safe in Ruby's care. Kevin, on the other hand, had only proved to her time and time again that
he would follow Ruby's request no matter what they were, no questions asked, it was Ruby, Ruby, Ruby.
So Sherry did end up having to return all of that property, but no charges were ever brought against her.
And watching the body cam footage of Kevin angry that his daughter wasn't going to get arrested, no.
No.
No charges were ever brought against her. Which good, there shouldn't have been charges.
He never should have tried to have her arrested for burglary.
She was trying to help her siblings, the kids that he never did help, even despite having a full picture of what had happened to them, which again makes me question how authentic he's being now with his remorse and, you know, trying to say this because watching the bodycam footage of Kevin
Getting angry that his daughter Sherry wasn't going to get arrested to this day this footage still makes me angry
Is it all there? Yes.
Explain to me again why this was not robbery.
Because it's a civil issue.
You guys are family, she's been in the house before, you haven't been in the house in a
year.
She had interest in the items, she didn't take them with the intention to deprive you of them.
So that's the theft code.
We have to prove intent to deprive you of the items.
And that wasn't her intent in having them.
So the detective sergeant said that we're not going to charge her for anything.
Okay, I'll have to do some more research on that.
You can do that.
If you want to follow up with other techniques, do yourself.
Okay.
Yeah, he'll be here on Tuesday.
His name's Sergeant McCoy.
I feel like I'm going to get mad all over again.
She is your daughter.
She's the only one in your family who is trying to protect your children.
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So my biggest unanswered question is that I really am curious
when this, you know, no pun intended,
when this come to Jesus moment happened for Kevin.
Because if he's claiming the day after the arrest that he realized his wrongdoings, but
then the following day he was still actively trying to protect Ruby and was yet again choosing
her over his own children, then I'm calling bullshit.
I'm calling bullshit on the entire story.
Or maybe the incident with Sherry happened and then a day or two later Kevin had this
come to Jesus moment and realized all of his wrongdoings.
I don't really know.
It would make a lot more sense, I guess, if that were the timeline, but it's of course
not something that is being talked about or publicized, but it's something that's been
stuck in my mind for the last year or so and it isn't leaving anytime soon.
Regardless of the timeline, though, this specific incident has always been a massive red flag to me.
Because it is such a raw moment that clearly shows Kevin's feelings post arrest.
No matter what day it ended up being, it doesn't matter to me, it's post arrest.
And you are still choosing Ruby over your children.
It's also a moment when all of those excuses of not knowing what was going on in the house,
not knowing how they were being treated, not knowing what was going on while you were out of the house
for a year, all those excuses evaporate in my mind because now you do know, you do know
what was going on and you're still choosing the wrong road ahead.
You're like, you're still choosing to protect Ruby.
So there's not a whole lot for him to lean back on.
He was made aware in graphic detail of why Ruby was arrested and why he couldn't just pick up the kids and go home. But he was still
seemingly protecting her, even when he was told that his son was found emaciated. He
still was protecting her.
The contrast in general between Sherry and Kevin is one that has to be noted. Because
Sherry didn't care what crap Jodie was spitting and spewing.
She didn't care that Ruby told her
not to contact any of her family members.
She was working with the neighbors constantly
just to get an idea of how her siblings were doing.
She was calling CPS time and time again.
She was trying to get in contact with both Kevin, with Chad,
hoping that they would feel the same way that she felt,
that they needed to intervene and help the rest of the kids.
But she was blocked by her own dad.
She was in the exact same situation that Kevin had been.
She had been just as involved with Ruby and Jodi.
Jodi was her therapist at one time too.
None of that mattered though.
She knew the difference between right and wrong
and she loved her siblings so much
that she didn't care who got pissed off in the process.
She was going to do the right thing. And I'm not at all saying that Kevin doesn't love his children.
But why was it possible for Sherry to do all of this and not Kevin?
I think maybe he does love them in some ass backwards way, but I think he loves Ruby more.
100% I think that. And that is arguably if he loves his children authentically and genuinely at all.
Kevin has even felt the need to comment on people's criticism, but it still doesn't
really answer my question.
I think it's relatively easy for somebody out there who's, you know, arm-chairing this
and looking at this experience going, well, why didn't he just do that?
I would have done that.
If it was day number one and Jodi came to me and said,
yeah, you're selfish.
You need to go into separation and repent.
I would have told her to take a hike.
I would have been like, you're crazy.
And I did, I did say that.
And the first time I was introduced to Jodi's program.
But you have to remember,
and these individuals have to remember,
that this was now, you know,
I was two and a half years in this program now.
And Jodi doesn't start from day one saying stuff like that.
She gets her hooks into you and slowly begins to indoctrinate you and condition you to believe
things about yourself and to willingly give power to other people because you come to believe that that you yourself aren't
capable of making good decisions. When that was suggested to me after all of
that indoctrinating and conditioning, at the time it seemed like, oh you're right,
okay. But you know again I understand for somebody who wasn't in
it that that it would seem strange there was that that coercion and flipping it
back on to me the gaslighting that I was like okay well maybe maybe I am wrong
maybe maybe this is the right way to parent. Now the very end of the documentary,
it directly ties into Kevin's recent media presence
as well as his feelings on everything
that is happening in general.
During the last few minutes of the series,
Chad, Sherry and Kevin are all seen separately
holding what I would assume to be a producer's phone.
And on this phone, it has an old video of the family
where things seemed not as scripted as they normally were.
It seemed more authentic.
And just like in the beginning when they all had something different to say about when Ruby changed, their reactions were all different here too.
Sherry said she doesn't care about how many times Ruby reaches out or what she even does in life.
She will never talk to her again.
That ship has 100% sailed for Sherry, and I applaud and commend her for that.
Chad's reaction was similar, but with a little bit more nostalgia mixed in.
He said that he missed those happy times way, way back and missed having a mother figure in general.
And you could tell that he knows that the Ruby that he remembers from when he was a small kid is not the same Ruby who is in jail.
that he remembers from when he was a small kid is not the same Ruby who was in jail.
And then there's Kevin's reaction.
And his reaction was something else
because his exact words were,
the actions she did are atrocious,
but I still feel a longing.
I miss her.
It is easy for the world to hate that woman.
And so many people want me to join in that course
and I cannot turn off all of those other memories.
Which I could say,
I could lie to you and say I'm surprised and I can't believe he said
something like that and had the audacity to say that but I'm really not
surprised. It really doesn't shock me. He has 100% stood on still loving Ruby.
Allegedly though not agreeing with her or the things that she's done but still
loving her.
And I have regrets and I wish that I hadn't done those
things. Do you still love her? I do. I don't think I'll ever stop loving her.
Does that mean that I want to let her back into my life, let her back into my
kids lives? Absolutely not. And I'm honestly glad that Kevin brought that up
because a lot of people have this conspiracy theory that this is all just for show.
People are questioning whether or not Kevin
is actually being truthful
when he says he doesn't want Ruby back in his life
or his kids' lives.
And for the sake of those poor kids,
I really hope and pray to literally
whatever higher power is listening
that he is telling the truth,
and that if she is released,
he will not allow her back in their lives,
because remember remember her sentence
could be as little as four years. It hasn't been determined yet. So my gut feeling, and I really
hope I'm wrong, if she is released that early, which I don't think she will be, but if she is,
I think he would a thousand percent allow her back. I think he would bring her back around the
kids in no time at all. Even if she, and let let's just say even if she was changed and saw the light and
No longer was a threat wasn't gonna hurt her child children
No longer had contact with Jodie and he's like, you know, come back into the fold come back into the family
I think he would do that
Despite whatever post-traumatic stress that inflicted or caused his children. Surely to be closely involved with her again
or living under the same roof as her
would be traumatic and scary,
but I don't think he would even give that a second thought.
I don't think he would care
because if Ruby wants to be back in the house,
Ruby's gonna be back in the house
and he wants to do whatever he can to make her happy.
Like I've mentioned in my other videos
and other episodes covering the most recent updates with this case, Sherry wrote in her book that
she is working on her relationship with her dad Kevin. And I just hope for her
sake that continuing her relationship with him is her moving forward and
healing her, not holding her back, not trying to cater to what he needs,
especially since their truths are just so much different from one another.
When I was younger, around like five, six, like Ruby was really physical, like, you know,
whether it was like a slap to the lip or a slap to the cheek.
When I would practice the piano, you know, like her hand would slam and like, it was
really scary.
Choosing to trust a licensed professional mental health counselor and my wife.
And they gave some terrible counsel.
And I have regret and I wish that I hadn't done those things.
Do you still love her?
I do. I don't think I'll ever stop loving her.
Does that mean that I want to let her back into my life, let her back
into my kids' lives? Absolutely not.
Guilty.
Both Ruby and Jodi pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse against Ruby's two youngest
children and could serve up to 30 years in prison. Kevin recently speaking at a Utah
State House hearing advocating for child protections around family vlogging reading a letter from his 11 year old
daughter. I feel like my mom used me for money. What do you want people to know?
There is real danger. I mean I guess smacking and slapping a six-year-old and
that being considered criminal I guess it just really depends on the person you
ask as far as Kevin is concerned. I thought it was black and white but apparently not to him.
How do you make sense of all this? Of what's happened to you all?
This really is a story of love.
Of hope.
of hope, of family.
I'm sorry, a story of love, a story of hope? Are you out of your mind?
What are you even talking about?
This is not a story of love.
This is nothing even coming close to a story of love.
And I'm honestly just curious to hear where you guys stand on everything.
Do you think that having to live with his choices is punishment enough for Kevin?
Or are you somebody who feels like Kevin just got away with way too much, that he hasn't
taken a shred of accountability and that he hasn't had any repercussions for his role
that he played in all of this?
Some people have been quick to forgive, but some of us just aren't so sure yet.
Myself included here.
I think that this is all performative. That is what my gut tells me.
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't believe this is genuine because his whole track record has a history of showing him choosing Ruby over everybody else,
him being performative,
him making these choices, being complicit, co-signing, endorsing it, enabling it.
I think now he's just scared because it's public, it's out there, he doesn't want the
public backlash, and he doesn't want to be tied in with Ruby and Jodie because obviously
they're so hated by the world. What do you think?
I don't know.
Are we in agreement on this or am I like
on my own island over here just being like
this guy is the scum of the earth
and still needs to grow a sack of balls?
I don't know.
Let me know what you guys think.
If there are any more updates in this case,
I will be sure to keep you updated,
but I just, after my last episode,
I had to come on here and do this
because I saw there were a lot of you in the comments
who have a very similar mentality
about this whole situation like me
when it comes to Kevin.
And so I felt, you know, he deserves his own episode.
We gotta really show all the inconsistencies
and really outline it.
What was his role, even though now he's trying to pretend
that he wasn't involved and that, you know,
he didn't know what was going on.
Like, no, bro, I'm gonna call your bluff
and I'm gonna put it out there
and I'm gonna show everybody you did know.
You were complicit, you co-signed it, and you're gross.
So, I don't know.
Let me know what you guys think.
Thank you so much for tuning in
to another episode of Serialistly with me.
I will be back with you very, very soon
with a brand new episode.
If you're not following the podcast yet,
make sure you take two seconds to do that so you don't miss
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version of these updates. Alright, thank you guys so much for tuning in. Until
the next one, say it with me. Don't join a cult, be nice, don't kill people, and
definitely definitely definitely do not join Connections.
Alright guys, thanks so much. Bye. Thanks for watching!