Ruby Franke's Children: Narcissistic Abuse Recovery After the Conviction
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On August 30, 2023, Ruby Franke was arrested. Her son had escaped through a window. The performance was over.
For her six children — raised as content, filmed for millions — the work was just beginning.
Part 5 of "The Good Mother" examines recovery after narcissistic family abuse. What happens when you finally get out. Who you become when the show ends.
Shari Franke, 22, published a memoir and testified before Utah legislators. She advocates for child influencer laws, builds a life on her own terms.
Chad Franke, 20, reads his 2023 diaries on TikTok. Entries written while under Jodi's influence — goals about eliminating "lust," being pure enough. He calls it being "brainwashed."
Ruby writes letters from prison. Chad doesn't respond. "I don't think I'm interested in talking right now."
Kevin Franke divorced Ruby in March 2025. He remarried in December 2025. He says he still loves Ruby — but is "as angry as can be." Communication from Ruby is blocked.
The four minor children heal privately. Russell and Eve — the children found bound and starving — have their identities protected for the first time. Faces blurred. Names redacted.
Recovery isn't linear. Getting out is the beginning, not the end. The work is figuring out which beliefs were really yours. Learning whether you can forgive — or whether you even want to. Building an identity that isn't defined by the performance.
Ruby's first parole hearing is December 2026.
Her children are still here. Still becoming whoever they decide to be.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. |
| 0:03.2 | Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:06.1 | On August 30th at 2023, Ruby Frankie was arrested for aggravated child abuse. |
| 0:12.1 | Her 12-year-old son had escaped through a window, starved and bound. |
| 0:17.6 | And the world that had watched her perform motherhood for eight years finally saw what was real. |
| 0:28.0 | The performance was over. |
| 0:30.4 | Before her children, the six kids who had grown up as content, who had been filmed and monetized and controlled for audiences they never chose. |
| 0:39.5 | The work was just beginning. |
| 0:42.3 | This is part five of the Good Mother, final episode, and it's about what comes after. |
| 0:48.6 | Escape. |
| 0:49.5 | And I'm interested to get your thoughts and your opinions in the comment section on Substack and YouTube. |
| 0:54.3 | The links are in the description. Be sure to press subscribe while you're there. |
| 0:58.4 | Getting out is just the first step. What comes after getting out of a relationship like this? |
| 1:04.6 | A coercively controlled relationship from a parent to a child once that child becomes an adult and has their own |
| 1:12.1 | autonomy. That's the rest of your life. When Ruby was handcuffed and taken away, Sherry was |
| 1:18.7 | 20 years old. She'd been out of the house for two years. She'd built a distance between herself |
| 1:23.4 | and the performance. But distance doesn't mean freedom, not really. |
| 1:28.5 | The performance shapes you even after it ends. |
| 1:31.8 | The patterns you learn, the survival strategies you deployed, the way you learned to be loved, |
| 1:37.6 | those don't disappear when you leave. |
| 1:40.0 | Sherry posted one word to Instagram after the arrest. |
| 1:43.7 | Finally. She'd been trying to Instagram after the arrest. Finally. |
... |
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