Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt, the former YouTube vlogger and her business partner convicted of torturing Franke's children, will face their original parole hearings in early December 2026, more than three years after their arrests shocked Utah and the country. The two women are each serving four consecutive prison terms of one to 15 years after pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse.
Hearings Set for Early December, With Some Conflicting Details
According to KUTV, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will hold Franke and Hildebrandt's hearings on Dec. 7, 2026, at 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. in the courtroom at the Utah State Correctional Facility. However, ABC4 reported that the exact date and time of the hearings had not yet been decided. The Board conducts hearings either at that Salt Lake facility or at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, per the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole's own guidance.
ABC4's reporting describes the December hearings as the women's original parole hearings, arriving roughly three years after they pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. The station notes the sentences handed down require them to serve between four and 30 years in state prison, with the parole board ultimately deciding how much of that time each woman actually serves behind bars.
From Arrests to Guilty Pleas to Sentencing
The case began on Aug. 30, 2023, when Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested after Franke's 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt's house and reported abuse to a neighbor, according to ABC News. Police said the child had duct tape on his ankles and wrists and was asking the neighbor for food and water, per ABC4's account of the arrest. Both women pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse that December, and were sentenced in February 2024 to four consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison, the outlet reported.
Franke had built a massive online following chronicling her large family's daily life on the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, which drew more than 2.6 million subscribers before it was taken down. Hildebrandt, meanwhile, founded Connexions Classroom, a mental and emotional healing company based in Orem, Utah. Two children in the women's custody were found malnourished and neglected, and one child had severe wounds from being tied up with rope and duct tape. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services took custody of four children connected to the case.
A Scheduling Shift Years in the Making
The parole board had originally planned to hold hearings for Franke and Hildebrandt back in September 2024, but those hearings were pushed to December 2026 following a scheduling review by the board. That delay means the women's fate now rests with a process still unfolding more than three years after their arrests first drew national attention to the case. What the board ultimately decides — whether either woman is granted parole, given a rehearing date, or ordered to serve out her full sentence — remains unresolved ahead of the scheduled hearings.
