Jodi Hildebrandt’s Utah mansion has been put up for sale for $5 million, including the hidden panic room where Ruby Franke’s children were tortured.
The four-bedroom fortress, which covers nearly 10,000 square feet, was originally listed for $5.3 million in January, but has since been marked down by more than $300,000.
It was from this house that Franke’s emaciated 12-year-old son escaped last August, leading police to find his little sister slumped in a closet.
Hildebrandt and Franke pleaded guilty in December 2023 to four second-degree felony counts of aggravated child abuse and face four sentences of one to 15 years.
Prosecutors accused the former business partners of starving and abusing Franke’s own children while dispensing brutal parenting advice on social media.
Jodi Hildebrandt’s Utah mansion is listed for nearly $5 million. In this house, she and Ruby Franke held the mom blogger’s young children captive while they were starved and tortured.
Hildebrandt and Franke each pleaded guilty to four second-degree felony counts of aggravated child abuse in December 2023.
The 10,000-square-foot home includes a “panic room” in the basement, with a vault-style door that locks from the outside.
Searching the property, police recovered a mixture of cayenne pepper and honey that was used to dress the children’s wounds and several coils of rope.
The property is located at 854 West Tawgoo Court in the quiet community of Ivins and was listed for sale about a week after the couple pleaded guilty.
It features a mahogany front door, skylights, 15-foot ceilings and expansive views of the desert landscape.
The kitchen features double ovens, top-of-the-line appliances, and ample counter space, plus a stainless steel sink and pantry with its own dishwasher, refrigerator, and microwave.
The master bedroom has a fireplace and a walk-in closet with a washer and dryer. Inside the master bathroom there is a deep soaking tub and steam room.
The lower level of the home features another large kitchen, home theater and family room. Other amenities include a pool, spa, fire pit, outdoor kitchen, and five-car garage.
Excluded from the list is the so-called “panic room” that investigators discovered while searching the house for evidence.
Beyond the vault-type door that closed from the outside was a bed, a bathroom, a microwave, and an empty refrigerator and freezer.
Police recovered a piece of knotted rope from a drawer in the narrow room. At one end were attached metal chains that connected to a set of handcuffs.
The four-bedroom home features a kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances and ample counter space.
The Ivins property features 15-foot ceilings and expansive views of the natural landscape.
Franke, 41 (left), and Hildebrandt, 54 (right), told nine-year-old Eve and 12-year-old Russell that they were possessed and that “punishments were necessary to repent.”
The inhumane living conditions were exposed when Russell escaped from the home in August 2023 and ran to neighbors for help.
Police found 9-year-old Eve hiding in a closet inside the dirty house and were able to convince her to come out after four agonizing hours.
The appalling living conditions were exposed when Franke’s son Russell climbed through a window and called out to neighbors with duct tape around his ankles.
A man, who later described the boy as “emaciated,” dialed 911 while his wife offered Russell water and some fruit.
The 12-year-old boy told police he had tried to escape a month earlier, prompting his own mother to handcuff his wrists and ankles.
After the daring escape, the police ventured back inside in search of Eve, the boy’s nine-year-old sister, whom they had not seen for a month.
The malnourished girl, whose head had been shaved, was found sitting cross-legged inside a closet. She was persuaded to get to safety after a four-hour effort that culminated in officers asking her for pizza.
Franke, a mother of six, later admitted to forcing the children to work in oppressive heat for hours with little food and water.
Twelve-year-old Russell suffered severe sunburn after working outdoors for several weeks without proper protection.
While Franke and Hildebrandt regularly withheld food from the children, crime scene photos showed a pantry full of snacks and canned goods.
A neighbor who called 911 described the boy (seen here in doorbell footage) as “emaciated.”
The home was originally listed for $5.3 million in January, but that price was abruptly reduced by $305,000.
Russell was severely malnourished at the time of his escape. He told police that Hildebrandt tied his wrists and ankles with rope before she and her mother “used cayenne pepper and honey to bandage the wounds.”
The 12-year-old boy told police he had tried to escape a month earlier, but Franke tied his wrists and ankles with handcuffs.
While Russell and Eve were regularly denied food, crime scene photos show a fully stocked pantry.
Both Russell and Eve were told they were possessed and that “punishments were necessary to repent,” according to court documents.
The women “regularly sought to indoctrinate” Russell “and convince him that he was evil,” viewing the abuse as “acts of love.”
Russell told police that Hildebrandt tied her wrists and ankles with rope before she and her mother “used cayenne pepper and honey to bandage the wounds,” documents show.
Officers later recovered a container of the mixture with a spoon submerged inside and a coil of rope next to it.
Franke, 42, gained a social media following as a mom vlogger, showcasing her children’s lives through her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers.
Hildebrandt, 54, is divorced and separated from her own children. She claimed to specialize in sex addiction, but she was reprimanded by the state in 2012 for having an inappropriate relationship with a client.
In the weeks after the couple’s arrest in August 2023, videos circulated in which Ruby happily talked about forcing her son to sleep in a bean bag as punishment and refusing to bring her daughter a school lunch after she herself he forgot to pack it.
Franke and her ex-husband, Kevin, hired Hildebrandt as a family therapist in 2021. But Hildebrandt finally convinced the couple to separate a year later.
Franke subsequently deleted her YouTube channel, which had more than 5 million subscribers at the time, before taking on a role as a mental health consultant at Hildebrandt’s company, ConneXions.
They launched a new YouTube channel under the same name and created a joint Instagram account called Moms of Truth to sell their parenting classes.