Ruby Franke (née Griffiths;[1] born January 18, 1982)[2][3][4] is an American convicted child abuser and former family vlogger who ran the now defunct YouTube channel 8 Passengers.

[5] In early 2015, Franke created a YouTube channel called 8 Passengers in which she documented her family life in Utah with her husband Kevin and their six children.

[11] Beginning in 2020, when one of the Franke children, a 16-year-old boy, said that he had been banned from his bedroom and made to sleep on a bean bag for seven months, viewers became concerned about his mother's disciplinary methods, which also included withholding food,[7][10] sending a child to a wilderness camp for troubled teens, threatening to behead a stuffed toy, and telling two of her children that Santa Claus would not be bringing them anything for Christmas that year because they were too "numb" to respond to other punishments.

Ruby deleted the YouTube channel[13] and began working as a mental health coach at ConneXions, a company run by Jodi Hildebrandt, a counselor.

[7] Neighbors and the Frankes' oldest daughter, a college student, called authorities to check on the latter's siblings after observing that their mother often left the children alone at home.

[13] On August 30, 2023, Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested in Ivins, Utah, and two days later, both were charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse, a felony.

[2][8] A search of the house found evidence "consistent with the markings" on the twelve-year-old, and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services took the boy and girl and two more of Franke's children into care.