Kevin Franke is a civil engineer, a former assistant professor at Brigham Young University, and the husband of Ruby Franke, a YouTube star who was recently arrested on charges of child abuse. Kevin and Ruby have six children together, who were featured on their popular YouTube channel “8 Passengers”. Here is everything you need to know about Kevin Franke and his family.

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Kevin Franke’s Early Life and Education

Kevin Franke was born on October 9, 1978, in Utah. He graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 2003.

He then obtained his Master of Science degree in civil engineering from the same university in 2005. He continued his education at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering in 2011.

Career and Achievements

Kevin Franke worked as a research engineer at the Texas Department of Transportation from 2006 to 2011. He then joined Brigham Young University as an assistant professor of civil engineering in 2011. He taught courses on structural analysis, design, and dynamics. He also conducted research on earthquake engineering, structural health monitoring, and bridge engineering. He published several papers in academic journals and conferences. He received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the BYU Civil Engineering Department in 2014.

Kevin Franke left BYU in 2019 to pursue other opportunities. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is currently the co-founder and chief technology officer of Geo-Institute of ASCE, a company that provides geotechnical engineering services.

Marriage and Family

Kevin Franke married Ruby Butler on November 13, 2003. They met at Utah State University, where they were both students. They have six children: Shari (born in 2004), Chad (born in 2006), Abby (born in 2007), Julie (born in 2009), Russell (born in 2012), and Eve (born in 2014).

Kevin and Ruby started a YouTube channel called “8 Passengers” in 2015, where they documented their daily lives as a large family. The channel gained over 2.3 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of views. They also had a second channel called “8 Passengers Extras”, where they posted behind-the-scenes videos and other content.

However, the channel faced controversy and criticism from viewers who accused Kevin and Ruby of mistreating their children. Some of the allegations included locking their son Chad in the basement for months as punishment, forcing their daughter Shari to give up her college fund to pay for a family vacation, neglecting their son Russell’s medical needs, and making their children sleep on bean bags instead of beds.

The channel was deleted by YouTube in 2020 after an investigation by the platform. The family also faced scrutiny from the Department of Child and Family Services.

Kevin Franke’s Wife’s Arrest

On August 31, 2023, Ruby Franke was arrested under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse. Her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who is the founder of a parent counseling service called ConneXions, was also arrested on the same charges.

According to the arrest record obtained by Page Six , a child fled through a window of Hildebrandt’s house in Ivins and asked a neighbor for food and water. The neighbor noticed duct tape around the child’s ankles and wrists and called the police. The police found the child to be “emaciated and malnourished” and transported them to Saint George Regional Hospital. The child had deep lacerations from being tied up with rope.

Another allegedly malnourished child was discovered shortly thereafter and was also taken to the hospital.

The police report stated that Ruby had filmed a video in Hildebrandt’s home just days before the incident, indicating that she had “knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment and neglect”.

Ruby declined to speak to authorities and requested a lawyer. She is being held in Washington County jail without bail.

Kevin Franke’s Reaction and Current Situation

Following Ruby’s arrest, Kevin’s attorney, Randy S. Kester, told Page Six that his client’s “urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care”. The other Franke kids remain in the care of the Department of Child and Family Services.

Kevin has not commented publicly on his wife’s arrest or the allegations against her.

His estranged daughter, Shari, who moved out of the family home earlier this year, took to Instagram to say that she and her family “are so glad that justice is being served”, claiming they have “been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this”.

Ruby’s sisters also issued a joint statement that said the two arrests “needed to happen”.

Frequently Asked Q/A

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