The neighbor who called 911 after Ruby Franke’s 12-year-old son ran to his house for help was nearly brought to tears as he described the “skinny” boy’s condition to the dispatcher. A neighbor can be heard choking up as she tells a 911 dispatcher the boy is “covered in gashes” on the call released this week, according to KUTV News, ABC News and the Deseret News.
Franke and her podcasting partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested last Wednesday after the boy ran away from Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah, according to the Santa Clara-Ivins Department of Public Safety. Officers soon found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a “similar physical state of malnutrition” at Hildebrandt’s home and sent both children to the hospital.
Franke and Hildebrandt were later charged with six counts of child abuse and are both due in court on Friday to plead guilty.
Franke’s attorney told PEOPLE his office would not comment on the case, while Hildebrandt’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment after the two children were allegedly found with signs of abuse in her home.
Mom influencer Ruby Franke’s child abuse allegations ‘shocked’ neighbor — but she ‘saw some strange things’ (Exclusive)
Police said in a news release that the children were found with “wounds and marks” on their bodies, and a neighbor’s recent 911 call this week sheds more light on the condition of the 12-year-old boy when he initially escaped from Hildebrandt’s home.
“I just had a 12-year-old boy show up at my front door asking for help, and he said he just came from a neighbor’s house,” the neighbor said in his 911 call, the Deseret News reported. “We know that there were problems in this neighbor’s house. He is thin, he has a band around his legs, he is hungry and thirsty.”
The man reportedly continues as he checks on the boy: “He is very thirsty. I don’t think he needs an ambulance – I’ll let the police decide that – but his ankles are taped and he won’t tell us why. He has duct tape around each ankle. Yes, there are ulcers around them.” According to media outlets, the neighbor appears to be fighting back tears as she tells a 911 dispatcher, “I think there’s a good chance he was… oh, there’s some around his wrist, too. . All right, this boy was, this kid was apparently, I think he was detained. He’s obviously covered in wounds.”
The caller then adds, “He says he’s to blame for what happened to him.”
All about Ruby Franke: Everything you need to know about the influencer mom accused of child abuse
Ruby Frank.
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An arrest report obtained by PEOPLE says authorities also took Franke’s two other children into the custody of child protective services.
A neighbor who spoke to PEOPLE this week on the condition of anonymity said families in Franke’s neighborhood had grown increasingly concerned about the welfare of the family’s two youngest and two teenage daughters over the past year, explaining that Franke appeared to have left the teenagers alone in her Springville home. , Utah, for weeks while visiting Hildebrandt with her two youngest children.
“It’s like she went to southern Utah [to Hildebrandt’s house] with the two youngest, and then left the teenage girls alone at home up in Springville, which is about four or five hours away,” a neighbor who has lived near the Franke family for about five years told PEOPLE. “It’s weird.”
Some of Franke’s immediate family — including her two sisters and her oldest daughter, Shari — expressed relief after her arrest last week. “Finally,” Shari wrote on Instagram alongside photos of police outside the family’s home. “My family and I are so happy that justice has been served,” Shari added in another social media post. “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS about this for years, and we’re so glad they’ve finally decided to act.”
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