Videos show son asking for help, police response

Authorities on Friday released a set of videos from the day Ruby Franke’s 12-year-old son fled Jodi Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins last August, a leak that revealed the “horrific abuse” that prosecutors later said occurred. he and his sister faced there.

The 29 videos, a combination of home surveillance and police body camera footage, show the boy approaching neighbors’ homes for help, dressed in a pair of shorts that expose his thin legs and bare feet, as well as the moment when the police find his younger sister. in a dark closet inside Hildebrandt’s house.

Both children appear thin and move slowly, and authorities appear baffled by the scene. In one video, a paramedic outside Hildebrandt’s home tells an officer, “I’m crying.”

“I know,” he replies. “That’s why I have sunglasses on.”

[Read more: Ruby Franke case: Police records, personal journal detailing child abuse released]

Franke and Hildebrandt each pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in December and were both sentenced in February to at least four years in prison.

The Salt Lake Tribune reviewed hours of footage released Friday. This is what it showed.

12-year-old boy runs away and asks for help

Surveillance video shows Franke’s son walking toward a house. He plays music, rings the doorbell, and waits about a minute before knocking on the door. No one answers and he walks out of sight, evidently towards another neighbor’s house.

He presses the other house’s doorbell, as Ring camera footage shows, and begins to walk away when no one answers after about 40 seconds. But she turns around when a man opens the door.

“Hey,” the boy says, “I was wondering if you could do me two favors.”

“Well, what is this?” the man answers.

“Taking me to the nearest police station,” the boy says, adding: “Well, actually just one (favor) is fine.”

The man asks the boy what is going on, to which the boy replies, “It’s a personal matter.”

In later videos from that home’s security system, the man is on the phone with police asking for help, while a woman brings the boy snacks: candy and pretzels.

“He has duct tape around each ankle,” the man can be heard telling dispatchers. “Yes, there are sores around them and he also has them around his wrist. This child has been,” the man trails off, his voice breaking with emotion, “This child has obviously been…” Then the video ends.

Later an ambulance arrives and they load the boy in the back. Police body camera footage shows him lying on a stretcher with snacks in plastic bags on his lap. His ankles have appeared blurred in the images released to the public. An officer asks him, “How did you get the ropes?”

The child answers, but his answers sound.

“Who made them? “You have no problems with me,” the officer says. “We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on. Our main focus right now is you. Who put the strings on you?

Police go to Hildebrandt’s house

After the boy went to the neighbor for help, police went to Hildebrandt’s home looking for other children. Body camera footage shows officers knocking on Hildebrandt’s large front door and the woman responding but refusing to come out.

“Jodi, you have to get out,” an officer says.

“I have my lawyer,” he responds, pointing to his cell phone.

“That’s great,” the officer responds, “get out of the house.”

When Hildebrandt continued to refuse to leave her home, body camera footage shows two officers grab her and pull her out.

Later in the video, Hildebrandt questions how police were able to enter his home without a search warrant. A police lieutenant later explains to Hildebrandt’s attorney, whom he had on speakerphone, that the “exigent circumstances” that allowed them to enter his home were that “we received a report of an emaciated juvenile who had duct tape around his limbs.” for food”. and water … [we are] making sure there is no one else in that same condition.”

10-year-old boy found in a closet

Officers cleared Hildebrandt’s home and just before noon found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a dark bathroom closet dressed in blue jeans and a pink shirt. The video of her shows her on the floor, sitting cross-legged and very still.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I promise,” the officer says. “See this right here? It’s a badge. It tells me I don’t hurt people. I’m just here to make sure you’re okay.”

Later, another officer leaves a small pizza and a drink in front of the girl while “Payphone” by Maroon 5 plays in the background. The officer sings some lyrics while the girl continues to sit still.

After more than a minute passes and she still hasn’t touched the food, the officer says, “You’re more than welcome to eat.”

Wait about 10 seconds before slowly reaching for the white cardboard pizza box and opening it. About 30 seconds later, she takes a hesitant bite. And then another.

Later, two doctors try to convince the girl to come out of the closet. One of them tells the girl: “We helped your brother and we also got him help. That’s what we want to do for you. We want to help you too. We are safe. “We will not harm you and we will not do anything that will harm you.”

The girl responds, but her response is redacted. A few seconds later, the girl gets up and slowly walks out of the room, about four hours after police found her.

Inside the Hildebrandt house

Police obtained a search warrant to enter what one officer describes in a police report as a “panic room,” a small concrete room in the basement that was behind a locked door.

Body camera footage shows officers opening the vault door and entering the small room that had a toilet, sink, empty refrigerator and a folding bed. What appears to be white bedding in a pile was on the sink counter and the cabinets were nearly empty except for one drawer. Another body camera clip shows an officer finding ropes and handcuffs in a drawer in that room and putting them in an evidence bag.

When police asked Hildebrandt for the passcode to open the vault door, body camera footage shows her initially telling officers she couldn’t remember it and that it was a number she had set six years ago.

A police report details other items officers confiscated from Hildebrandt’s home that day, including several laptop computers and cell phones. They also seized bandages and plastic, as well as clothing.

Police interviews of Franke and Hildebrandt

Franke appears in later images taken at Hildebrandt’s home. After the women were detained, officers took them to the police department to be interviewed.

The footage shows Franke sitting across from Detective Jessica Bate and Sgt. Nick Tobler in a sparsely decorated room. She is offered water and snacks, which she does not accept.

“We’re just here to talk to you about some things that involve your children,” Bate says. “So first, do you live down here or?”

Franke doesn’t respond and looks ahead, blinking. The officers ask her a few more questions and she doesn’t answer. About two minutes into the interrogation, Franke tells police, “I’ll wait until I have a lawyer.”

The officers try to get her to talk for another minute, but Franke doesn’t say anything more and the officers leave.

Hildebrandt’s interview lasted almost twice as long as Franke’s (about 7 minutes). Hildebrandt told officers he wanted to speak with them, but his attorney asked him not to.

“Then I trust my lawyer. He said don’t say anything. So I said, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ and he said, ‘I know.’ Just let me be there with you when you talk,’” Hildebrandt said. “You guys seem like good people. I’m not trying to hide anything. Without trying to be difficult. Actually, if you knew everything, you would feel a lot of empathy for what is happening.”

The officers tell her that she doesn’t have to answer any questions she doesn’t want to and ask if she would feel comfortable talking about Ruby and Kevin Franke.

“Honestly, we just want to understand what their dynamic is, what happened to the kids, what caused their separation,” Bate said, “and after talking to Kevin it sounds like you know a lot about their dynamic and their relationship.”

Hildebrandt reaffirms that he will not speak until his lawyer is present and the officers leave.

Taking Franke and Hildebrandt to prison

After interviewing the women, police took them both to jail, in the same police car.

Body camera footage shows Hildebrandt being handcuffed and put first into a patrol car, as the sun set over the red rock landscape of southern Utah.

In another video, Franke is seen being handcuffed and taken to the police lobby. Franke does not interact or respond when police speak to him, and at one point a lieutenant asked him if he needed medical help before going to jail.

“Are you OK?” she asks him, as she looks away from him. “I’m just worried about you. “I know you don’t believe that.”

The lieutenant goes on to tell her that he was worried because he had spoken to Franke’s husband about “her circumstance” and that he was also worried about her children.

It was almost dark when the police finally led Franke to the police car where Hildebrandt was sitting. The footage shows another officer, Bate, telling Franke that the two women were under arrest for child abuse, one charge for each of their two children who were at Hildebrandt’s home.

“It’s because of malnutrition,” Bate tells Franke. “You were in the direct custody of those children.”