Month: December 2023

YouTube mom vlogger Ruby Franke and her attorney have spoken out for the first time since her arrest, after she and her business partner and mental health counselor Jodi Hildebrant were arrested and charged on six counts of aggravated child abuse in August.  Franke broke her silence through her attorney, sharing that she will be pleading guilty to the charges against her on Monday at the Washington County 5th District Court in Utah.  Both women have remained in custody since their arrest; Hildebrant has not yet entered a plea to the charges.

On August 30th, Franke’s 12-year-old son, who had been staying at Hildebrandt’s house, climbed out of a window and ran to a neighbor’s home, saying he had been abused.  The Santa Clara-Ivins police in Utah released a statement that the child “appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities,” and upon searching the home, police said they found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in the same condition. All of Franke’s four minor children were then placed into state care.

In his statement Franke’s attorney, LaMar Winward, described her as a devoted mother committed to constant improvement, saying she was a victim of manipulation: “Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrant had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrant took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous.  Over an extended period, Ms. Hildebrant systematically isolated Ruby Franke from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Franke. This prolonged isolation resulted in Ms. Franke being subjected to a distorted sense of morality.”

Franke’s now defunct YouTube channel “8 Passengers” offered parenting advice, and Franke and Hildebrandt were business partners in ConneXions, an organization that according to its website promises to “encourage healing and facilitate personal growth through impeccable honesty, rigorous personal responsibility and vulnerable humility”. Hildebrandt is listed as the founder while Franke is listed as “a certified mental fitness trainer.”

Editorial credit: rafastockbr / Shutterstock.com

A suspect is dead after a shooting involving police on a crowded street in downtown Austin, Texas on Saturday night which wounded three people, one critically. The Austin Police Department said the officers called to the scene discharged their weapons, and the suspected gunman was struck by the officers’ gunfire and later pronounced dead. No officers were injured

Austin Police Department Interim Chief Robin Henderson at a news briefing Sunday morning that the incident began at a downtown bar shortly before midnight on Sunday, when police received a report that someone was trying to enter the establishment with a gun, in violation of a section of the Texas Penal Code related to unlawfully carrying weapons.  Henderson said that an employee at the bar identified the suspect when officers arrived at the scene, and when they approached him, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed it at the responding officers as well as bystanders, at which point the three officers fired their weapons at the suspect, who was hit multiple times and later pronounced dead. Three other people were shot and wounded in the incident, all of whom were hospitalized, one with critical injuries.

The officers have been placed on administrative duty while the Austin Police Department conducts an internal administrative investigation into the shooting, as well as a criminal investigation in coordination with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. Interim Chief Henderson said that the officers have worked at the police department for nine, 11 and 13 years, and the shooting was recorded on officers’ body-worn cameras.  Police ask that anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Austin Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, or to Capitol Area Crime Stoppers.

Editorial credit: Duncan Moore / Shutterstock.com

Prosecutors in Detroit say that a man being held in connection with the fatal stabbing of Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll, and has been charged with her murder. The suspect, Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, of Detroit, was taken into custody Sunday as part of the investigation into Woll’s death outside her home in October. Jackson-Bolanos has pleaded not guilty, and was returned to jail without bond.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy shared that there are “no facts to suggest” that the suspect knew Woll, or that her killing was motivated by antisemitism, adding at a news conference: ‘there’s not a shred of evidence to suggest this was a hate crime.’  The suspect faces additional charges of breaking and entering without permission and lying to a peace officer.  Detroit Police Chief James White said the suspects was being investigated for larcenies in the area of Woll’s home, but had been released, adding that ‘once he was released, we kept an eye on him until we had enough to ultimately make an arrest.’

Woll had served as board president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit and worked in Democratic politics in Michigan. Her family thanked Detroit police’s homicide task force through their attorney, saying: “through their dedication and tireless efforts we firmly believe that they have successfully solved this senseless crime. We cannot thank them enough.”

The 40-year-old Woll was a high-profile member of the city’s Jewish community and her slaying came amid heightened tensions and growing antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in the U.S. following the conflict in the Gaza Strip, however investigators reiterate there was no information suggesting her death was a hate crime.

Editorial credit: Jay Fog / Shuttestock.com

Police are searching for a man suspected of trying to abduct three different women near the University of Arizona campus in Tucson this past week. The Tucson Police Department said in a news release that the abduction attempts happened on three different days and in three different off-campus locations, adding that they have identified at least two of the victims as students at the university, both of whom were assaulted in the incidents. The third woman is a student at University of Arizona, as well.

Officers with the University of Arizona Police Department received a call from a student on Sunday, reporting that a man approached her from behind, put his arm around her waist and assaulted her. The student was not injured, police said, and after she screamed, the suspect ran off.  Another victim reported to Tucson Police’s sexual assault unit that she had been followed by a driver matching the suspect’s description on Wednesday morning, Dec. 6, and also shared an updated description of the suspect and his vehicle.

Tuscan Police have described the suspect as a man with a dark complexion, possibly Hispanic, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, with a medium to heavyset build and “close buzz cut hair.” The suspect was seen driving a “dark purplish four-door hatchback or crossover vehicle with a dented front bumper, tinted windows, and no front license plate”.  According to police, the vehicle is either a dark blue 2000s Toyota Camry or Toyota Corolla.

Chris Dennison, the assistant police chief in Tucson, asked members of the surrounding community to help by joining the police department’s open camera registry, which “allows residents and business owners to voluntarily register their surveillance cameras with the police department.”   In addition, he said both the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service have also joined their search for the suspect.

Editorial credit: Katherine Welles / Shuttestock.com