Newly obtained body camera video shows police responding to Ruby Franke's home on day of her arrest

Описание: Recently obtained body camera video from August 30, 2023 shows officers at Ruby Franke’s home in Springville, Utah.

It’s the same day that two of Franke’s children were in and around Jodi Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah; emaciated and requiring medical attention.

Roughly five minutes into one of the videos, officers begin to knock on the door and comb the outside of Franke’s home.

“Police Department! We’re here to help you, open the door!” yelled a Springville officer at the front door. “Ruby, it’s the police department open the door, do it now.”

Springville officers spoke about the limited details that were conveyed to them when approaching the home.

“The way they were found, she said those kids were starving and in a safe. They cut the safe room to get them out,” one officer said. “The mom has been apparently going down every other weekend or something to St. George, so these kids have been starving.”

Officers believed that Franke and potentially her two older children were inside the Springville home when they arrived.

“That’s usually what she drives right? That van? Yeah, they had a whole YouTube thing about that,” said an officer about a vehicle parked nearby.

Officers prepared to enter the home, but waited for a warrant before proceeding.

“If you don’t open the door we will force entry into the home; we do not want to do that,” yelled an officer at the door. “Please open the door. Open the door and talk to us so we can resolve this.”

After an hour or so, officers forced entry into the home. They were looking for “wherever a little emaciated kid can fit,” one officer said.

They scoured bedrooms, the basement, a backyard and shed; even an attic crawlspace.

Officers did not locate any children or Franke. The two older Franke children were located at home in nearby American Fork.

However, officers found a large amount of cell phones and written diaries while combing the home.

“August 29th, it’s yesterday,” said an officer while reading a journal. “So they are packing . . . Packed the computer in the grand room. So she’s packing all the house by herself.”

According to the timestamp on the body camera video, officers converged on Franke’s home around 4 p.m. on August 30, 2023. It’s not clear if the body camera video timestamp is accurate. If it is, Franke was already in Ivins at the time officers arrived at her Springville home.

It took 2News 182 days to obtain the body cam footage. Springville police had previously released the video to a national media outlet in October 2023.

When 2News inquired about the same footage on the same day the national outlet shared clips from the video, the requests were denied citing a court order. After an appeal and a scheduled hearing with the state records committee, officials with Springville Police Department finally released the video to 2News. The video was given the day before the scheduled committee hearing.