Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Alison Lanier | TV | September 16, 2025
Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence is the latest entry in the slew of true crime coverage detailing the now-infamous mom-fluencer case. Ruby Franke was an early family vlogger, one of the Mormon women who took to YouTube to showcase their godly and fulfilled lives as childbearers and homemakers. For those familiar with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, it’s the same sphere of exhibitionism: the hour-to-hour life of the family becomes content for hundreds of thousands—or millions—of viewers. Ruby was unique from the MomTok women in that her videos were more about parenting tips and less about TikTok dances.
Unfortunately, Ruby was referred to Jodi Hildebrandt, a “therapist”/life coach, who was one of the go-to counselors recommended by the LDS Church. Leading up to her association with Jodi, Ruby was already going down the influencer rabbit hole of prioritizing content over her children’s comfort or best interests. But linking up with Jodi made everything incalculably worse.
Jodi Hildebrandt believes that she is a chosen prophet of god and has a lion named Charles waiting for her in Heaven. She was a Mormon marriage counselor who destroyed, by one ex-client’s estimation, thousands of marriages by labeling husbands “addicts”—to porn, to lust, to self-pity … the list goes on and gets more absurd. She also slept in the same bed as Ruby after convincing her husband, Kevin, that he wasn’t fit to be around his own family and preventing him from seeing his children for months. Incidentally, Jodi also protests into the camera repeatedly that she isn’t gay and does a lot of touching and adoring looks in the course of the many “coaching” videos she made with Ruby.
But the core of the Ruby Franke controversy is her children. Jodi teaches that children essentially “need” to be subjected to horrific suffering to receive “the gift of repentance.” The gift of repentance looks a lot like child abuse to anyone not deeply embedded in fanaticism. Sadly, Ruby was deeply embedded in fanaticism.
The dark saga came to a close when Ruby’s adolescent son escaped from Jodi’s house, where he and his siblings had been starved, tortured, and nearly killed. The fallout was swift, both in law and in the media.
The Ruby Franke story followed on the heels of another nominally Mormon religious fundamentalist following a “prophet” to commit crimes against her children: Lori Daybell, who murdered her two youngest children in the belief that they were demon-possessed.
A Cult of Sin and Influence does draw a parallel between these cases. It also takes the helpful next step of concretely detailing the psychology behind the popular LDS text Visions of Glory, which both Ruby Franke and Lori Daybell (and their respective “prophets”) were reading. It supports a lot of wholesome teachings, like that evil spirits can possess the righteous and that the most righteous will have the duty to kill the unrighteous during the Second Coming. The blueprint is uncomfortably clear.
Among the closing commentary for the series is a lawyer’s statement that “I hope that she [Hildebrandt] isn’t out of prison until everybody is completely confident she’s no longer a risk.” I have mixed feelings about the possibility that Hildebrandt will ever no longer be a risk. Especially with the notoriety coming off the wave of true crime docs like this one, Hildebrandt has attained a level of infamy that still unfortunately includes fame.
It’s hard to imagine that Ruby Franke won’t have a book deal the second she offers “her perspective,” but I’m much more wary of Hildebrandt getting the same treatment. Getting caught for her egregious and fanatical crimes shouldn’t make her more influential … but it probably will. She isn’t serving the kind of sentence Lori Daybell is; Hildebrandt’s first parole hearing, according to the docuseries, is scheduled for next year.
Meanwhile, one of Hildebrandt’s prison phone calls reveals that —unlike Ruby— she isn’t renouncing or even loosening her hold on her delusions. She describes a “gentleman” coming up to her (in her women’s prison) to tell her that she’ll be teaching differently “for a while” but assures her that her divine mission is still on course. (Presumably this “gentleman” is meant to be some kind of heavenly messenger?) She recounts this with the kind of gravity that tells you she expects this visitation to be treated with the same reverence as the Annunciation, or as if she’s rehearsing it for the eventual “Gospel of Jodi.” It sure sounds like she’s going to emerge from prison very much still a danger.
Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence is streaming on HBO.
