NEED TO KNOW
- Jodi Hildebrandt lived on a 1.4 acre property in Ivins, Utah, prior to her 2023 child abuse arrest
- The former therapist moved in Ruby Franke and her youngest children in May 2023
- Hildebrandt’s home was listed for $5.3 million after her arrest but has since gone off the market
Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke lived together in Hildebrandt’s $5 million property in Ivins, Utah, before their arrest.
The former family counselor and the former YouTuber moved with four of Ruby’s children into the four-bedroom property in May 2023. During their time there, Hildebrandt and Ruby punished and abused the two youngest kids by depriving them of food and water, isolating them from others and forcing them to do strenuous physical tasks, the Washington County Attorney’s Office claimed.
The office further described Hildebrandt’s home as a “work-camp like setting” for the kids. After the 12-year-old boy escaped in August 2023, authorities searched the home and found several pieces of evidence of the abuse — including handcuffs, ropes and homemade “remedies” to treat the injuries.
Hildebrandt and Ruby were arrested shortly after and are currently serving their sentences of up to 30 years in prison after both pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. At the time of her arrest, Hildebrandt was allegedly preparing to sell her house to move to further isolation in Arizona.
Hildebrandt’s home was later placed on the market for $5.3 million after a judge ruled that she could sell the house as long as part of the proceeds went to the Franke children. The price tag was reduced by $305,000 a few months later but the property has since gone off the market.
Here’s everything to know about Jodi Hildebrandt’s $5 million home that included a “panic room.”
Hildebrandt and Ruby were arrested in the near-10,000 square-foot property
Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah — which was located 300 miles away from the Franke family home in Springville — was built in 2017, according to a since-deleted listing on Realtor.com.
The 9,214-square-foot house sat on 1.4 acres and featured four bedrooms, a guesthouse, gourmet kitchen, home theater, five-car garage, pool and hot tub.
The property was described as a “true masterpiece” with “stunning” desert views that could offer someone a “luxurious lifestyle.”
Hildebrandt briefly moved in with Ruby and her then-husband Kevin Franke after she claimed that she was suffering from painful visions in 2021. The following year, Ruby and Hildebrandt took over the home and kicked Kevin out.
The two later picked up and moved to Hildebrandt’s Ivins property with Ruby and Kevin’s youngest children in May 2023. While they lived there, Hildebrandt and Ruby abused the two youngest children with various deprivations and punishments as part of their tactics to rid the children of “evil,” per Ruby’s journal entries.
Hildebrandt and Ruby lived there until Ruby’s 12-year-old son escaped and a neighbor contacted authorities. After searching the property, police arrested Ruby and Hildebrandt on child abuse charges.
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The home had large concrete storage spaces in the basement – including a locked “panic room”
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Hildebrandt’s home included a massive underground space that was completely surrounded by cement. Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke described it as a “cement underground basement storage space” in the Netflix documentary, Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story.
The basement included shelves and storage rooms with survival preparations that included canned and non-perishable food and water. Hildebrandt’s former client Ethan Prete recalled in Evil Influencer that she was a “massive doomsday prepper.”
While much of the cement basement was empty, there was a massive “panic room” that was locked from the outside with a vault door. When investigators entered the home, Hildebrandt alleged that she didn’t know the code to get in and hadn’t used the room in years.
However, police cracked the simple code and opened the vault door to reveal what they described as a “panic room” with a Murphy bed, toilet, microwave, cabinets, empty fridge and freezer. When police opened the drawers, they discovered a long strand of rope and handcuffs that they believed were used to abuse the Franke children.
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Hildebrandt was looking to sell the home and move to Arizona with Ruby before their arrest
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While Hildebrandt and Ruby were living in the isolated home in Ivins, they were potentially planning on selling the home to move to Arizona. After police arrested Hildebrandt and Ruby, they looked into their finances and property records and discovered that Hildebrandt had bought “several acres” of land in the middle of the desert in Arizona.
“The journal talks about how Jodi is getting her house ready to sell,” Clarke said in the doc, referring to Ruby’s writing.
Detective Jessica Bate of the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department, who investigated the case, came to the conclusion that Hildebrandt and Ruby wanted to move to escalate the abuse of their children. According to Ruby’s journal, she and Hildebrandt planned to “drop them like hot potatoes in the desert.”
Hildebrandt listed the home for $5.3 million before she was sentenced, but the home has since been taken off the market
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Shortly after Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in 2023, her home was listed for $5.3 million in early January 2024.
However, a judge temporarily prevented the sale of the home until they could establish a plan for how much of the money would go to the Franke children.
Later that month, a judge lifted the restriction and ordered that Hildebrandt must put $100,000 from the potential sale in a bank account for the children, according to ABC7. Any remaining profits would go to Hildebrandt.
After two months on the market, the home was reduced by $305,000 to $4.99 million in March 2024.
In March 2025, the home appeared to have a buyer when the listing was updated to “pending” sale, per Realtor.com. However, the deal may have fallen through, as the home was back up on the market a few weeks later.
After more than a year with the reduced price, the home was taken off the market in July 2025. As of January 2026, the property remains unlisted.
Read the full article here


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