Another relative of Ruby Franke has put out a video distancing herself from her sister, promising that she won't "let Ruby destroy another thing in our lives."
LISTEN: 911 call leading to arrest of Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt
In a video posted to her own YouTube channel titled "My Side of the Story Concerning my Sister Ruby Franke," Julie Deru backed up claims made by her other sister, Bonnie Hoellien, on Wednesday that said the family was unaware of any abuse inflicted by Franke on her children.
Deru also claims that she and her family have been attacked online for not stepping in to help.
"I know not to take offense to all of that, even though it was still really hard to see and hear all of the negativity," she said.
Describing her relationship with Franke, Deru said everything was fine between the sisters until about three years ago when Ruby went into therapy with Jodi Hildebrandt, who eventually became her business partner.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt have been charged with six counts of ggravated child abuse following their arrest on Aug. 30 in Ivins.
"We all felt weird about this Jodi lady," Deru said, adding that family members continued to be upset about what Ruby claimed to be learning.
"We didn't like the teachings Ruby was bringing to the family functions, and we were this close to telling her if you come to our family events anymore, we do not want to hear what you were learning through ConneXions because we don't like it," she said.
Deru described a phone call in which Ruby yelled at their mother on the phone while accusing her of things that were supposedly been untrue.
"It was almost as if Ruby had been making up memories from her childhood," she explained. "She was trying to grab anything she could and she would exaggerate on everything."
Following that conversation, Deru said she had little contact with Franke, saying her sister would not respond to texts or emails.
It wasn't until Franke was arrested two weeks ago that Deru says she learned about what was going on inside Ruby's home.
"These past few weeks... we are in complete shock still as to what she had done because we had no idea of what was happening," Deru claimed. "Basically, I'm here to say that I had no idea what was happening."
Deru says her videos are to show the "highs and lows of everyday family and parenting," and that she intends to keep on making them despite the negativity.
Franke and Hildebrandt are scheduled to appear before a judge on Monday.
Watch full Julie Deru video below:
