Jodi Hildebrandt Allegedly Used Cayenne Pepper to ‘Dress’ Rope Wounds Inflicted on Ruby Franke’s Kids: Police

Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of alleged child abuse.

According to documents obtained by news outlets, police claim that disgraced therapist Jodi Hildebrandt used cayenne pepper and honey paste to “dress wounds” on her podcasting partner Ruby Franke’s two youngest children, who were taken to the hospital last month after the two women were arrested and later charged with six counts of felony child abuse.

Franke and Hildebrandt, 41 and 54 years old, respectively, were arrested at Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah, on August 30 after Franke’s 12-year-old son allegedly escaped the house and ran to a neighbor, begging for food and water, police said in a press release.

KUTV2, ABC4 and the Associated Press obtained three new search warrants from that afternoon and the following day that detail some of what officers allegedly found when they searched Hildebrandt’s home, where the two “Moms of Truth” parenting advice podcasters were arrested last month.

Officers from the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department say that they found the 12-year-old with duct tape around his ankles and that he appeared “emaciated” and “abnormally thin and weak.”

“The victim informed officers and medical personnel that the wounds were from the rope that was used to tie the victim to the ground,” a statement establishing the grounds for a search warrant read, according to the news outlets. “The victim informed officers that ‘Jodi’ put the ropes on their ankles and wrists and that ‘they’ used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the wounds.”

Officers seized a number of items from the home, including “Scott’s Tape and Saran wrap,” as well as notes and journals, two bowls with a red liquid and a spoon, two absorbent dressings, two “Coban bandages,” rope, two pairs of handcuffs and three carabiners, according to the warrants.

Authorities also located “two used medical gauze dressings near cayenne pepper and honey paste,” the outlets reported.

Detectives from the department also seized three iPhones and four Apple Macbook laptops from the house, as officers sought anything that would have recorded communications between Franke and Hildebrandt — including cell phones, computers, tablets, surveillance footage and other devices.

The affidavit for the third search warrant says Hildebrandt asked for a lawyer and would not speak beyond disparaging Franke’s children to the officers.

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Attorneys for Franke and Hildebrandt have not responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comments on their arrest and the six felony charges each woman faces. Both women are being held in a southwestern Utah jail without bond. Their next court hearing is expected to take place in early October.

Family and neighbors have since spoken out about the “red flags” they say the women displayed in regards to their disciplinary approach to young children. Former patients have spoken out against Hildebrandt’s impact as a therapist, while nearly 18,000 viewers from Franke’s once popular YouTube channel once signed a petition asking for child protective services to investigate the family.

Neighbors and family members have also said they’ve called authorities to check in on Franke’s kids in the past.

“Finally,” Franke’s oldest daughter Shari wrote on Instagram the day her mother was arrested and child protective services took her four youngest kids into custody.

“Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” Shari, 20, wrote in another post. “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.