I'm going to take it. He's got He's got a knife. Get out of the house. He's got a knife. I'm a police officer. Are you going for the union? Hey, you okay? Is this just you in here? Where's your sister at? When it comes to rescuing vulnerable children, every split second counts. With the lives of innocent children hanging in the balance, there's simply no room for hesitation and no room for mercy when bringing perpetrators to justice. Tensions rise to a breaking point when cops save abused children at the last moment. You been doing okay? I'm not going to hurt you. Promise. See this right here? It's a badge. It tells me I don't hurt people. On August 30th, 2023, a frightened 12-year-old boy escaped from a home in Ivans, Utah. In this doorbell camera footage, you can see the boy desperately knocking for help on one of the neighbors doors. [Music] His abnormally thin legs and his weak knock on the door were definitely signs of the abuse he suffered. Thankfully, someone eventually answered the door. The boy asked the family who lived there if they could take him to the nearest police station. So, they brought him inside and immediately called 911. I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help. And he's uh said he just came from a neighbor's house. He's emaciated. He's got tape around his legs. He's hungry and he's thirsty. Yeah, there's so around him. I think they a good chance he's been and he also had Oh, and he has around his wrist as well. Okay. This boy has needs immediate pictures. I'll take more. Many kids in these situations are reluctant to disclose the abuse they suffered. They often fear that speaking out could have devastating consequences and sometimes in the end even blame themselves. In this case, the boy suffered abuse at the hands of his mother. And trauma like he experienced can lead to a lot of fear and trust issues. How did you get the ropes on you? Who did them? You're not in trouble with me. Okay. We're just trying to figure out what's going on. Our main focus right now is you. Okay. Who put the ropes on you? supposed to help you out. The boy's mother, Ruby Frankie, was a famous YouTuber. However, he had not escaped from her home, but the home of Jodie Hildebrandt, her female business partner. When the cops arrived, that house was empty. But soon after they went to Ruby's home and found the two women inside. Open the door. Jody, I need you to step out. I have I have my turn. That's great. Step out of the house. No, I'm not going to step out. Step out of the house. Step out of the house. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Come on. Is there anybody else? Wait a minute. How do you come to my house? Right there. They come on into my house. You come on my buddy. I I'm a police officer. Are you going for the union? Hey, you okay? Is this just you in here? Where's your sister at? Contact. You okay? Huh? You been okay? Not going to hurt you. Promise. See this right here? It's a badge. That tells me I don't hurt people. I'm just here to make sure you're okay. It's okay if I just sit here with you. We don't have to say anything if you don't want to. Okay. Ruby set up her YouTube channel, Eight Passengers, in 2015 and gave the impression she was just an ordinary suburban mom looking after her eight children. However, if you look inside her home, the picture shows a much more sinister parenting style. The girl still refused to move or speak with the officers for hours after being found. through the screen when you're hungry. You can eat. Thanks, Steph. [Music] Hope you like this. In 2022, Ruby started a new channel called Connections with Jodie, and Jod encouraged Ruby to adopt a more authoritative style of parenting based on their distorted interpretation of Mormonism. The footage of the little girl showed the extent of the psychological abuse suffered. And while the officers gave her food, she was still hesitant to eat. stories. Ruby Frankie was separated from her husband Kevin, who was also the father of her children. Kevin didn't agree with the separation and the entire arrangement was worked out by Ruby and Jod. Over time, the girl opened up a bit and started speaking. Are you scared? So, can we carry you from there? It's the right choice. Thank you, comments. We helped your brother and we got him some help, too. That's what we want to do for you. That's we want to get you some help, too. We are safe. We will not hurt you and we won't do anything to hurt you. The living conditions this little girl and her siblings endured were described by court documents as a concentration camp. On a regular basis, the kids were denied food, water, and a bed to sleep in. The mother's behavior towards her family raised so many questions, but she wasn't that talkative when questioned by police later that evening. Do you want to talk to me about where you live or how many kids you have? I can wait all day. So, it's up to you if you want to talk to us about what's going on. I'll wait till I have a lawyer. Okay. Okay. So, I just spoke, you can turn face me. So, I just spoke with Joey, but you both are under arrest right now for child abuse. And you'll have two counts of one and one. Okay. for the malnourishment in direct custody of those kids. Okay. Do you have any questions for me at this time? No questions. Okay. Ruby's handwritten journal was presented in court and it detailed the abuse the kids suffered. Ruby genuinely believed the abuse was necessary so the kids could repent for their sins. For engaging in this severe child abuse, Ruby Frankie and Jodie Hildebrandt were sentenced to four consecutive prison terms of 1 to 15 years each. On August 16th, 2023 in Florida, police got a call from a concerned citizen. Outside a Goodwill store, there was a van parked with minimal ventilation with a crying infant inside. Thankfully, the child was unharmed, but the mother, Chenise Epinger, had a lot of explaining to do. It's over here. Where is you at? I was in there trying to look for my phone. You was what? I was in there looking for my phone. Okay. Um Okay. What? I wasn't looking for my Okay. For how long? About 20 minutes. What do you mean? Do you have a driver's license in your car? It was 86° outside, but it felt like 94 due to the 69% humidity. However, the car's AC was running the whole time. Chenise was apparently doing hours for community service and that statement she gave to the cops saying she only left the baby alone for 20 minutes was an absolute lie. The cops then spoke to staff at Goodwill. This lady right here. Did you rehop Did you guys happen to do the camera for me? I know you said you were going to check on it. The cameras the camera. Did you? She's been here since 10:15. 10:15 and we have it because she was doing Right now it's 12:40. Okay. So, she said she's just here looking for her phone. She's not here looking for her phone. So, don't for No, we have paperwork in the office. That's We took We took the baby out of the car. I did. I I asked the dispatcher. Yes. The dispatcher got all my information. Um I can go inside and get my license my ID for you. That'd be great. Yeah. Thank you. You can go talk to the prof. No, no, I'm not worried about physical abuse. The bottom line is state statute neglect. I mean, you can't leave a child in a running car that is can't defend someone. At this point, Chenise was facing a highly serious accusation of child neglect and might face further consequences if it's proven she was dishonest with officers. As they continued investigating, the behavior of the mother grew more and more concerning. She's she's known at her fist. Yes. So, I was like, "Oh, let me go see if we can get a bottle or something cuz that baby's I have a pacifier." You have her pacifier. All right. Get her pacifier. Get what she needs out of there. You can go ahead and give it to the MS worker so she can give it to her. No, I don't. Sorry. Never mind. You don't? Okay. Oh, you're good. You just want to get with EMS to see if maybe you can get the baby fed. Ma'am, I don't think you heard him. You go see uh go see EMS, see if you can get the baby fed. Oh, sure. Yeah. Thank you. The mother claimed that regarding the baby, it was someone else's responsibility that they'd arrived at the location at 12:20 to drop the baby off. However, even when explaining her side of the story, the account still didn't paint the woman in a good light. Sadly, for this round of questioning, the body cam only captured audio. Okay. So, basically, what I have to do is figure out what we got. Okay. Um, I do have to ask you some questions. You're not free to leave. So, that means I do have to read you your Miranda rights. Okay. You're not arrested. I'm just going to ask you specific questions. In order to do that, I got to read you this. Okay. You understand? Yes. Okay. So, what what are you here for? I'm um doing my community service hours. Community service hours. Okay. Um when I originally got here and you walked out, you said you were looking for your phone. I was looking I was This is what I what going on. I was doing my community service hours. I was literally looking for my phone. Dropping up at 12:20. I was looking for my phone and I found and I see you guys. That's all. That's that's why I said that. That's why the first thing I said. So, she was dropped off at 12:20. He just put her in the car and left. No, I he called me. He let me know he was here and not I hadn't left her right there. Then I was still looking for my phone. That was the reason why I found my phone and then I came out here and you guys were right here. Met you here. You took custody of the baby. Yes, sir. And then you realized you didn't have your phone. Yes. And you went back inside? Yes. About my wallet. About how long was you inside for? Probably like 15 20 minutes. It's It's It was 12. When I walked out here, it was about 12:40. Okay. Yeah, it was about 12:40. The mother here was doing community service for petty theft. And committing another crime while on probation usually results in jail time. And that's perhaps why she was still desperately clinging to this highly improbable story. So, if we review the cameras, it's going to been pulling up and giving you the baby. It should be. Okay. Why would you leave her in the car in the first place, though? I mean, I had my I turned my car on and I didn't know that. I mean, I didn't know that somebody was going to say I left the bank or at some point. But your car was unlocked, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So at any point in time, somebody could have got in your car, taken your car, and taken the baby. That's where our concern is. Yes. And not I understand that. That's why I just tell any other officers. I'm sure I haven't been in your car, but if you left the car on, I'm assuming there was AC. Yes. So, but our concern is the child being left alone. Yes. For 15 to 20 minutes. Yes. If that's the case, and somebody having the ability to take the vehicle and the child. Okay. Um, so right now what we're going to do is I'm going to go review camera footage. See if I can cooperate your story cuz they do have camera footage. So if the if the situation is true, we'll be able to see that. If it's not, we'll be able to see that. Without a warrant, they were unable to check her phone. That being said, the officers could still ask to see the woman's phone just to verify whether someone else had phoned her when dropping off the baby. Her answer to the request only served to confirm to police that she was definitely not being truthful. I just did he text you or call you. He called me. Okay. Can Can I see Can we see that that what time he called you if you don't mind? It's up to you. Yeah, it's fine. I'll just wait. Let wait till you guys get done with your That's what I was asking. Can we see what time Can we see what time he called you? Oh, no. Oh, we can't see what time he called you. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah. Can you show us on your phone when he called you? No, it's okay. You don't want You don't want to show us. No, we're not. I just want to saying we don't have to go through the phone if we don't. No, I that's all I just want to see what time he called. That's it. I'm not asking to look to your phone. I'll let you show me. I don't even want to hold your phone. No, it's fine. Okay. Go ahead and double check the videos and see what happens and then we'll we'll come we'll come back and we'll we'll go from there. Yeah, that's not enough to see the phone because you would still need to search to get any. So, just do your thing. Do your thing and then let us know what you got. Okay. And if they have some water, could you ask them so she can get her a bottle of water? See if we can get you some water. All right. What's the baby's name? Eventually, she admitted that she'd left her baby outside unattended for more than 2 hours. And on top of that, there was nobody else taking care of her. This led to her immediate arrest, but she was taken to the station. Wait till I get out of it. Stuck. The suspect was charged with felony child neglect without great bodily harm. On the 24th of January 2022, police responded to a call about a domestic dispute in Spokane, Washington. The caller, a woman with limited English-speaking skills, struggled to communicate the exact details. But despite the language barrier, police distinctly recalled her saying that her son was dead. Okay. You actually leaving or parking? Parking. [Music] What's happening? What's going on? Over here. Hey. Get everyone out of the house. What's going on? Hey, back up. [Music] I'm going to take it. I'm going to take it. He's got He's got a knife. Get out of the house. He's got a knife. He's got a knife. Ryan, get a rifle. Get a rifle. Get a rifle. Get out. Get out. Get back. Get back. Hold traffic. We got a male holding a knife. The suspect was 23-year-old Peterson Ko. When the mother said her son was dead, the person she was referring to was Peterson's brother, Bruce. Bruce had died from a medical condition a month earlier, and the toddler was Bruce's son. With the baby's life in danger, the cops moved in with extreme caution. His rifle now. Give me a rifle. Let the go. Sir, let the go now. Let them come up here. Hey, man. Step to the landing so we can talk to you. Hey, I never want any of this to happen, man. Hey man, step to the landing so we can talk to you. Figure out what's going on. Carl, get your new guy to go get me my rifle. Hey, where's my dad? [Music] No, not yet. He's all right. Hey, man. Just lean out here so I can see you, bro. Hey. No. Why you trying to shoot me? If you shoot me, you're going to hit him, too. Bro, we just want to talk to you. It's a precaution. We don't know what's going on. We got to talk to you, man. We got to see you to know the okay to talk, man. We can't go any further. Earlier that day, Peterson asked his father if he could borrow the family car, but his father refused, saying Peterson was grieving and not in the right frame of mind. Peterson's frame of mind had deteriorated to alarming levels. From the bottom of the stairs, the cops tried to deescalate things by building rapport, trying to address the man civily, calling him man and bro. My hands up, man. Man, put the down and just come down and talk to us, bro. We want to help you, man. Just put the down. Put down and come talk to us, my man. Look, I'm not holding up, man. Man, I know. Step out here and talk to us, man. Why you got Because, man, you had I need I need That's I need Bro, I need you to come out here and talk to me, man. Come on, man. I know. He took a can of kerosene on this guy. Yeah. Hey, what? Let's get hands. You got hands, man. We need you to put the down and come down and talk to us. We can't do nothing to help you until you come down here and talk to us, bro. He doesn't have he doesn't have the knife right now. No, right. You're when he had the knife picked up a can of like camping fuel right here and fled upstairs. Okay, you starting to hear we taking it or no? We going to take it and move up or the officers witnessed Peterson holding up a can of kerosene. They believe he intended to start a fire and prevent the cops from rescuing. Additionally, because of the kerosene, there was no possibility of using a taser because using the weapon near flammable materials is incredibly dangerous. Hey, man. What's your name? Yeah, we got a hostage. Hey, I already put fuel to the You've What? I know. We got Is that Craig behind me? No. Did you see him with the knife? So, let's move here. I got shield. I'll go front. Were you ready? I don't. No. No shield. No shield. No, man. We need you to talk to Relax, man. Y'all are freaking me out right now. Down, man. Let's get some verbal. You dropped that. Out of here, man. We just need to make sure the All right. All right. That's We're out of here. Just let the go and the guns will go away. All right. He's lighting. He's lighting fire. Hey, chill out, man. Chill out, man. Do not move. Thankfully, the baby wasn't harmed, but Peterson succumbed to his gunshot wounds. In the aftermath, Peterson's family filed a lawsuit against police, claiming that the officers acted too soon. Police officials released the body cam footage to support the officer's account of events. And body cam footage from another officer confirmed the presence of the kerosene upstairs. We just need to make sure the all right. All right, that's We're out of here. Just let the go. The guns will go away. All right. Move. Hey, chill out, man. Chill out. Get the kid. Get the kid. Get the kid out. Get him out. Get that out of here. 2400. The KO family received a controversial settlement of a4 million. Police however denied any wrongdoing. The two officers who shot Peterson did not receive charges. On the 10th of April 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida, a one-year-old boy went out an open sliding door and wandered outside unattended. His mother, Francesca Geller, later found him face down in a nearby lake. Police soon arrived at her home. Hello, Francesca. Yes, sir. What? What's that? Are you home alone? Is there any like little ones inside that range for anything like that? Just kids are ones at the hospital, ones, right? So you're under arrest for that incident that happened. We don't we're not the investigator. We're the guys they say go find her. We have charges. Okay. So we're being charged with child. According to Geller, she was only in the bathroom for 5 minutes. While washing her hands, she heard her other child shout, "Baby, baby!" and quickly left the bathroom to see the sliding door open. She ran out the door and pulled the child from the lake. She admitted smoking marijuana about an hour before the incident and was likely still under the influence at the time. Were you uh at work or something? I was just 20 from orientation. Got job. Is that golf? Looks like a golf course, right? Nice. Start there. Fall down. When do you like start? Oh, okay. You saw if you don't look at the schedule yet. Boulevard. You got family, right? No like major criminal pass or anything. You'll get a bond. You bought it out. You get a court date. You're all right. No worries. Just keep it up. the car locked or anything? The woman appeared upset, but she seemed relatively calm. She might have been experiencing a sense of dissociation, which commonly happens after traumatic events. She later admitted to smoking marijuana up to four or five times a day, and this might have impaired her ability to process emotion. Later that day, Francesca had arranged to pick up her husband from work, so police tried to contact him. your house to or not to work. Supposed to pick him up and then go pick up my daughter. Just pick him up. I'm supposed to pick him up from work and go pick up my daughter. Finally, too. What time? Uh, so he's going to be expecting you, right? Do you know his phone number? Yeah. So, I'll just call him, I guess. What time you supposed to pick him up? Oh, so you got time. I'm sorry. Medical reports said that because of what happened, the child was left with permanent brain damage as well as mobility, motor skills, and speech impairments. It's estimated the child was underwater for about 5 to 10 minutes. Try to work off the bed. Uh I mean, anything on you that I need to know about? Like I don't know you drugs. I'm just going to send him with her cuz the house is locked up. The car is locked up. Yeah. I mean, how's he? I mean, he doesn't get off till 5:00. He's got three hours to to find a ride. I mean, yeah, sure. He's a smart dude to figure it out. Who's handcuffs? Josh. Want to swap them out? You want to swap out cuffs, Josh? Flex. No, I use my cup. It's fine. During her first appearance, a Palm Beach County judge set Geller's bond at $50,000, and she was also ordered to return to court the following month. Geller was charged with child neglect, causing great bodily harm, and if convicted, could face up to 15 years in jail. All of these cases illustrate just how important the cops are when protecting the most vulnerable in our society, especially children. And for those who seek to harm, endanger, or neglect young lives, they'll almost certainly find out that it comes with severe consequences. [Music]