UT - Parenting influencer, Ruby Franke, and blogger/podcast partner Jodi Hildebrandt, arrested for Child Abuse, Aug 2023

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The lock is on the outside and none on the inside? Ferriter redux.

Note the smudges on the cabinets above the kitchen counter in the "panic room". I would speculate a child has jumped up there, perhaps to get the doors open. There are no smudges above the toilet or the fridge: there's nothing to stand on in those places.... And those smudges are kid height: first thing I thought of when I saw them.

I'll bet no one thought to look up near the top of the cabinets, because no one could imagine they'd have hand prints, let alone from hopping onto the counter. But just yesterday, I jumped on my kitchen counter to clean cabinets, so I have it in my head that that can be a pretty obvious thing to do...

I'll bet building inspectors didn't check out that vault room, because I don't believe a toilet next to a sink where food is prepared would be to code.

That property must have cost millions to build, not the $400k ish that folks are thinking. All that concrete is about $400k all by itself! There's an architect, expensive windows, electric window shades, miles of granite countertops, heavy wood doors, miles of expensive cabinets, expensive appliances, miles of sheetrock, a gazillion outlets, site prep... Around here, $400k barely gets you a new starter house on a slab, except maybe basic 3 bedrooms and one bathroom, one powder room, formica, entry-level appliances, not including the price of the lot. So, yeah, I would guess Hildebrand's house $1.5+ million to build.

And no solar: imagine the cost of utilities....

Was Jodi housekeeping all that space herself? She must have had housekeepers: I hope someone spills the beans.
I was also shocked about the absence of solar panels. I don't know how the weather is in Ivins during the winter months, but summer would be perfect, especially considering the size of the home and how it sits in a lower setting, surrounded by literal desert.

If she had someone to clean that massive house, which I highly doubt she didn't, that person had to be there multiple days of the week. It's a huge home and it's the desert... I'm not sure how she had it decorated, but more clutter means more dust. Was she solely relying on the Franke children to clean her house?
Snipped for focus.

I believe that's a pantry. For maybe someone who thinks they're a VIP in Daybell's 130,000?
It looks like a food storage room. The previous Franke house had a very small one too and I bet the current one does too because it's a much bigger house than their previous one.
 
:D I can't remember exactly what they said in their Live show right now but vaguely recall Lauren saying she'd seen that that set-up before in prepper houses.
Yes, that was what I was picturing when I said underground bunker! Like the one in that Blast from the Past movie with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone.
 
Okay, a quick read of the property description on Zillow answered all of my questions.

Basement

  • Basement: Full, Basement Entrance

The walk-in closet features seasonal luxury build-ins, a washer & dryer (butterfly dryer), and an in-floor safe.

Other notable features of this stunning property include a concrete storage room under the garage, a 5-car garage with built-in cabinetry and a pet wash.




But the "additional custom features will be revealed only at your private showing" bit is rather intriguing, wouldn't you agree?
 
Okay, a quick read of the property description on Zillow answered all of my questions.

Basement

  • Basement: Full, Basement Entrance

The walk-in closet features seasonal luxury build-ins, a washer & dryer (butterfly dryer), and an in-floor safe.

Other notable features of this stunning property include a concrete storage room under the garage, a 5-car garage with built-in cabinetry and a pet wash.




But the "additional custom features will be revealed only at your private showing" bit is rather intriguing, wouldn't you agree?
Panic room or something similar, is my guess. They're not keeping the safe secret, so I'm guessing it's something to do with security they don't want to broadcast to everyone.

MOO
 
On the Hidden True Crime link ( previous WS page) Julie - a former realtor - and Lauren talk through the time sequence having looked at the records. The original costs of the plot, the build, how much the property's market value increased year on year.
I can't recall the specific numbers off hand now but it's on there.
IMO their numbers are WAY off. IIRC they costed the whole construction to $400k. But, look at the concrete: it's $400k just on that. And, if the whole construction were $400k, half of us would be owning one of those houses.

Have you ever had someone install tile in a bathroom? Look how many bathrooms she has! And all the tile in the kitchens. A tiled dog-shower. Just the walk-in shower in her bedroom I would guess to be at least $4-5k, and that's without those stimulatory jets.

Speaking of jets.....I thought Jodi had a super-warped idea of sex—and separated couples on this basis, e.g. because of self-stimulation—and had all kinds of absurd lectures about it, but look where those shower jets aim! LMAO.

All of this money quite begs the question....did someone else pay the builders? Was there extortion going on? Books getting fiddled (this undoubtedly)? Did she know someone who could keep the assessed value on the property artifically low?

FWIW I can't stand the house. It's so cold and boring. Child abuse just having to live in it.
 
@RickshawFan Agree. $400K makes no sense at all. I'm not a member of HTC's channel, but maybe somebody wants to ask Julie where she got that figure from. It makes no sense - very fishy or she rushed her research

FWIW Am not keen either and I don't think anybody should be allowed to develop these kinds of places in the first place.
 
@RickshawFan Agree. $400K makes no sense at all. I'm not a member of HTC's channel, but maybe somebody wants to ask Julie where she got that figure from. It makes no sense - very fishy or she rushed her research

FWIW Am not keen either and I don't think anybody should be allowed to develop these kinds of places in the first place.
It sounds as though they used assessed values for shortly after construction. IMO we're looking at at least $2M to build that thing, and that might be without appliances and fixtures.
 
Panic room or something similar, is my guess. They're not keeping the safe secret, so I'm guessing it's something to do with security they don't want to broadcast to everyone.

MOO
They're calling it a panic room, but I'm thinking it's a Ferriter-room. It seems to only lock from the outside.
 
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