01x02 - Distortion

[bunniefuu]

[speaker] I'm sorry.
Are you f*cking okay?

Obviously not.

Literally, get off YouTube and
actually care for your kids.

Clearly, they don't even
want to be in your videos

by their faces...

[Shari Franke] Over
the days and weeks,

I think our numbers were,
like, consistently declining.

And any engagement that we
did have was, like, negative.

[speaker 2] Taking away
their bedroom and their bed,

but not, not even for like a
day or two, but for months...

[Chad Franke] We were
basically canceled.

Like, our views just tanked.

We lost like 90% of our income.

What has happened in our
home over the last few weeks

is a taste of the real world and we
have not filtered it from our kids,

and they are seeing it,
and they're like, "Wow."

[Chad] I remember us getting some
very expensive lawyer involved,

and I remember him
specifically suggesting to her

to make an apology.

Ruby's response to that
was, "Over my dead body.

"I'm not sorry. I'm
saving my family.

"We're gonna show the world
what real parenting looks like.

"We're gonna show the world

"what it's like to make
impossibly tough decisions

because you love a child."

Buckle up, guys.

[sighs deeply]

I have something to share.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ music fades out]

Okay. I have just been pondering about
all the changes that have happened

and asking myself what changes
I want to make in my life.

[♪ curious music playing]

Okay.

Kevin and I have been looking...
We have no brand deals coming in.

So, we have enough
to keep going...

[Chad] After the cancellation,

there was a very distinct switch in
the kind of content she was filming.

This is often what happens
when things go awry,

is it really brings
us back to home base,

which is, I am a child of God.

I am the center... That...
That is where I am centered.

And, um...

So I've been brought
back to base and...

[Chad] She went kind of from a,
a fun, energetic, laughable mom

more to a very serious
religious teacher.

[Ruby Franke] I decided that I
was going to have more prayers

to get through the day

[crying] 'cause I feel
like I have been working...

This is literally the way that God
intended our children to be raised up.

What I am seeing is that you're upset
with the outcome for being mischievous,

and instead of being humble,
you're... you're being selfish.

And what I would like to
see is that you be humble...

[Chad] The 8 Passengers followers
were furious from what I remember.

She didn't care about the
followers at that point.

She wanted to move
on to something else.

And for her, I get that,

it's just what she moved on to

was pretty much selling
her soul to someone.

So, yeah.

[birds chirping]

[Jodi Hildebrandt] We were talking
this morning about humility

and how choosing truth allows you
to have freedom to move around.

[Brannon Patrick] Jodi
was a business woman.

...to be willing...

[Brannon] And she
would prey on the weak.

...see what I'm
responsible for ,

[over laptop]
gives me freedom.

[Brannon] She knew how
to hit on a pain point,

the biggest pain
point for people

in order to turn it into profit.

[♪ stirring music playing]

In 2010, I had been shadowing
Jodi for about a year

and, by that time, I knew
that something was off.

One, was that she refused
to pay me. [chuckles]

So that was one thing.

On top of that, she seemed
very angry toward men.

This man, um, has
shown his colors to you

and you don't know if
this man has changed.

He didn't call. He didn't ask.

[Brannon] And I watched couples
get torn apart again and again.

And I realized,
"I can't do this."

But my neighbors
were going to Jodi,

my friends were going to Jodi,

and I knew what she was doing and
I knew how destructive it was.

So I had to kinda keep tabs
and watch what was going on.

It was probably a year later
that she opened up Connexions.

[Jodi] Welcome to Connexions.

I'm Jodi Hildebrandt.

If you're like me, you've
had pain in your life,

anxiety, depression,

Connexions is the solution.

♪

[conference attendee] One
of the most powerful things

that I have taken away
from this conference

was recognizing that
my soul is untouchable

and that I am the only person
that has access to my soul...

When I first started Connexions, I
was this big and now I'm tall, and...

[Brannon] Connexions was an opportunity
for her to scale her business.

She wasn't doing
one-on-one sessions.

She could work with 20 people at
a time and make a lot more money.

And she was excellent at
exploiting Mormon anxiety:

being pure, being
sinless, being perfect.

[♪ stirring music continues]

But Connexions was
more than just therapy.

It was this, uh, community
that she created,

uh, a whole platform of people
that were drinking her Kool-Aid.

It was like a church
within the church.

And Jodi was the prophet.

- [♪ music fades out]
- [birds chirping]

[Paige Hanna] Jodi very much, with
many people, became the savior.

Jodi was absolutely my God,

and it was to her you were
looking for forgiveness.

And it was to her that you
were looking for redemption.

And there was this piece of Jodi

that when you brought
somebody into Connexions,

it very much felt like
a pat on the head.

[indistinct chatter]

I know that Ruby had already
been leaning towards it,

um, but to get Kevin onboard,

Ruby wanted help.

[♪ stirring music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[Kevin Franke] I remember the
first real introduction to it,

and it was a love
versus lust workshop.

[Jodi] Love is
giving, it's honest.

Lust... is all about taking.

It's about greed.
It's about control.

And you can lust over anything.

If a man says he doesn't
lust, he's lying.

[Kevin] Ruby was just into it.

And I noticed that

so many of the women in that
room were just... fwoop,

laser-focused.

They were intent. They were
on the edge of their chairs.

And I remember turning
to Ruby and whispering,

this feels like a
man-hating club.

This is a cult.

Our counterparts, many
of them are lusting.

Whether they're
lusting sexually...

They're being selfish.

[Paige] I remember the first
conference that Kevin went to,

he said, "This is a cult."

And I laughed.

So we have a huge
problem. And guess what?

[Paige] And I thought, "This is a
good thing and this can help you

and you're just being too
stubborn to look at it."

[interviewer] Do you feel
you put pressure on Kevin?

[chuckling] I'll make
this really easy for you.

We put so much pressure
on Kevin. So much.

Okay, so that everybody's
smiling at once. One, two, three.

We're all silent.

- [all laughing]
- Yay, great.

- Thank you.
- [overlapping chatter]

[Ruby] I am studying
under Jodi Hildebrandt

and the Connexions classroom,

and what she's teaching us, I
have never learned anywhere else.

[interviewer] Why did
Ruby like it so much?

Because it validated things

that had been bugging
her for a long time.

To be honest, we
were pretty lost,

and Ruby believed that
this was the road map

back to the place that
we both wanted to go to.

And she sat me down and she said,
"I am concerned about our marriage.

And I'd like to invite you to
join a Connexions men's group."

[counter beeping]

[Jodi] Welcome to Connections
Classroom. Thank you for joining us.

We are going to invite
you to learn how to be...

[Kevin] It was all online.

And Jodi hopped on.

"Who wants to get us started?"

And so, then some guy
said, "I'll check in."

And then started just
going down a list of stuff.

It was a support
group for addiction.

[interviewer]
Addictions to what?

Everything.

[Jodi] Lust, the energy of lust,

is not completely connected
to sexual encounters.

[Kevin] Most men were in there
because of addiction to p*rn*graphy.

There were men who would get in and
they would report, "I've relapsed."

And Jodi would say, "How long are
you going to keep choosing this?

Do you realize that you're
losing your family?"

And this poor guy is sitting
there dejected and miserable.

And Jodi would then add to
this and say, "Look at Kevin.

"He makes choices every
day that are responsible,

and he stands up,
and he's a man."

♪

And it felt so good.

And I began to
look forward to it

because all I wanted was praise.

[♪ music fades out]

You want to know what
felt the... the most good?

Was seeing the way that
my wife was looking at me.

[interviewer] How was
she looking at you?

The way I'd always
wanted her to look at me.

Good morning, Kevin.

[Kevin] Hi.

I'm making a breakfast
you probably won't eat.

Because there's too many carbs.

I'm making breakfast for [muted].
She's still upstairs sleeping.

[Kevin] Over time,

there was a shared
passion for one another.

Our relationship felt better.

There was so much less conflict.

We both felt like there
was purpose again.

[♪ hopeful music playing]

[Chad] My mom and dad were starting to
use the language that Jodi was using.

Things got better.

She was happier

and she never really
shouted anymore.

She did pretty much stop when Jodi,
um, started working with them.

[laughter]

[family chattering]

[Chad] We really were
like a happy family again.

- [birds chirping]
- [muffled chatter]

[playful chatter, laughter]

- There was no sense...
- Whoa!

[laughter]

[Paige] When Ruby and Kevin joined,
Jodi incorporated them very quickly.

[Ruby] The number-one job
that I have as a parent

is to teach my children to be
self-managing, to be self...

[Paige] One of the ways
they were elevated quickly

was the fact that she allowed Ruby to
go in and be a... to train as a coach

when Ruby was relatively
new, even to doing therapy.

[Ruby] All the truth that I have learned
since getting involved in Connexions

is because everything
is based in truth.

[Kevin] That was the point

where we began to become the
face and the voice of Connexions.

There's nothing that triggers
somebody, especially a woman, more

than saying or believing,
"You're a bad parent."

That, that...

[Tresa Haymond] There were three friends
that recommended Connexions to us.

- And we saw the Frankes on there.
- Ruby and... and Kevin were on there.

Yeah, and I was like, "Oh,
they have kids at our school.

"We k... We... We kind of
know who this family is,

"and they seem like they're
kinda second tier to Jodi.

Th... This is
super interesting."

And, um, they were
sharing a lot of things,

a lot of vulnerable things, a
lot of personal things and...

Very personal things.

The only way I know how to
make sex work is through lust.

[Paige] With the other coaches,

there was a happiness that they
were gonna be a part of it,

but also some curiosity because
we had all done a lot of work.

[Ruby] Kevin slept
upstairs and...

[Paige] But I'd started seeing that Jodi
was really careful with who she collected

and it was evident that what
was more important to Jodi

was having their influence
and their audience

over their understanding
and their comprehension.

Wow. Boy, you come up
to places like this

and it's like everything comes
into perspective for you.

[Jodi] Ruby's going in the bowl.

- Yeah! Woo-hoo!
- Woo-hoo!

[indistinct]

[Brannon] Jodi was always
enamored by money and fame.

Woo!

I saw her treat clients differently
according to their status.

[panting]

She said to me one time...

So a client came in, who was
well-known and had a lot of money,

and she said to me, "We really
gotta take care of this one."

Um, and I thought,
"Well, that's odd."

Like, we're therapists.
We're trained to not care.

[♪ curious music playing]

[interviewer] What do
you think she meant?

[Brannon] I think she
was salivating some.

She was salivating
about money and power.

And... So that excited her.

"What can I do with a client with a lot
of money, and influence, and power?"

[Chad] Around that time was just the
big breaking point of 8 Passengers

where she just called it quits.

And it went from 8 Passengers,
the title, to Moms of Truth.

It just all transferred
over to Jodi's business.

[Lisa McClean] I remember looking on
my social media and I got an invitation

for joining this Moms of
Truth group on Facebook.

- And it wasn't just me.
- I did as well.

Ruby had sent out an invitation
to the entire neighborhood,

inviting all of us to
join Moms of Truth.

And I was like, "Heck,
yeah." [clicks tongue]

I'm Jodi Hildebrandt, the
founder of Connexions,

and I'm Ruby Franke,
Jodi's sidekick.

[chuckles]

Don't let this sidekick fool you. She
is full of wisdom and knowledge...

[Chad] She was all in on
Connexions at that point.

[♪ curious music continues]

She was all in.

- [♪ music fades out]
- [birds chirping]

[Ruby] You wonder where
I've been on my vlogs?

[emotional] It's
to save my kids.

No amount of money...

I... And I'm telling you,
I was making... millions

and I left it because
my kids were being hurt

with entitlement,

they were being hurt
with people's advice,

and they didn't have a
mother at the front saying,

"I don't care what the
world's opinion is..."

[Kevin] She believed, inside,

that we were destined to be a
part of something earth-shifting,

part of God's work.

We would talk about
this stuff all the time.

Jodi would talk about
this stuff all the time.

We really felt like
something big was coming.

It was just around the corner.

[reporter] We're gonna
begin with breaking news

that deadly Coronavirus is
now spreading so quickly

that the World Health Organization
is calling it a global emergency.

More than 8,000 people have
now been infected worldwide.

[Kevin] When I think about
everything that had happened in 2020

that had really
affected our family...

[reporter] In New York,
nearly 800 people a day

have been dying from COVID-19.

[Kevin] ...we have COVID...

[rumbling]

...we have 5.8 earthquake in
the west side of Salt Lake City.

Everyone is like, "It's
the end of the world

and, um, we're all gonna die."

And, "Is this the
second coming?"

[expl*si*n booming]

- [people shouting]
- [alarms blaring]

[Kevin] But even though
there was all this going on,

it got exciting.

Like, "This is really happening. And
we're here. We're living in this."

[interviewer] What
is really happening?

That the world was ending.

How would you like to know what to
expect prior to the second coming?

The Lord actually has
given us such a document:

The Book of Mormon.

[Kevin] Everyone
else is gonna burn,

but we felt like we were
on the right side of it.

[John Hilton III] I testify that
wickedness is rapidly expanding

in every segment
of our society...

[Shari] The Last Days in the
scriptures are a period of however long

that, like, the
world's gonna burn

or, you know, a plague is gonna
come and destroy everyone.

And then Christ comes
and the world is saved

and everyone can be happy again.

But to get there, there's a period
of just like absolute... hell.

[interviewer] Did Ruby
think that was happening?

Um, she thought it was
the start of it, for sure.

I'll do this for the intro.

Are you guys ready to become
a food prepper with me?

No... Emergency prepper.

Are you guys ready to become
an emergency prepper with me?

[interviewer] S o did you really
believe this was the end of the world?

That Christ was returning?

Oh, absolutely.

[interviewer] But if the world was
ending, did it occur to you that

maybe you wouldn't go to
Heaven, maybe you'd go to Hell?

Never.

It never crossed our mind
because we were preparing for it.

And we weren't alone.

- Hello. Here we are.
- [Ruby chuckles]

[♪ ominous music playing]

All the shelves are full.

If you are here because you see the
chaos that's going on in the world,

our job is to educate you.

- Oh, boy!
- [Ruby] Oh, man. There we go.

[Jodi] There is a higher power

that's organized and is
moving in this world.

And those principles come
from that higher source,

that energy, I call God.

So we're here to
teach you how...

Ruby would often talk about
how Jodi had been called by God

and was doing a
really amazing work,

and that God had also built
up Ruby with her channel

and, like, the two were
meant to combine together

and do God's will to
share truth to the world.

- Yeah, that should do it.
- Yeah, that's much better.

[Kevin] We genuinely
believed that Jodi was...

inspired, called by God,

representative of God,

chosen by God.

[♪ curious music playing]

And this belief all
culminated in May of 2021.

Jodi calls Ruby.

She was wailing and
sobbing into the phone.

Apparently, she
was being haunted

by hooded, shadow figures

that would just appear
surrounding her bed at night.

And she said Satan
had it out for her.

And... we believed it.

We... We wanted to believe it.

[interviewer] Why?

Because we were
in a state of mind

where we were ready for
something big to happen.

We were expecting it.

We just weren't expecting this.

♪

We drove down to Jodi's house.

And this was to go give
support and help her.

She was... distraught
to say the least.

[♪ music stops]

[Chad] Her home was amazing.

[water pattering]

[♪ light music playing]

Like, it's this mansion,
a beautiful mansion.

She gave us a tour and that
tour lasted probably two hours

because there was just so much.

She had like four
levels of the house.

The whole bottom two levels, which were
these, like, underground storage units

and it was all just for her food

and wilderness supplies
and everything.

It just surprised me that,
like, the house looked like

she was housing for kids
or housing for family.

But there... there's no one
living there. She's by herself.

[insects chirring]

[Kevin] While we were there at that
house, there were things that happened

that I can't explain.

There was a tremendous crash in
the basement directly beneath us.

[♪ dark music playing]

And there was nothing.

In that same visit, high up on
the glass, I saw a big handprint.

The fingers came out like
that outside of my hand.

And I didn't have an
explanation for that.

[interviewer] Do you have
a photo of that handprint?

- I do.
- [interviewer] Can I see it?

Yeah.

[interviewer] Could someone else
maybe have caused that smudge?

Did you believe you really
were in the presence of Satan?

[inhales sharply]

I did.

[♪ curious music playing]

I believed it was otherworldly
or it was supernatural.

Jodi's bishop was also there
blessing her, blessing her house.

And he just said, "I
can't keep doing this

and we need to come up
with another solution."

Ruby suggested the idea
that she come to our house

and she will be able to heal.

Ruby said, "This is
the second coming.

"This is God's
returning to the earth.

"Because she is chosen by God,

Jodi plays such an
important part in it."

We drove all the way back

and she began to
live at our home.

[birds chirping]

♪

- [Chad] She's attacking me.
- [Ruby] 'Kay.

[Chad] And I'm defending myself.

- So, to... four.
- [speaker] Four.

[Chad] Yes!

- So you... you have four troops left.
- [speaker] I have four.

[child] Is it okay if I move
all my troops over here?

- [Chad] Is it your turn?
- [child] Yeah.

[Chad] You have to
have one troop...

[Shari] I remember
Ruby calling me

and she says, you know,
"You have a couple of hours

"to take whatever you need
out of your room and...

she's gonna have it."

[♪ unsettling music playing]

I was moving out in two weeks
anyway to go to college,

so I figured I only have to
deal with this for two weeks.

[lawn mower rumbling]

[Chad] I remember
thinking nothing of it.

I thought of her as a friend.

I thought of her as a
praised therapist of mine.

I had respect and love for her.

[playful chatter]

I wanna try and belly flop.

[Chad] But also, when
Jodi moved into the home,

I wasn't so much of
an issue anymore.

It was now my baby brother and my baby
sister that were more of an issue.

[children giggling]

They're perfect for Easter.

No! You're not entitled to
talk while I'm recording.

Sit back up there and be quiet.

[Chad] My little brother
was kinda talking back.

My little sister was being
rude to my mom at some points.

[Ruby] Go downstairs!
Now! Both of you!

[Chad] To my mom, that felt
like evil and she wanted help.

[Jodi] Children are not
entitled to privacy.

This is not an age thing.

It's an accountability thing.

[Shari] We weren't to tell
anybody that Jodi was there.

I thought it was weird

that a therapist would
move in with her patients.

[♪ curious music playing]

I remember looking up Jodi just
to see, you know, who she was,

and I learned she's
not a psychologist

even though she always
has claimed to be one.

Just from reviews online, I read
that she had destroyed families.

She wasn't even married.

Her kids didn't talk to her.

And I remember being like, "Why
are we working with this woman?"

Shari looked her up and found
that her license was revoked.

And I think she went to my
mom about that and was like,

"Mom, she was... Her license
was revoked for this."

And my mom didn't
think anything of it.

[interviewer] What
did you think of it?

To me that all seemed like
people were just attacking her

because she was so morally
correct and so spiritual.

[Kevin] Shari, her radar was
beeping from the first moment

and we shut it down so fast,

she didn't have time to
get into the details.

Jodi had been forthright
about those things.

"If you Google me, you're going
to find this, this, and this.

And that was from this former
client who was particularly nasty."

And it made us believe
that troubled people

are doing everything
they can to attack Jodi.

[♪ music fades out]

[birds chirping]

But after Jodi came
into the picture,

weird things started
happening in our house.

[♪ ominous music playing]

Jodi would go into
these possessed trances.

[breathing heavily]

[Jodi grunting]

And she would start
speaking in other voices.

[Jodi grunting]

[Jodi grunting]

[Kevin] And Ruby believed
that it was meant to be

and that me and her were meant
to help Jodi overcome this.

[interviewer] How did you
think you could help Jodi?

Casting the evil spirits out.

Exorcising them out.

[♪ mellow music playing]

[Kevin] I would place
my hands on her head

and then I would command
the demons to depart.

And then I would state
every name of Jesus Christ

that I could possibly think of.

And those evil spirits were
very reactive to those names.

It became very clear.

[interviewer] How did she react?

She would thrash and hiss
and wail and... growl.

It was like she was being hurt every
time I said one of those names.

[interviewer] Did
you believe it?

Absolutely.

Absolutely, I did.

[birds chirping]

But it stayed like that
for weeks and weeks.

My blessings, my prayers,
they... they did nothing.

And then, they wanted to just
excuse me out of the room

so they could just keep going.

[dog barking]

Ruby would start to go up
and check on her at night.

That's when the possessions,
according to Jodi, were the worst.

[♪ ominous music playing]

And then one day Ruby said,

"I'm just going to stay up
there and stay with her.

"She needs a friend.

And maybe if I'm in there with her,
these things will leave her alone."

[swallows hard]

So she started sleeping
in the bed with Jodi.

I still had men's group
week after week after week.

But it was different.

[Jodi] You don't understand
where the deception is

and where your lust is,

and you need to.

[Kevin] Jodi started to
call me out in men's groups.

I went in, not now as the alpha, but
very much as, you know, the zeta.

[Jodi] You are acting entitled.

If you want to change...

I remember being uncomfortable
with how he... he was...

he was basically the bad guy
in just about everything.

- [interviewer] Really?
- [Ruel Haymond] Mm-hmm

[Jodi] You, my
dear, get to decide

where you're gonna stand
for the rest of your life.

Are you going to
stand with truth?

Or are you going to stand in
this ambiguous spot where you...

We got to the point where
we were just listening

and not participating.

And Shari had been coming over
and borrowing books and things.

And this one time she came over

and I said, "Hey, we saw your
parents on this class that we take."

She's like, "Mm-hmm, I know."

And she said, "Did you know that
Jodi is living in my bedroom?

"And did you know that they
are filming some of this stuff

from my house and from my room?"

And I was like...

That bothered me so much
that we kinda checked out.

[birds chirping]

[interviewer] You mentioned the
Christmas when Jodi was moved in.

[Chad] Yeah.

[interviewer] I've got
something to show you actually.

[Jodi] [singing on
tablet] ♪ Emmanuel ♪

Oh, boy.

[Jodi] ♪ Emmanuel ♪

♪ Wonderful, Counselor ♪

♪ Lord of life, Lord of all ♪

♪ He is the Prince of Peace
Mighty God, Holy One ♪

- ♪ Emmanuel ♪
- [mouthing] Wow.

♪ Emmanuel! ♪

- [Chad] Whoa!
- [Ruby] Wow! Woo!

Yeah, they were best friends.

[chatter continues on tablet]

[♪ ominous music playing]

I remember it being
a very fun Christmas.

But that was also the Christmas

that my two youngest siblings
didn't get any gifts.

The two youngest are showing
long patterns of selfishness.

I was really hoping that, like,
keeping them home from school

and wiping the floorboards
would, like, really bring pain.

And it didn't... It
wasn't painful for them,

because they're so numb.

And we told them that, this year, they
are not going to be visited by Santa.

[Sydney Condie] My daughter's the
same age as their youngest daughter

and she loves giving
gifts to her friends.

Ruby answered the door
and my daughter said,

"Merry Christmas. Can
you give this gift?"

And she took it and then
she closed the door.

My daughter happened to
see their youngest later

and she was so excited, she
was like, "Did you get it?

I picked that one just for you."

And the... her face was just drawn
and she was like, "I didn't get it.

My mom made me throw it away."

[Ruby] Oh, my goodness.

[Sydney] They got to watch
their siblings open presents

and they didn't.

I mean, that's stuff that's
gonna stay with you forever.

It was heartbreaking.

[♪ ominous music continues]

- [Shari] Oh! [muted]
- [Kevin] Oh, my goodness.

[Ruby] Goodness.
Oh, my goodness.

[Shari] At this point,
I was in college,

so when Christmas
came, I went home.

Like, it was so tangible
that just something was off.

And I can't describe it,

but it just... it was
like a physical heaviness.

I remember, I ended up
sleeping with my sisters

because Jodi was
still in my room.

Um, there was one time that I did
go into my room to get something

and there were like candles
on the desk and massage oils

and I just... It
felt really dark.

So I, like, at that moment, I kind
of figured something was going on.

[interviewer] Were they lovers?

I mean, I have my
opinions, but...

- [interviewer] What's your opinion?
- I do think that they were.

[Kevin] I don't know the extent

to which their
interactions went.

[indistinct chatter]

It was much more
than a friendship...

- Yes.
- [Jodi] Okay.

- What was that?
- I'll probably... You wanna get thrown off?

- [chuckles] Yes.
- I'll probably get thrown off with her.

[Kevin] ...much more
than a sisterhood.

[squealing, laughing]

It was uncomfortably intimate.

[both laughing]

- [jet ski revving]
- [Ruby squealing]

She immediately started
putting her fingers

into every aspect of our lives.

And I think she wanted
Ruby to herself.

But in order to do that, she
needed me out of the picture.

[Brannon] Jodi would isolate
people from their families.

And for Jodi, separation
was a means of control.

[Jodi] I wanna
talk about a topic,

and the topic is separation.

Separation is a
principle of truth.

And because it's a
principle of truth...

[Brannon] At that time, I
started to get some clients

who were damaged by the therapy
that they were getting from Jodi.

And I could see what was
going on and it made me sick.

Um, it... I thought it was evil.

[Jodi] Separation is a tool.

It's necessary for
growth and development.

And this is really common for couples.
So this is... this is a very...

[Brannon] She was
divorced at that point,

and I don't know exactly what's
happened with her children,

but I know that the
relationships haven't been great.

She was pretty isolated in terms
of friends and family connections,

and she was helping her clients
become her, in many ways.

Which, by the way,
seems very cultish.

[interviewer] How does Jodi's practice
fit with the definition of a cult?

I think a cult isolates.

You can't question the leader.

The leader has all the power.

All of those things were
happening in Jodi's practice.

[interviewer] How did it come
about that you were kicked out?

[♪ dark music playing]

[Chad] I knew how much I
loved Jodi at this point.

I knew how much I respected
her and loved her.

I always felt like I
had to confess to Jodi

when it came to anything
like p*rn*graphy

or making out with a girl.

That, to me, like,
weighed very heavy

because that was something that
was taught to me the most by her.

Jodi thought it would
be a good idea for me,

as part of my repentance
process, to tell my mom.

So, I... I pretty
much confessed to her

that, you know, "While
Jodi was in the home,

"I was viewing p*rn*graphy.

I was making out with girls at
nighttime behind your back."

And I have never seen
my mom more distraught.

And I have never seen
her more red in the face.

But it wasn't anger,
it was a sadness.

She was bawling.

She, like, couldn't breathe.

And as she was crying,

she kinda got surprised
'cause it clicked,

"Oh, my gosh, everything
that happened to Jodi,

"all the possession,
all the attacks,

"all the satanic attacks
that were happening to Jodi,

it was all because of you and what
you were doing behind our back."

She wiped away the tears and
then she was back to serious.

And she said, "Chad, it's,
it's time you leave the home."

[interviewer] How old were you?

[Chad] I was 17 at this time.

[interviewer] Did it make any sense
to you at the time, moving out?

Yeah, I really thought I
was messing with the house,

messing with the
spirit in the house.

But I think that was my mom
and Jodi's perfect chance

to find something wrong with
me and my dad at the same time

and kick us out together, so...

[indistinct chatter]

[Kevin] When I came in
the door, she was intense.

[♪ tense, dramatic
music playing]

And she just bluntly said,

"Our marriage is
in serious jeopardy

"because of you, Kevin,
because of your selfishness,

"because of your... your lustful thoughts
and behavior that you've been hiding.

"I'm trying to rise up to the
measure that God wants me to be

"and to do the work
he wants for me to do,

"and you keep holding
me and Jodi back.

"I want you to leave the house.

"I want you to do
it immediately.

I don't want you to have any
contact with me or the children."

[♪ music fades out]

[interviewer] What did you say?

I just said...

"Okay."

"Okay."

[♪ ominous music playing]

One by one, I had the kids come in and
I sat 'em down and I... and I told 'em,

"I'm going to go away for a time

"and I'm going to work on myself

"so that I can come
back to the family

and be... and be the dad
that... that you deserve."

[interviewer] How
did they react?

[Kevin] Emotionally.

One of my children,

the look... the look in
her eyes, I cannot...

[swallows hard]

It was a pleading.

[interviewer] What was
Ruby doing at the time?

Watching.

I remember, as I was
holding my youngest,

and... and just holding
her and she was crying.

Ruby was photographing
it on her phone.

And she had this smirk or this
smile on her face that she just...

I don't know what she was thinking,
but it... it looked like this look of,

"Oh, this is such good content."

[♪ ominous music continues]

[sighs]

I just... I wish
that there was...

there was a way to
go back in time...

and to stop that madness and
to... to just... just to stop it.

[sighs deeply]

[♪ music fades out]

[birds chirping]

[Shari] I get a call from Kevin,

"Your mother has invited
me to leave the house.

And I'm gonna ask that you
don't talk to me or to Chad."

At that point, I was like,
"This is absolutely crazy."

And I think I
responded and said,

you know, "I-I'm confused," and
like, "I, I wish you the best."

But, like, I was worried about
the kids now that are at home.

And I got a long text from Ruby.

It was full of things just like,

"You've shown that you don't
want to be part of this family

"and you're causing
chaos for everyone

and you're reaching out to your
dad when we asked you not to."

You know, "You're
crossing a line."

And so after that is when I got
a phone call that basically said,

"You've been removed
from the car insurance.

You need to get your own."

Um... I got a call that said, you
know, "At the end of the year,

your health insurance is
going to be terminated."

I didn't know exactly
what was going on.

So I got in the
car and drove down.

And I remember feeling, like,
really nervous to go over

and I asked Tresa
to come with me.

[♪ curious music playing]

[interviewer] So, what happened?

[Tresa] When we drove
up to the house,

sure enough, Ruby opens the door
and steps out onto the porch.

[Shari] She said something like,

"Shari, you're causing a lot
of damage to the family,"

and, you know, "You've shown you
don't wanna be part of our family,"

and... "You're deceived,"

and, like, "I feel sorry for
you and you're in my prayers."

[Tresa] Shari had tears
and she was shaking.

I had tears streaming
down my face,

and the only person that
had no emotion was Ruby.

And she was just stone cold.

Zero emotion.

Only anger and
animosity and defense.

And I did not know how a mom
who gave birth to someone

could sit there like that and listen
to their daughter weep and beg.

It was... It was horrible.

I just wanted to get... get
Shari out of there after that.

[Shari] It was understood that
I wasn't to come home anymore

or talk to the kids,

that I wasn't, like,
part of the family.

[Tresa] Shari just
melted. Just fell apart.

She was just still shaking and
she was looking through her phone,

looking, looking and she said...

she said, "This is my mom."

[♪ dramatic music playing]

She's showing me a picture of
who she knew her mom to be.

♪

And she said,
"That's not my mom."

And it seems that Ruby had
literally come to see evil

in everyone around her.

And now the only people
left in that house

are those four young children.

[♪ music fades out]

[♪ mellow music playing]

[♪ music stops]