In one video, posted in June 2020, Franke’s then-15-year-old son said he’d slept on a beanbag chair for seven months after being banned from his shared bedroom for pranking his younger brother into believing he was being taken to Disneyland.
In another video, Franke says she refused to bring food to her then-6-year-old after the child had forgotten her lunch at home. She defended that move, too, saying it was necessary to teach her daughter personal responsibility and that she was fed immediately upon returning home.
There are also videos of Franke threatening to cut the head off her child’s teddy bear, taking away the children’s Christmas presents and sending her oldest boy to a behavioral camp where youth spend a minimum of 49 days in the wilderness with little gear.
Police said Franke’s malnourished son escaped out a window with his arms and legs covered in duct tape, fleeing to a neighbor’s house seeking food and water.