2024-03-28 07:25:05
A rope, handcuffs and a bowl of cayenne pepper paste were among the torture devices police found at the home of psychotherapist Jody Hildebrand this summer.
Crime scene videos and photos — recently released by Utah prosecutors and obtained — were key evidence to support the story Ruby’s 12-year-old son told police after he ran away from his home in Ivins, Utah, last August 30.
Much of that evidence was found in a room authorities called a “panic room” in court documents.
Ruby — a mother of six — and her family therapist, Jody Hildebrand, pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse in December. They will spend between four and 30 years behind bars based on the sentences.
Earlier that August morning, Ruby’s son, identified as R.F. in court documents, climbed out the window of Hildebrand’s home and called door-to-door, seeking help from neighbors.
At the third door, a man opened and sheltered the boy.
The man, who described the boy as “emaciated,” sat him on the front porch, and immediately after, the man called 911 and his wife gave the child a water bottle and a banana.
For months, Ruby and Hildebrand forced the woman’s youngest children to work in sweltering heat for hours with little food and water, People reports.
The women also regularly tried to indoctrinate Ruby’s son “and convince him that he was evil and possessed,” according to the plea agreement, which added that he was led to believe that the torture he endured , are “acts of love” and that “punishments are necessary for repentance.”
When the child tried to escape in July, his mother says she bound his hands and feet with two sets of handcuffs.
After running away, the child reported to the police that she had not seen her younger sister for a month.
A search of Hildebrand’s home later that day found the 9-year-old — emaciated with a shaved head — slumped cross-legged in a closet.
Four hours later, the police pulled the little girl out of the closet.
RF told officers in preliminary hearings that Hildebrand and his mother “used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the wounds” caused by the handcuffs.
Officers found the skin burn paste in a container with surgical sponges next to it. Elastic bandages were also found in the container, supporting the child’s story.
The police also came across the so-called “panic room”. The policemen inspected the narrow space in which they found instruments for torture. The investigators found a long rope with knots, metal chains and handcuffs, writes Vesti.bg.