The expensive desert mansion involved in a terrible Utah child abuse case was put up for sale in January and was the most viewed property on Realtor.com this week.
No one has bought Jodi Hildebrandt’s 17-room home at 854 Tawgoo Court in Ivins yet. It was first listed for $5.3 million and has now dropped to $5 million as of Sunday. KUTV reported.
Hildebrandt and her business partner, mommy blogger Ruby Franke, admitted to four counts of aggravated child abuse in December and were sentenced in February to four consecutive sentences of one to 15 years in prison. as CrimeOnline reported.
Earlier this month, officials released multiple videos and photos used in the case — including photos and body camera footage from inside Hildebrandt’s home.
Authorities were called in the case last August when Franke’s 12-year-old son ran away and asked a neighbor to call the police. When the police arrived, they found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter inside a closet in the large mansion. It took them four hours to convince the girl to come out to safety.
Both children were thin and underfed, with their limbs wrapped in duct tape. The images showed cuts on their ankles and wrists.
Franke tried to blame Hildebrandt for the abuse, but prosecutors pointed out that she recorded a video for her “8 Passengers” YouTube channel in Hildebrandt’s basement the month before her son escaped and was, therefore, well aware of the conditions.
Then Franke admitted to starving the children, holding her son’s head underwater and tying him up with handcuffs that cut into his skin and muscles. She made the girl do physical labor outside without shoes, and once made her jump into a cactus.
The two women admitted they told the 12-year-old he was “evil” and that the abuse was an “act of love.”
According to KUTV, a motion for restitution was filed in January that requires Hildebrandt to put $100,000 into a bank account for the victims when the house is sold. She gets whatever money is left.
Also, the station said, the seller isn’t required to disclose the home’s history, but multiple media stories about it are taking care of that.
The real estate listing features clean, professional photos of the large mansion, including the “safe room” where the children were frequently tortured. The photos are in stark contrast to the images released by the Washington County Attorney’s Office showing the children’s injuries and pantries stocked full of food the children weren’t allowed to eat.
[Featured image: The safe room door/Washington County Attorney’s Office]