tv Nightline ABC September 9, 2023 12:37am-1:07am PDT
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tonight, after the wildfires. honoring those lost and trying to figure out a plan forward a month after those devastating maui flames. >> i don't know where they're going after this. my mom might not find a place after this. >> survivors looking for stability. >> i miss my teacher. >> getting an education wherever possible.
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>> they lost their first home. we had to restore their second home. because they are the future. and our hope for our rebuilding and building. the popular mommy under fire. ruby franke in court, up on charges. >> can you hear me? >> yes. >> new details about her past and the disturbing 911 calls. >> he's emaciated. he's got tape around his legs. he's hungry and he's thirsty. >> were possible red flags missed? >> over a year ago, we started getting a few phone calls from neighbors and family that there was some things at need to be investigated. honey... nyquil severe honey. powerful cold and flu relief with a dreamy honey taste. nyquil honey, the nighttime, sniffing, sneezing, couging, aching, fever, honey-licious, best sleep with a cold, medicine. (owner) purina one... we switched and wow!
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start by cooking a lasagna. skip the rinse and load your dishes. 24 hours later when your dishwasher is full, let finish quantum clean your dishes. ♪ try finish quantum. unbeatable clean. unbeatable price. good evening, thank you for joining us. i'm stephanie ramos. breaking news, a powerful and deadly earthquake struck morocco late friday night. hundreds feared dead as buildings were toppled, reduced to rubble within seconds. dozens more injured as terrified residents flooded the streets, running from their homes for safety. multiple aftershocks have been reported. make sure to stay with abc news for continuing coverage. the other side of the globe, maui one month after the deadliest u.s. wildfire in
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modern history. 115 people were killed, and we learned a short time ago 66 are still unaccounted for. becky worley returns to the island to see how school-aged children are adapting, as abc news launches "maui strong 808," a new initiative to focus on the communities piecing their lives back together. >> reporter: a month to the day after the lahaina fires, this paddle-out launched from the shores of maui. with no plans yet to officially memorialize the dead, this is one way the people are mourning. a paddle-out is deeply immersed in nature. it's sensory. flowers honoring those he lost floating down to the water. the expression of grief may look different here, especially for maui's children, "nakeki." >> i just got out of
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kindergarten and i didn't get a chance to take one day in first grade. >> reporter: 6-year-old miles went to a school now in ashes along with his mother's home. for now they're living in a resort. >> i don't know where we're going after this. my mom might not find a place after this. we only get a month here. >> we send our kids to school, and that's a routine that provides them with what they need and also gives parents a chance to go to work, provide for their families. without school, we don't have those opportunities. our children are starving for a chance to get together with their friends. >> reporter: it's been four weeks since wildfires tore through the west maui beach town, although line that. at least 115 people were killed, 66 unaccounted for. thousands of residents lost their homes and jobs. and as children across the nation are headed back to school, it's a different story
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here. >> i want our education to be as soon as possible. we need to go to school. >> i miss my teacher. >> so if they can get a bunch of people, i think they could build a school in the next two months or so. >> reporter: the hawaii department of education says 1293 of the 3000 children from although hain that have been enrolled in other public schools on the island or remote learning. nearly 400 are on a wait list for virtual learning. how many of you were living together in lahaina? >> 27 people. >> reporter: 27 in a two-bedroom space far from lahaina, all jammed into that same space now, just to be near the children's new schools. >> if you want to go to the bathroom at 7:00, you've got to be there at 6:00. >> reporter: on weekends, they travel here to the royal lahaina and two other hotels in west maui.
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his nephew kirt, 7 years old. >> i want everything to be the same in lahaina. and i mess my school. i miss my friends. >> reporter: to get the kids to school, ruben drops them off at three different campuses all across the island. >> wake up at 5:30. be there by 6:30. then pick up the other kids by 7:20, 7:15, on to school. not like before, 15 minutes. there's like nine, ten kids every afternoon. they go over there and play. they can't do that anymore. >> reporter: his son jacob noticing his father's rare tears. >> the first time crying. >> reporter: mother of three luz is in a similar situation, trying to stabilize her children while temporarily living in a hotel. >> the reality is we're homeless. we don't have a place to stay. >> reporter: since their school
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isn't open either, her teens are doing remote learning from their small hotel room. >> the challenging one is there's no internet. so i'm just -- we're just using our hot spot. >> reporter: a teach er curre taking a break, focusing on her children before she returns to the classroom. >> i want my kids to see the i don't want my kids to see the crying, i cannot help it, it's too sad. >> reporter: dean wong with children's services counseling on the island explains the magnitude of this tragedy on children. >> we're talking about a generation of children that have just come -- most of them are covid babies. three years of that kind of situation, which was unprecedented. and now we're going into another situation that is equally as traumatic if not more so. >> good morning, community. >> good morning. >> reporter: one of the few lahaina schools that has been
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able to reopen, sacred heart school. it's a place i know well, or did before two of its three buildings were destroyed by the fire. i was in second grade here. even started my first communion class. ♪ >> life has changed instantly for these children overnight. >> reporter: sacred heart's principal now living out her life's mission from this makeshift school at a church north of lahaina. more than half of her 220 students are new to sacred heart after their public schools were damaged in the fire, and 180 more are on the wait list. >> they lost their first home. we had to restore their second home. and because they are the future. and our home for our rebuilding and healing. this is the best we could do for now until we secure a new school here. >> reporter: her goal is provide
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stable learning for the children. >> we need to make sure they stay and they learn about lahaina town and sacred heart school and help in the rebuilding and the sharing of our story. >> reporter: one therapy tool, comfort cubs, weighted teddy bears, one for each child. >> oh my god, it's like christmas! >> reporter: kelly perez teaches at another lahaina school devastated by the fire, grappling with the death of one of her students. he was just 7 years old. >> tony was a joy. he really was that student every teacher wished was in their class. and "lucky" doesn't describe how i feel to have been a part of his life. >> reporter: tony, one of the 115 who perished, and his family, three generations lost.
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>> something that we have always known to be that was here, that was a stable part of our life, doesn't exist anymore. not even it's just gone, but it's demolished. it's devastated. the pictures are horrific. and that is traumatizing. and all of us will have to process that differently. and that's true with children as well. >> reporter: for the children around the island, it's a back to call-season with no precedent or timeline. but the resilience of these children may be the first step to recovery. am. >> devices are replaceable. everything's replaceable except humans. >> reporter: for the kids at my school, sacred heart, their teachers try to give them back some sense of normalcy. >> we are going to share supplies, okay? >> reporter: healing through art, new toys, and laughter.
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a community showing an incredible amount of resiliency. our thanks to becky. >> stephanie: stay with abc news for our ongoing coverage of "maui strong 808" every month on the 8th. coming up, the popular mommy blogger in court on child abuse charges. being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems,
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>> but i told the kids, i'm not even going to let you eat breakfast until you get your chores done. >> reporter: popular youtube mommy blogger ruby franke once had millions of subscribers following her tough love parenting advice online. >> i was really hoping that, like, keeping them home from school and wiping the floor floorboards would, like, really bring pain. >> reporter: now she's being livestreamed from a southwest utah courtroom after being charged with abusing her children. sitting in a prison jumpsuit, appearing alongside her business partner, jody hildebrandt, a judge saying she will continue to be held without bail. >> can you hear me? >> yes. >> my understanding, miss franke's being held on a no bail hold at this point. she's going to remain on a no bail hold for the time being. >> reporter: neither defendant saying much. >> jody mann hildebrandt? >> yes. >> reporter: and neither have entered a plea yet. frank con they were charged with six counts of felony child abuse.
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>> duct tape around each ankle. he's not telling me why. says there are sores around his wrists and ankles. >> reporter: the horrific allegations surfacing after franke's 12-year-old son escaped through a window at hildebrandt's home and ran to a neighbor's house pleading for food and water, according to authorities. that neighbor calling 911. >> exactly what's happened? >> i just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door, asking for help. and he's -- said he just came from a neighbor's house. and we know there's been problems at this neighbor's house. he's emaciated. he's got tape around his legs. he's hungry and he's thirsty. >> reporter: at one point, the neighbor having trouble uttering the words, becoming emotional at the boy's condition. >> he has duct tape around each ankle. yeah, there's sores around them. i think there's a good chance he's been -- oh, and he has them
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around his ankles. i mean, his wrists as well. okay, this boy has been -- kid has obviously been -- i think he's been -- he's been detained, he's been -- he's obviously covered in wounds. >> reporter: the mormon mother of six gained online fame with her strict and often controversial parenting advice. court documents alleging further details of abuse and neglect, noting that the 12-year-old was severely malnourished and had deep lacerations from being tied up with rope and from his malnourishment. authorities claiming that franke's 10-year-old daughter was found malnourished inside the home owned by franke's business partner, jody hildebrandt. >> hildebrandt is a businesswoman who created this parental help organization, this consulting business to help
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teach parents how to discipline and raise their children. >> reporter: the state of duress of franke's two young children leaving authorities in shock. >> i'm just sorry those two little ones had to be the ones to go through that to get to this point. no child should have to go through that. especially some that young. it's emotional to a lot of people. it's even emotional to me, and i've been doing this a long time. >> reporter: according to court documents, four the franke's children were taken into child protective services. lieutenant foster with springville pd describing the officers' efforts to locate franke's other two children that are minors after they were initially unable to find them. >> we have no idea what their conditions were. the other two children, what's their condition? what's their situation? where are they? who are they with? if they're with anybody at all. >> all the charges that franke and hildebrandt are facing, it's all the same one. it's calleding on elevated child abuse. but there are different types of
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or different forms of child abuse. we're talking about multiple injuries or torturous behavior. deprived of food and malnourished, that's another form of aggravated child abuse. that severe emotional harm that came upon them, those encompass all six of the felony charges again the two defendants. >> reporter: new details emerging about franke's past have many asking why something wasn't done sooner to protect her children. abc news has obtained records showing police responded to the franke home more than a dozen times over the last few years, including reports of juvenile problems in 2018 and welfare checks in 2022. what was law enforcement's experience with the franke family? >> over a year ago, we started getting a few phone calls from neighbors and family that there was some things that need to be investigated, where they felt like it was a necessity to go talk to the family, at least to the children, to find out if there was any merit to any of
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the allegations. >> reporter: but those attempts, unsuccessful. lieutenant foster says child and family services were unable to speak to the children and filed a request for a warrant to enter the home. >> even though it was submitted to the judge, the judge obviously felt that there wasn't enough based on the information that they had. so the warrant was not signed, and it wasn't granted. and so there wasn't much they could do at that point. and so -- i don't know what they did after that. but i do know that we did get involved after that. >> do you know where your mom and dad are? >> he doesn't know where his dad is. >> he says he doesn't live around here. >> reporter: their father, kevin, seen in one of ruby's many social media videos -- >> kevin and i have decided we are going to give the gift of truth to them -- >> reporter: has denied any wrongdoing through his attorney randy kester, who says the couple's estranged and living apart over a year.
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>> he's a very good person, very gentle guy. no one's made any allegations that he's ever physically abused those kids or anyone else. >> abuse like this doesn't happen in a vacuum. i don't think this investigation is done by any stretch of the imagination. >> reporter: franke once telling millions to follow her parenting advice, now fighting allegations of child abuse. another court hearing scheduled for september 21st. for "nightline," i'm kayna whitworth, abc news. >> stephanie: our thanks to kayna. up next, friday night lights. the high school football team back on the field after the deadly maui wildfires. with my moderate f i was ok to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can dramatically relieve
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no matter what, we go on. biofreeze ♪ >> stephanie: before we leave you, a final note from maui. where the high school football team isn't letting any obstacles stand in their way. once again, here's abc's becky worley. >> reporter: lahaina's high school football team back together. their last practice was the day before the fires.
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their school damaged and closed, their homes destroyed, but not their spirit. number 10 practicing with his older brother number 63. the brothers lost their home, and now they're playing for their community. >> it feels really good. i mean, just getting out here with everybody. these guys are just staying strong. >> reporter: the team, their families, their coaches all driving an hour outside of lahaina to practice on this field. >> this is the first step in a road back. you guys all understand that, right? >> yes, coach! >> reporter: dean mccard trying to set an example for his team. >> considering everything they've been through, their resilience and ability to adapt, it's a testament to them. >> stephanie: that is "nightline" for tonight. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america. ♪birds flyin' high, you know how i feel.♪
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