Popular YouTube mom who was charged with child abuse has died

Machelle Hobson, the Arizona mother accused of torturing her seven adopted children who starred in her popular YouTube series “Fantastic Adventures,” has died at a Scottsdale hospital, authorities say.

Hobson was arrested in March after her adult biological daughter reported her actions to the Maricopa Police Department. Investigators say the 48-year-old woman had been orchestrating a creative, moneymaking YouTube enterprise in public while privately abusing the adopted children, who ranged in age from about 6 to 15, by starving and shutting them in a tiled closet for days at a time.

To punish what Hobson perceived as subpar performance on the YouTube show - which garnered nearly 800,000 subscribers and hundreds of millions of views on YouTube - the woman would allegedly beat the children with belts and hangers, assault them with pepper spray and force them to take ice baths, according to court documents.

Hobson pulled the children out of school, police said, and once pinched one boy’s genitals so hard he bled.

Hobson pleaded not guilty to dozens of felony counts, including child abuse and kidnapping. She remained in police custody for several months on $200,000 bond.

But in June, she was released from jail without bond because of health complications, reported Pinal Central. In August, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Delia Neal declared Hobson incompetent to stand trial. She had been hospitalized, but the judge ruled that her defense team and the Pinal County prosecutor’s office had 15 months to restore Hobson’s competency - meaning it would work to help her arrive at a place where she could answer questions about her judicial proceedings and consult with her attorneys.

“I believe she will be restored (to competency),” Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer told Pinal Central in August. “I believe the 15-month time frame is enough for us to get her restored, allow her to be brought back into court for her to be held accountable, and ultimately go to trial and find her guilty.”

The plan, Volker told ABC 15 at the time, was to get Hobson the care she needed to be healthy enough to return to police custody.

“It was determined that she could receive better and more appropriate care outside of our jail facility,” Volkmer told the TV stations. “As soon as she can be reasonably brought back into our jail, she will be brought back into our jail, and we will be required to provide significant and substantial medical care.”

But Hobson’s health appears to have deteriorated, and law enforcement agencies were notified Tuesday that she had died at 10 a.m. at HonorHealth Shea Medical Center in Scottsdale.

She died of natural causes, Scottsdale police spokesman Kevin Watts said in an email.

The Pinal County attorney’s office scheduled a news conference for Wednesday afternoon.

The “Fantastic Adventures” YouTube video was demonetized and eventually shut down after Hobson’s arrest. The seven adopted children, many of who had been fostered before their adoption, were released back to state custody.

The woman’s two adult sons, Logan and Ryan Hackney, were initially arrested at the same time as their mother for not reporting her abusive behavior. Those charges were dropped soon after, reported the Arizona Republic, and a representative for the county attorney’s office declined to say why.

Ryan Hackney, who was 25 at the time, declined to speak to police. His brother Logan, 27 at the time, told investigators that he and his brother had discussed reporting their mother’s behavior. He also confirmed that he had heard the children screaming and crying, that he saw their injuries, and that he knew his mother had sprayed them with pepper spray and forced them into ice baths, reported the Arizona Republic.

Still in question are Hobson’s assets and the money she made from the YouTube channel.