Some of our readers may well remember the extraordinary story of Jessica McClure Morales. In 1987, aged just 18 months old, she vanished while playing with four other children in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas.
Frantic family members soon discovered that she had fallen 22 feet down a well that they thought was covered over.
Her mother, Cissy, told PEOPLE: “I didn’t know what to do. I just ran in and called the police. They were there within three minutes, but it felt like a lifetime.”
Little Jessica was trapped, and her terrifying plight soon garnered the attention of news stations across the US. A huge, round-the-clock rescue operation began, with emergency responders, drilling specialists, and volunteers working tirelessly to reach her over the course of two days.
Jessica was stuck without food or water. The first officer to arrive on scene was Bobbie Jo Hall, who recalled seeing nothing when he initially peered into the hole.
“I called the baby’s name three or four times and didn’t hear anything. Finally I got a cry in response,” he told PEOPLE.
“We didn’t know how deep she was until we lowered a tape hooked to a flashlight into the hole.”
Detective Andy Glasscock said: “I would say 80 percent of the time she was either crying or making some kind of noise we could hear.
“When we weren’t calling words of encouragement, we’d tell her to sing for us.
“I’ll never forget her singing ‘Winnie-the-Pooh.’”
After almost 60 hours of painstaking work, a break through was made and rescuers were able to pull the one-year-old to safety. The final stages of the operation were broadcast to millions of people around the US – the astonishing rescue of ‘Baby Jessica’ demanded the attention of a nation.
38 years have passed since that incredible turn of events, but those two and a half days have defined much of Jessica’s life.
“In a way I guess it happened the way it was supposed to,” she told PEOPLE in 2017.
“I was picked on because of it, but most people are kind and think what happened is an amazing miracle. It is. I don’t believe that any of it would’ve happened without God.”
Almost four decades on, Jessica now has children and grandchildren of her own. In 2019, she revealed that the Baby Jessica moniker has survived to this day.
“I have people that that’s how they associate me,” she told PEOPLE.
“I actually told a lady the other day at work that I was the little girl that fell in the well, and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re Baby Jessica!’” she said.
As per PEOPLE, Jessica still lives in rural Texas with her husband, Danny, whom she married in 2006.
Coincidentally, Danny remembers watching the news on the day when his now-wife was pulled from the well on October 16, 1987. He was 13 at the time, and learned of the rescue operation’s success while at a football game.
“They stopped the whole game to say, ‘Baby Jessica has been rescued,’ ” Danny said. “It was pretty cool.”
The couple reportedly share two children named Simon and Sheyenne. They’ve given her grandchildren in turn, Emiliano and Nolan.
Jessica revealed that when her daughter, Sheyenne, was in elementary school, her teacher showed the class a video about the incident after learning that Sheyenne’s mom was Baby Jessica.
“Her teacher knew all about it,” Jessica told PEOPLE. “but the other kids didn’t know what she was talking about.
Following the harrowing incident in 1987, a trust fund amounting to $1.2 million was established by kind-hearted souls around the world. One of the people who donated to the cause was Danny’s mother.
Jessica revealed that a large portion of the fund was lost during the stock market crash of 2008, but there was enough left to finance the purchase of a home.
As per Jessica’s Facebook page, she currently works at Richards Horticulture in Midland, Texasas a special education assistant at an elementary school,As per Jessica’s Facebook page, she currently works at Richards Horticulture in Midland, Texas
More recently, in 2024, Jessica told PEOPLE that she doesn’t remember being rescued all those years ago.
“I learned about it when I was 4 and watched it on Rescue 911 at my then stepmother’s house,” she recalled. “It was overwhelming. I remember crying. She said, ‘You do realize that is about you?’ My dad said, ‘We were waiting until she was a little bit older to tell her’.”
All told, Jessica required 15 surgeries as a result of the injuries suffered when she fell down the well. Her right foot required surgical reconstruction after she developed gangrene, while she also has a barely-visible scar on her head.
