Many readers may still recall the remarkable story of Jessica McClure Morales. Back in 1987, when she was only 18 months old, she disappeared while playing with four other children in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas.
Her terrified family soon discovered the unthinkable: Jessica had slipped 22 feet down a well they believed had been securely covered.
Her mother, Cissy, told PEOPLE, “I didn’t know what to do. I just ran inside and called the police. They arrived in about three minutes, but it felt like forever.”
Jessica was trapped deep below ground, and her horrifying situation quickly captured national attention. What followed was an intense, nonstop rescue effort involving emergency workers, drilling experts, and countless volunteers, all working around the clock in hopes of reaching the little girl.
She had no food, no water, and no way to move. The first officer on the scene, Bobbie Jo Hall, said he initially saw nothing when he looked down into the well.
“I called the baby’s name three or four times and heard nothing,” he told PEOPLE. “Finally, she let out a cry.”
He continued, “We had no idea how far down she was until we lowered a tape with a flashlight attached to it into the hole.”
Detective Andy Glasscock added, “I’d say about 80 percent of the time she was either crying or making some sort of sound we could hear.”
“When we weren’t calling out encouragement to her, we’d ask her to sing for us.”
He said he’ll never forget hearing her tiny voice sing “Winnie-the-Pooh.”
After nearly 60 hours of grueling, delicate work, rescue teams finally broke through and were able to lift the toddler to safety. The final moments of the rescue were broadcast live to millions across the country — the dramatic recovery of “Baby Jessica” captured the attention of an entire nation.
Thirty-eight years have passed since that astonishing event, but those two and a half days remain a defining chapter in Jessica’s life.
“In a way, I guess it unfolded exactly how it was meant to,” she told PEOPLE in 2017.
“I got teased for it, but most people are very kind and think the whole thing was a miracle. It truly is. I don’t think any of it would’ve happened without God.”
Now, nearly four decades later, Jessica is a mother and a grandmother. And in 2019, she shared that the nickname “Baby Jessica” has followed her well into adulthood.
“I still meet people who immediately connect me with that name,” she told PEOPLE.
“I actually mentioned to a woman at work the other day that I was the little girl who fell into the well, and she said, ‘Oh my gosh, YOU’RE Baby Jessica!’”
According to PEOPLE, Jessica continues to live in rural Texas with her husband, Danny. The two married in 2006.
In a surprising twist, Danny remembers watching the news coverage of his future wife’s rescue back on October 16, 1987. He was 13 at the time and heard the announcement of her survival while attending a football game.
“They stopped the whole game to say, ‘Baby Jessica has been rescued,’” Danny recalled. “It was pretty amazing.”
Jessica and Danny share two children, Simon and Sheyenne, and they are now grandparents to Emiliano and Nolan.
Jessica once revealed that when her daughter Sheyenne was in elementary school, her teacher played a video about the rescue after learning that her student’s mother was Baby Jessica.
“Her teacher knew the whole story,” Jessica said to PEOPLE, “but none of the other kids had any idea who she meant.”
Following the traumatic incident in 1987, people from all over the world donated to a trust fund for Jessica, which eventually totaled $1.2 million. Among the donors was Danny’s mother.
Jessica has said that much of that money was lost during the 2008 stock market crash, but the amount that remained allowed her to buy a home.
According to her Facebook page, Jessica works at Richards Horticulture in Midland, Texas, and she also serves as a special education assistant at an elementary school in the area.
In 2024, she told PEOPLE that she has no memory of the rescue itself.
“I found out what happened when I was 4 and saw it on Rescue 911 at my then–stepmother’s house,” she said. “It was overwhelming. I remember crying. She told me, ‘You do realize this is about you?’ My dad explained they were waiting until I was a little older to tell me.”
Jessica underwent 15 surgeries after her fall. Her right foot needed reconstruction due to gangrene, and she still has a faint scar on her head.
It’s an extraordinary story — one that speaks to incredible resilience and the power of people working together. We wish Jessica nothing but happiness and strength in the years ahead.