‘Baby Jessica’ Was Miraculously Rescued from a Texas Well 39 Years Ago. Inside Her Life TodayJordana Comiter, Caroline Blair,
From left: ‘Baby Jessica’ McClure after her rescue following her fall into a well in Midland, Texas, on Oct. 14, 1987; Jessica McClure Morales in an interview with PEOPLE on June 13, 2019Credit: Barbara Laing / Liaison Agency; People/YouTubeKnown as ‘Baby Jessica’ following her 1987 rescue from a deep well at just 18 months old, Jessica McClure Morales is now a mother and grandmother
Jessica McClure Morales made headlines across the world when, at 18 months old, she fell into a well and was rescued nearly 60 hours later
She has since reflected on the incident and told PEOPLE that her “life is a miracle”
In April 2026, she was arrested following a reported domestic disturbance
It’s been nearly 40 years since the world met “Baby Jessica.”
On Oct. 14, 1987, Jessica McClure Morales, then only 18 months old, fell 22 feet down a well in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas. She was trapped without food and water for nearly 60 hours before being pulled out safely.
The story was covered across the country both during and after the rescue and led to the 1989 TV movie adaptation Everybody’s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure.
Nearly 30 years after Jessica’s heroic rescue, she reflected on the ordeal, telling PEOPLE in May 2017 that her “life is a miracle.”
“In a way I guess it happened the way it was supposed to,” she said. “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.”
Although most of the world knows Jessica from the 1987 ordeal, she has since grown up and has children and grandchildren of her own. More recently, she was arrested in April 2026 following a reported domestic disturbance at her Texas home, per ABC affiliate KMID.
Here’s everything to know about Jessica’s life 39 years after her famous rescue.
Who is Baby Jessica?
Reba “Cissy” Porter and Lewis “Chip” McClure with their daughter JessicaCredit: Bill Nation/Sygma via Getty
Baby Jessica was the nickname given to her after her rescue from a well when she was just 18 months old. Her story of survival captured the attention of millions and remains a notable moment in American media history.
In June 2019, Jessica told PEOPLE that the nickname is still an everyday thing.
“I have people that ... that’s how they associate me. 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.
What happened to Baby Jessica?‘Baby Jessica’ McClure is photographed after becoming famous at the age of 18 months after falling into a well in Midland, Texas, on Oct. 14, 1987Credit: Bill Nation/Sygma via Getty
Jessica had been playing with four other toddlers in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas, when she fell 22 feet down a small well.
It’s unknown how exactly she wound up down the abandoned shaft, and family and friends insist that the hole had been covered.
“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,” Jessica’s mother, Reba “Cissy” Porter, told PEOPLE in November 1987.
Her story became the focus of almost every mainstream news outlet around the country, and people watched in agony for two days as rescuers attempted to save the toddler.
How was Baby Jessica saved?
Rescuers worked for 58 hours to free ‘Baby Jessica’ from the 8-inch-wide hole in which she fellCredit: Bettmann/Getty
Hundreds of paramedics, rescuers, drilling experts and contractors worked around the clock to save Jessica’s life. After she endured 58 hours without food and water, they successfully pulled her from the well.
In November 1987, the first police officer on the scene, Bobbie Jo ”B.J.” Hall, told PEOPLE he couldn’t see anything when he first looked down the hole.
“I called the baby’s name three or four times and didn’t hear anything. Finally I got a cry in response,” Hall said. “We didn’t know how deep she was until we lowered a tape hooked to a flashlight into the hole.”
Detective Andy Glasscock added, “I would say 80% 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.’ ”
According to The New York Times, as of July 2018, Jessica was still in touch with the family of Steve Forbes, the paramedic famously photographed carrying her out of the well.
Does Baby Jessica have a family of her own?
Jessica remains in rural Texas, living a quiet life with her husband Danny Morales, whom she met through his sister in 2005 and married the following year.
In March 2017, Jessica told PEOPLE she “instantly fell in love with him” the day they met. She added that Danny — who was 13 at the time of her rescue and lived about 37 miles from Midland in Garden City, Texas — remembers sitting and watching the event on the news.
Danny learned that Jessica had been saved while at a football game in his town.
“They stopped the whole game to say, ‘Baby Jessica has been rescued,’ ” he said. “It was pretty cool.”
The couple now share two children: son Simon and daughter Sheyenne, both of whom have welcomed children of their own.
Now old enough to understand, their kids have both researched their mother’s childhood ordeal.
Jessica told PEOPLE in March 2017 that Sheyenne’s elementary school teacher showed the class a video about the incident after Sheyenne revealed that her 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.”
In October 2016, the mom of two said that she hopes her kids learn from her rescue “to always be humble. And to remember that if you look hard enough, there are so many good people in this world.”
Where is Baby Jessica now?
Jessica McClure Morales in an interview with PEOPLE on June 13, 2019Credit: People/YouTube
After the incident, a trust fund of $1.2 million was established by people around the world who followed the rescue, including her husband’s mom.
“She went and scrounged every penny she could find to send it to me,” Jessica told PEOPLE, adding that Danny “remembers sitting there with her as she held him tight, being thankful that she had them and that it wasn’t one of her kids.”
While much of the trust fund was lost in the stock market crash of 2008, the remaining funds were used to purchase a home.
Jessica previously was a special education assistant at an elementary school, but according to her Facebook, she now works in Midland at Richards Horticulture.
As for the traumatic accident, Jessica told PEOPLE in April 2024 that she doesn’t remember being rescued.
“I learned about it when I was 4 and watched it on Rescue 911 at my then stepmother’s house. It was overwhelming. I remember crying,” Jessica recalled. “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.’ ”
Although Jessica has no memory of the infamous experience, she does bear a few faint reminders following 15 surgeries. Her right foot, noticeably smaller than her left, required reconstruction after developing gangrene from being held above her head for the duration of her time in the well. Additionally, a barely visible scar on her forehead was left from falling asleep in the well as drilling commenced.
While the incident remains part of Jessica’s life, it doesn’t define her.
“It didn’t affect me the way it affected other people. I lived it, but I didn’t watch it,” she told The New York Times in July 2018.
In April 2026, Jessica made headlines again, though this time for being arrested following a reported domestic disturbance at her home in Midland County, Texas. She was reportedly taken into custody at the scene and charged with assault causing bodily injury involving family violence, per KMID.
Details about what led to the charge have not been disclosed, though she was released from Midland County Detention Center after posting bond, per the outlet.
Source: Crime
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