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Missing Toddler Found Trapped Inside A Pipe After Vanishing
A toddler who suddenly vanished while playing in her family’s backyard was later found trapped deep inside a narrow pipe.
The 18-month-old, Jessica Morales, disappeared while playing with four other children in her aunt’s yard in Midland, Texas.
When relatives began searching, they discovered she had fallen 22 feet down a well in the yard.
The family say the hole had been covered and still do not know how she managed to get inside.
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.”
Huge emergency operation
What followed was a tense, round-the-clock rescue operation.
Emergency responders, drilling specialists, paramedics, and volunteers worked nonstop for more than two days to reach Jessica, who was stuck without food or water in a cramped shaft just wide enough for her body.
Bobbie Jo ‘B.J.’ Hall, the first officer to arrive at the scene, recalled initially seeing nothing when he looked into the hole.
He told People: “I called the baby’s name three or four times and didn’t hear anything. Finally I got a cry in response.
“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 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.'”
Story becomes national attention
After 58 hours underground, rescuers finally broke through and pulled her to safety.
Millions of people across the US watched updates in real time as the 1987 rescue unfolded.
The ordeal later became the subject of the 1989 TV film Everybody’s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure.
Because of the national attention, Jessica became widely known as ‘Baby Jessica,’ a name that has followed her ever since.
In 2019, she told People: “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!’”
Where is Jessica now?
Jessica went on to live a quiet life in rural Texas. She met her husband Danny in 2005, married him the following year, and now has two children, Simon and Sheyenne.
A trust fund worth around $1.2 million was set up using donations from people who followed the rescue, including Danny’s mother.
Much of it was later lost during the 2008 financial crash, though the remaining money helped Jessica purchase a home.
Jessica cried when she saw rescue on TV
Despite the event defining her early life, Jessica has no memory of being rescued.
She first learned about it at age four while watching Rescue 911 at her stepmother’s house.
She told People: “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.’”
Faint scars serve as reminder
Physical reminders still remain after 15 surgeries.
Jessica’s right foot required reconstruction after developing gangrene while stuck in the pipe, and she has a faint scar on her forehead from falling asleep as drilling took place.
Jessica has since returned to the well site.
Speaking in 2019, she said: “Seeing the well for the first time, it was hard but it wasn’t upsetting.
“To me, it’s a symbol that it could have taken my life, but it didn’t.
“I had God on my side that day.”
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