Jessica McClure, the woman known worldwide as “Baby Jessica” after her 1987 well rescue, was arrested in April on an assault charge following a domestic disturbance at her Texas home.
McClure, 39, was taken into custody in Midland and later charged with assault causing bodily injury involving family violence, according to officials. She was released from the Midland County Detention Center after posting bond. The arrest came nearly four decades after the incident that made her one of the most famous children in America.
Before the arrest, McClure had built a quiet life in rural Texas with her husband Danny Morales, whom she met in 2005 and married the following year. Morales was 13 years old at the time of her rescue and has a vivid memory of the moment the news broke. Attending a football game in his town, he recalled: “They stopped the whole game to say, ‘Baby Jessica has been rescued’, It was pretty cool.”
Morales’s mother was among the thousands of Americans who donated to a trust fund established for McClure after the rescue. The fund eventually reached $1.2 million. McClure said of her future mother-in-law: “She went and scrounged every penny she could find to send it to me. 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.”
McClure explained that much of the trust fund was lost during the 2008 recession, though she used some of the remaining money to purchase a home. She previously worked as a special education assistant at an elementary school and now works at Richards Horticulture in Midland.
The mother of two and grandmother has spoken sparingly about her childhood ordeal. Speaking with PEOPLE in 2017, she called what happened to her an “amazing miracle,” She said: “In a way I guess it happened the way it was supposed to. I was picked on because of it, but most people are kind. I don’t believe that any of it would’ve happened without God.”
In October 1987, 18-month-old McClure fell into an abandoned well in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas. She remained trapped for 58 hours without food or water while rescuers dug through rock and earth to reach her. The rescue unfolded on live television, captivating millions of Americans who watched and prayed for her survival. When she was finally pulled from the narrow well alive, the nation erupted in relief and celebration.
McClure remains in Midland, where her life now intersects with the criminal justice system in a development far removed from the emergency that once defined her public identity.