This is not just a recounting of a historic accident — it is the intimate human journey of a girl who survived the impossible and then grew into a woman defined not by trauma, but by resilience, grace, and simple everyday strength.
A Quiet Texas Morning That Changed Everything
Midland, Texas was an ordinary place in the fall of 1987 — quiet streets, warm sunlight, and the kind of small-town rhythm where neighbors knew each other by name. On the morning of October 14, 18-month-old Jessica was playing like any other toddler: innocent, carefree, and blissfully unaware of danger.
Her mother, Cissy, was watching from nearby as Jessica and several other children wandered around the backyard of her aunt’s home. The yard was familiar. Safe. Routine.
Until suddenly… it wasn’t.
Jessica disappeared.
At first, it didn’t make sense. One moment she was there — the next, gone. Panic began to rise. Everyone started calling her name, looking under bushes, behind toys, inside the house.
Then came the horrifying discovery:
Jessica hadn’t wandered off. She had fallen through the opening of an abandoned, narrow well shaft hidden in the backyard.
It was only 8 inches wide — barely large enough for a toddler’s body to slip through. And she had fallen 22 feet straight down.
Cissy’s voice shook when she later recalled the moment: “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.”
