Baby Jessica was saved from falling down a well in a miraculous feat of human determination.
But since that rescue in 1987, luck has not always been on her side with a series of unfortunate events befalling those around her, which some have dubbed an alleged “curse” of Baby Jessica.
Jessica McClure Morales, now 40, appeared back in the news herself this week when it emerged she was arrested April 11 for allegedly assaulting her husband of 20 years, Daniel Morales, at their home in Midland County, Texas.
She was later released on bond, but her mugshot served as a stark reminder of how much has changed since the nation cooed over the 18-month-old, who was rescued from 22-feet below the surface of an abandoned 8-inch wide water well in her aunt’s backyard. Her mother, Reba McClure, had been visiting next door at the time.
The toddler became wedged with one leg pinned awkwardly above her head, setting off a frantic 58-hour rescue that drew drill rigs, miners, and paramedics to the dusty West Texas oil town.
The incident was broadcast around-the-clock on nascent cable news channels and made media stars of the rescue crew and the family — a foreboding symbol of what the future would hold.
37-year-old hero paramedic Robert O’Donnell — who had shimmied through the narrow shaft to dislodge the toddler and passed her off to fellow paramedic Steve Forbes — later shot himself in a pasture on his parents’ ranch in Stanton, Texas.
“I’m sorry to check out this way. But life sucks,” he wrote in a suicide note.
O’Donnell had been heralded by the nation, meeting then-VP George H.W. Bush and making several media appearances.
In a made-for-TV movie about the rescue, he played a reporter working the story. In 1989, he flew to Los Angeles where he was a contestant on the game show 3rd Degree, presented by legendary host Bert Convy.
Two years after that appearance, Convy died suddenly at age 57 of an aggressive and inoperable brain cancer.
O’Donnell was haunted by the sudden fame, followed by stark obscurity and developed PTSD-like symptoms, getting hooked on prescription painkillers. That also led to a divorce from his wife and loss of his job at the Midland Fire Department.
“Ever since that Jessica deal, his life fell apart,” O’Donnell’s brother Ricky told reporters in 1995, following the suicide.
“There’s a deal that happens when people are in these real stressful situations. It’s so hard for them to deal with this afterward.”
All that fame made O’Donnell a target for his fellow first responders, who grew mocking and resentful toward him. When he began to exhibit PTSD symptoms, his superiors dismissed it with disdain, said former Midland crime reporter Lance Lunsford.
“PTSD was very much stigmatized back then. It was really easy to be dismissive of the nuances,” Lunsford, author of the book Inside the Well, about the Baby Jessica case, told The Post.
“It was a massive community effort. [Yet] he had an individual experience that he felt like it was all on the line for him … He started to become isolated and feel alone. That may not fit everybody’s notion as to what PTSD is,” Lunsford explained.
Jessica’s dad, Chip McClure, and her mom were just kids themselves when their daughter became a national sensation — they had her Jessica when they were only 16 and 17 years old themselves. Only a couple years after the news cameras left, they divorced.
Reba, who goes by “Cissy,” had begun feeling isolated at home with the baby and had become “jealous” of Chip’s richer social life, according to Lunsford.
Chip had been scarred by the helplessness he felt during the rescue, Lunsford claimed.
“He felt like he wanted to be able to help or participate, but he couldn’t actually play a role. Being kept at bay was really uncomfortable for him. I think it would be easy to feel somewhat emasculated in that process,” said Lunsford.
“The 90s were a roller coaster for Chip, very tumultuous. He’s trying to figure out if he should stay in Midland, career paths and stuff like that. It was tough.”
After a couple of marriages, he met his current wife, Amy, and was taken under the wing of a high-powered aviation executive. Today he’s CEO of an aircraft acquisition firm and still lives in Texas.
However, the curse spread to Baby Jessica’s new stepfamily. In January, her stepsister Gracey Adams, 25, was found murdered with a shotgun in the bedroom of her Nashville, Tenn. home. Her girlfriend, Sarah Stacey, 29, was charged with criminal homicide.
After a brief period at large, cops say Stacey implicated herself during a police interview. However, the case has yet to come to court and Stacey has not been convicted. It is unclear if she has entered a plea and her listed attorney did not immediately return a call from The Post.
“A chaplain called her father, and then he called me and told me … My heart shattered,” Adams’ mother, Amy McClure, told local news outlet WSMV, revealing the lovers had a tumultuous relationship and both struggled with drug addiction, although she said Adams had been sober when the family last saw her days before Christmas.
Fate slapped Baby Jessica again when the 2008 financial crisis hit a $1.2 million trust fund set up in her name from a wellspring of donations after the rescue.
Baby Jessica wasn’t allowed to touch the money until she turned 25, which didn’t happen until 2011, however the financial collapse had decimated it leaving barely enough to buy a modest, tumbledown three-bedroom home in Midland for $388,000.
Still, McClure Morales was blessed to have two children of her own with hubby Daniel. They have both gone on to have their own kids, making her a proud grandmother, who loves to show them off on social media.
According to online bios, McClure Morales is an assistant shop manager at Richards Horticulture, a local landscaping business and she’s kept a sense of humor about the whole childhood drama — getting a heart-shaped tattoo with the words “Well, S—t” written within it.
