The Rescue of Baby Jessica McClure
Episode of Morbid · April 6, 2026 · 1 h 8 min
Alaina Urquhart tells Ash Kelley the story of the 1987 rescue of 18-month-old Jessica McClure from a Midland, Texas well.
Summary
On this episode of Morbid, hosts Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley opened with promotion for their June 27 Radio City Music Hall show, complaints about being sick, and a disagreement about the redesigned in-car Siri voice. Urquhart then shared recent true crime news, reporting that DNA had newly linked a 1974 Utah victim to Ted Bundy, which she offered as evidence that cold cases are never truly cold and that more Bundy victims may yet be identified.
The main segment recounted the October 14, 1987 fall of 18-month-old Jessica McClure into an eight-inch abandoned well shaft in her aunt Jamie Moore's Midland, Texas backyard while her mother Reba briefly answered a telephone. Urquhart described the teenage parents Chip and Reba McClure, the arrival of officer B.J. Hall and a rescue team, and the technical obstacles the rescuers faced: Jessica was wedged 22 feet down with one leg pinned above her head, the surrounding limestone bedrock destroyed ordinary drill bits, and vibrations risked collapsing the shaft. Rescuers instead dug a parallel shaft at roughly four inches per hour, piped in warm air from Southwestern Bell and oxygen from a rescue vehicle, and withheld food and water on a doctor's advice. After 58 hours, paramedic Robert O'Donnell, the only worker slender enough to fit, used lubricant and calmed the child by touching her face and calling her family nickname before pulling her free. Jessica was severely dehydrated and lost a toe to gangrene but kept her leg.
Urquhart framed the rescue as both a story of community generosity—volunteers, donated equipment and constant vigils—and a turning point for round-the-clock television news, noting that CNN, then only seven years old, used the story to prove the value of a 24-hour news cycle. She described the less happy aftermath: politicians using the case to attack working mothers and daycare, feuding between rescuer groups over television rights, and O'Donnell's PTSD, firing, and death by suicide after watching wall-to-wall bombing coverage. Both hosts argued that constant news consumption harms mental health and recommended "analog moments" and creative hobbies, closing with Ash Kelley's fun fact about Jonathan, a 192-year-old tortoise.
Chapters
- 0:00
Intro, Radio City show and the new Siri
The hosts promote their June 27 Radio City Music Hall show, joke about being congested, and argue about the redesigned in-car Siri voice.
- 7:02
Ted Bundy linked to a new victim
Urquhart reports that DNA has tied a 17-year-old Utah victim from 1974 to Ted Bundy and reflects on cold cases and closure.
- 10:36
Setting up the baby Jessica case
Urquhart introduces the 1987 rescue of Jessica McClure and the hosts discuss how the story resurfaced on social media.
- 13:27
Chip and Reba McClure in Midland
Background on the teenage parents, their dropping out of school, Midland's oil economy, and the makeshift daycare run by Reba and her sister.
- 17:52
Jessica falls into the well
Chip hears the news at work, and Reba discovers Jessica has fallen about 22 feet into an eight-inch well shaft.
- 23:03
First responders and immediate risks
Officer B.J. Hall locates Jessica by sound, and rescuers address hypothermia, oxygen and hydration with help from local companies and doctors.
- 29:17
Drilling obstacles and the parallel shaft
Limestone bedrock and dangerous vibrations force rescuers to dig a parallel shaft at about four inches per hour.
- 35:10
Media frenzy and the birth of 24-hour news
National networks and the young CNN camp out in Midland, and the hosts discuss how the story shaped round-the-clock news coverage.
- 41:46
Robert O'Donnell frees Jessica
After a failed first attempt, paramedic Robert O'Donnell uses lubricant and reassurance to pull Jessica out after 58 hours.
- 47:48
Injuries, celebrity and aftermath
Jessica's dehydration, gangrene and amputated toe, her later fame, the rescuers' feud over television rights, and O'Donnell's PTSD and death.
- 54:35
News overload and analog moments
The hosts argue that constant news consumption harms mental health and encourage hobbies, creative outlets and time away from phones.
- 58:57
Jessica today and the tortoise fun fact
Jessica's lack of memory of the event, her marriage and children, and Ash Kelley's fun fact about Jonathan the 192-year-old tortoise.
Key points
What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.
- Ash Kelley
Kelley complains that the updated in-car Siri misreads her texts and repeatedly prompts her to reply.
“she reads my text and she puts first of all weird like emphasis on certain words”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argues that the Bundy identification proves cold cases are never truly closed.
“this is why we always say like a cold case is never cold”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart predicts that DNA will connect Bundy to additional victims.
“i wouldn't be surprised if we get more i think just with dna that he he's wildly prolific”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart says DNA testing definitively linked Ted Bundy to the 1974 victim through a single instance of male DNA found on her body.
“But now DNA has definitively linked him. They were able to find one, basically one instance of male DNA that matched him”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart describes how Jessica fell about 20 feet into an eight-inch well opening in her aunt's yard.
“Jessica had wandered over to the well and fallen about 20 feet into the eight inch wide hole in the ground”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart credits the community's immediate donations of equipment and expertise with turning the incident from a tragedy into a national moment.
“it really was the the super fast and prompt attention from the local community that turned this from a potential tragedy”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart says the story moved her because she wants the world to be as mutually supportive as Midland was in 1987.
“Especially with the way the world is right now, it had me almost in tears because I was like, I just want life to be like that again”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart explains that a 100-million-year-old limestone layer beneath the soil could not be cut by ordinary drill bits.
“that layer of rock had developed and compressed to the point over 100 million years that it literally couldn't be penetrated by common drill bits”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart says rescuers drilled the parallel shaft at roughly four inches per hour to avoid destabilizing the well.
“rescuers had to move incredibly slow, drilling about four inches per hour”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart notes that at the drilling rate, reaching Jessica would have taken more than three days of continuous work.
“at that rate it would take more than three days to reach her assuming they worked around the clock”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart notes CNN had existed for only seven years and lacked a foothold in the television market at the time of the rescue.
“Yeah, it had only been in operation for seven years at that point”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argues that the pre-cable habit of a single nightly news digest was better for people's nervous systems.
“I think it's so much better for your nervous system”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley says she deliberately takes breaks from the news, including full breaks while on vacation.
“I take news breaks. I need to, it's... If I go on vacation, I take a full break from the news”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart, citing reporter Mark Roan, says the live coverage of the trapped baby helped shape the 24-hour news cycle.
“the ongoing developments of a living, breathing baby trapped helplessly underground would help shape a 24 hour news cycle that people could connect with at any moment of the day”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart recounts that O'Donnell stopped pulling on Jessica and touched her face after realizing she did not understand what was happening.
“So he stopped his grabbing and he reached up to touch her face so she could feel his human hand”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart states that Jessica McClure was freed after 58 hours in the well.
“after 58 hours in a well jessica mcclure was finally free”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart says the loss of circulation in Jessica's raised leg caused gangrene in her foot.
“because of the loss of circulation in her leg, she had developed gangrene in her foot”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart reports Jessica spent over a month in hospital and lost only a toe on her right foot.
“she spent more than a month in the hospital where she was stabilized and received several skin grafts after surgeons amputated just her little toe on her right foot”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart criticizes conservative politicians who used the accident to attack working mothers and daycare.
“Some conservative politicians used this accident as an opportunity to attack working mothers”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart says rescuers and volunteers formed rival associations and fought publicly over television rights to the story.
“the two groups eventually formed their own associations and went on to have a pretty public fight over the television rights to the story”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart attributes O'Donnell's decline to fading public attention combined with PTSD from the rescue.
“But as is generally the case, the spotlight eventually fades and people stopped recognizing him. And to make matters worse, he was developing PTSD”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argues humans are not equipped to absorb continuous coverage of the world's worst events.
“we're not meant to see all the horrible shit that's happening in the world. We're just not meant to absorb all of it all the time”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley says she has been in a rut and is using creative outlets such as sculpting with clay to get out of it.
“I'm in such like, I've been in such a rut and I'm really turning to like creative outlets to try to kind of get out of that rut”
Linked moment · 57:26Skip to 57:26 using a listen link in the info box.
Ash KelleyKelley observes that people have never before been so constantly attached to their devices and should put them away periodically.
“You have to think there's never been a time where we've just been like, we are truly glued to these devices”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart recommends taking phone-free 'analog moments' without feeling guilty about disengaging.
“consider it your your little moments of of analog yeah just have some analog moments”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart says donations created a $1.2 million trust fund for Jessica McClure.
“a trust fund was established in the amount of $1.2 million from donations made by people all around the world”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley shares that the oldest living land animal is a 192-year-old tortoise named Jonathan.
“the oldest living land animal on earth is a 192 year old tortoise named jonathan”
People
In the conversation
- Alaina UrquhartCo-host of Morbid, autopsy technician and author of the Butcher novels
- Ash KelleyCo-host of the true crime podcast Morbid
Discussed
- Jessica McClureTexas toddler rescued from a well in 1987, later Jessica McClure Morales
- Chip McClureJessica McClure's father, a teenage day laborer in Midland, Texas in 1987
- Reba McClureJessica McClure's mother, who was watching children in her sister's backyard when Jessica fell
- Jamie MooreReba McClure's sister, in whose backyard the well was located
- Robert O'DonnellMidland paramedic who pulled Jessica McClure from the well and later died by suicide
- Andy GlasscockMidland police sergeant involved in the well rescue and in communicating with Jessica
- B.J. HallMidland police officer who was first on scene at the well
- Ted BundyAmerican serial killer newly linked by DNA to a 1974 Utah victim
- Laura Aime17-year-old Utah victim from 1974 newly connected to Ted Bundy by DNA
- Ted TurnerFounder and president of CNN at the time of the 1987 rescue
- Ronald ReaganFormer US president to whom Pape compared Trump's political skill
- Danny MoralesJessica McClure's husband, whom she married in 2005
Topics
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From the publisher
On October 14, 1987, Reba McClure and her eighteen-month-old daughter, Jessica, stopped by the Midland, Texas home of her sister for a visit. As Reba sat in the backyard watching Jessica play with some neighborhood children, she heard the phone ring and went inside to answer it. When McClure returned to the backyard a few minutes later, she saw the other children staring at the ground on the far-side of the yard, but Jessica was nowhere to be seen.
Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 27, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.