Twenty-nine years ago this month, a Wisconsin 13-year-old’s life changed forever when a teacher’s aide she had known for years tricked her into taking a one-on-one trip.
The purported trip turned into a three-month kidnapping, leaving her family and small-town community terrorized and wondering if she'd ever return home safe.
Jessyca Mullenberg’s kidnapping took place on Sept. 16, 1995, when Steven Oliver, her one-time teacher’s aide-turned-creative writing instructor, kidnapped her under the guise of taking her on a trip to work on a writing project.
But the seeds of Oliver’s manipulation and abuse began years prior, according Jessyca, who was eventually rescued and has now become an advocate for sexual and physical abuse prevention.
Jessyca, who is now married with the surname Christianson, has said she hopes telling her story can help prevent other children from being similarly exploited and abused.
Oliver had known Jessyca for years prior to the 1995 kidnapping, first meeting her when he was a teacher’s aide at her grade school, according to ABC News. Oliver began a creative writing club at the school and became a suspiciously close mentor to Jessyca, reportedly following her to two schools and eventually moving in across the street from her father.
The day she was kidnapped, Jessyca's parents both immediately knew who had taken their daughter, according to ABC News. That day, the 13-year-old had taken a trip with Oliver from their neighborhood in Eau Claire, Wis., to Madison, Wis., under the guise that Oliver was taking Jessyca to a meeting with a publisher who was interested in her work. But that purported meeting was all a ruse.
Jessyca fell asleep in the car with Oliver, suddenly waking up to realize she was in trouble. "I woke up, and … my hands were tied behind my back," Jessyca told ABC. "And then he had ropes, like, over my legs and then under the seats. He told me he was taking me and that there was nothing that I could do."
Oliver threatened Jessyca and her family if she said anything or asked for help. He drove to Kansas City before flying with her to Houston, where he registered them both as father and daughter and kept Jessyca chained up in hotel rooms for the next three and a half months, according to The Wausau Daily Herald.
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Oliver got a job painting at a hotel and continued to abuse Jessyca sexually and physically every day, according to the outlet. Then, three months into the ordeal, a hotel manager happened to catch a rerun episode of America’s Most Wanted, which provided a description of Oliver and Jessyca. He immediately recognizing both of them.
The manager called the FBI, who descended on the hotel, rescued Jessyca and reunited the teenager with her family, The Associated Press reported at the time.
Oliver was convicted of kidnapping and interstate transportation of a minor for illegal sexual purposes in June 1997 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
As an adult and now with the surname Christianson, Jessyca has become an advocate for sexual abuse awareness, sharing her story on multiple occasions with students and their parents, and in the media, in hopes of shedding light on other potential abuse cases.
“I wish I would have known what child abuse was, what grooming was, what is appropriate for an adult to touch and not to touch,” she told a class of middle school students in 2017 during a speech about the warning signs of abuse, according to local WEAU. “If I would have known that I think I would have been in a different place right now.”
Nearly 30 years later, Jessyca is now married with two teenage children of her own, according to the local Leader-Telegram.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
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