A Wisconsin woman who was kidnapped as a child by a teacher’s aide has broken her silence about the horrific abuse she suffered before being miraculously rescued.
Jessyca Mullenberg was just 13 years old when she was kidnapped by her neighbor Steven Oliver, 38, on September 16, 1995.
Oliver had stalked her for six years before the fateful day he tricked her into taking a trip under the pretext of meeting an editor about a short story she had written.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Mullenberg recalled the chilling moment he woke up in his car to discover his hands and legs had been tied with rope.
She spent three months chained in a hotel room before an episode of America’s Most Wanted finally led to a break in the case and the arrest of her kidnapper.
But Mullenberg, now 42, married with two children, fears she may soon be released from prison. “I’m terrified for my two children,” she said.
Jessyca Mullenberg was just 13 years old when she was kidnapped on September 16, 1995.
In 2018, Mullenberg received an award from the National Association for Missing and Exploited Children, where she was photographed with actor Ben Affleck.
The missing person flier shows a photo of Jessyca and her kidnapper, 39-year-old Steven Oliver.
Oliver had developed an unhealthy obsession with Mullenberg when she was only eight years old and he was an assistant teacher at her school.
He fell in love with it so much that he eventually bought a house across the street from where his father, Dale Bourget, lived in Eau Claire. His parents were divorced at the time.
During this time, he also created a creative writing club and appointed himself as a mentor-type figure to Jessyca.
The day she was kidnapped, she was visiting her father in Eau Claire and recalled visiting Oliver’s house with her two brothers, stepbrothers and other students to participate in a writing club.
There they told her that her story had been selected by an editor and that he would take her to the nearby city of Madison for a meeting.
‘We all thought it was real. There was paperwork we had to complete. “They gave us checks,” he recalled.
But shortly after getting into her car she realized that there was no book contest: she was being kidnapped.
“I fell asleep at some point. I woke up all tied up with ropes. He told me that I’m not going to go home and that I have to listen to what he says,” he said.
‘He said my name will be Cindy Johnson and his name will be Dave. “You are going to call me dad and we are moving to start our new life,” he continued.
At one point, while driving over a bridge, Mullunberg said she tried to jump out of the car, but was quickly caught and knew at that moment that she was trapped.
Oliver had developed an unhealthy obsession with Mullenberg when she was only eight years old and he was a teacher’s assistant at her school.
Mullenberg’s mother, Monica, and stepfather, Jake Bourget, hold a missing person sign after Jessyca was kidnapped by a neighbor in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Mullenberg photographed with America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh
After driving for nine hours, Mullenberg arrived in Kansas City, Missouri.
They then went to the airport where Oliver put a knife in her back and forced her to board a plane to Texas.
Over the next three and a half months, Mullenberg was moved to three different locations while Oliver hid from the police.
She remembered how he cut her hair and dyed it dark brown at the first hotel and warned her not to leave the room.
‘He told me I’m fat, stupid, stupid and ugly. “He told me that no one loves me and my parents don’t love me,” she said through tears.
When they were at the third hotel, a Days Inn in Houston, he ran out of money and convinced the manager to let him be a painter,” he recalled.
The couple stayed in a room at the back of the hotel room that she described as infested with cockroaches and with no people around.
‘I would be tied to the bed. “They would punish me for not listening and tell me I was a bad girl,” she said.
‘They didn’t allow me to use the phone. I wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom or eat unless he told me I could.
When she was alone in the room, she desperately thought of ways to escape, but she never knew when he would resurface. “He was always checking on me,” she said, describing how her feelings went from hope to hopelessness every day.
On one occasion he caught her using the phone in the room and hit her. He would also hit her if she got the answers wrong in the notebook he gave her, he added.
“I had to earn my television privileges by performing different sexual acts,” Mullenberg continued.
On the rare occasions when she was allowed to leave the hotel, Oliver forbade her to speak and insisted that she act as if he were her father.
Most of the people they interacted with had no idea she was the missing Wisconsin girl whose face appeared on national news and appeared on some 15,000 flyers posted across the country.
Only the motel manager was suspicious. And then one day, December 28, 1995, the woman watched an episode of America’s Most Wanted at a friend’s house and recognized Oliver’s face.
He immediately called the FBI, who quickly arrived at the hotel.
“The FBI came to our room and put us both in the same patrol car,” he said. “They kept asking me my name. They said your name is Jessyca. I said that’s not my name. I said my name is Cindy Johnson.
He later realized that he had been brainwashed and was reunited with his family.
‘I ran to my mom. We hugged at the airport. There were cameras everywhere,” he recalled.
She said she remembers feeling confused, overwhelmed and scared, but grateful that the nightmare was finally over.
A family member reacts to the news that Mullenberg had been found after more than three months missing
Mullenberg has since graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, criminal justice and law enforcement.
To help her remember who she was, her family showed her photographs.
“After three and a half months of hearing every day that your name is Cindy Johnson, it took me a while to get out of that mindset and say, ‘No, you’re Jessica Mullenberg,'” she explained.
Following his arrest, Oliver was sentenced to 40 years in prison for kidnapping and interstate transportation of a minor for unlawful sexual purposes, and is being held at FMC Devens, a federal prison in Massachusetts.
Today, Mullenberg uses her married name Christianson and continues to share her survival story to help others, speaking at schools and events to alert people to the warning signs of abuse.
In 2018 she received an award from the National Association for Missing and Exploited Children, where she was photographed with actor Ben Affleck.
He also graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, criminal justice, and law enforcement.
However, her trauma still haunts her to this day and as she battles PTSD, she admitted that she fears the day when her kidnapper will be released.
Oliver is currently scheduled to be released from prison on January 26, 2031, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told DailyMail.com.
Today, Mullenberg uses her married name Christianson and continues to share her survival story to help others.
“I’m terrified for my two children,” she said, explaining that she constantly reminds them to never leave school with anyone but their family.
“I don’t think it’s possible to live a normal life,” he added.