Jessyca Mullenberg says for 13 years, she's tried to turn her abduction and repeated sexual assault at the hands of a family friend into a positive by helping others.

She spoke at an event for the SafeAssured Child ID program in Wausau Tuesday afternoon. Mullenberg says reliving her story of survival takes all the courage she has.

In 1995, the disappearance and recovery of the 13-year-old from Stevens Point shocked our area.

She was kidnapped by a neighbor and daily physically and sexually abused for more than 3 months in a Texas hotel, before being rescued after a picture of her and her kidnapper, Steven Oliver, were aired on America's Most Wanted.

Now, she's 26, and she's speaking in support of a program called SafeAssured Child ID. The program gives parents a kit that has photographs of their child, video and audio of them, fingerprints, and other unique information so that if the child ever goes missing, law enforcement and the media can have access to valuable information, very quickly. "If your child were to become abducted it would be very useful”, Mullenberg said of the program. “They'd have a better chance of returning home if they have that information on hand."

The program's inventor, Fred Lane, says it also includes a wealth of information about things parents can do to prevent the kit from ever needing to be used. "The whole idea behind this is to never see a case of this on the news again because it doesn't happen”, Lane said.

Jessyca's traveled around the country speaking about her experiences. She says she's glad to support programs like SafeAssured that take huge strides to help missing children. "I'm someone out there that can help other people and give them the courage and strength to keep looking for that child”, Mullenberg said. “Even if the odds are against them, it still gives them hope."

Safeassured is being offered free of charge to first graders around the country. For more information on how to get a kit for your child, you can call the Wausau SafeAssured office at 1-888-995-SAFE, or visit the link below.