On the morning of December 1, 1997, a prayer circle in the Heath High School lobby in West Paducah, Kentucky, ended in tragedy when 14-year-old freshman Michael Carneal opened fire on students gathered there. Seventeen-year-old senior and marching band member Jessica James was one of three students fatally wounded; she died later that day after surgery. Two other students, Nicole Hadley, 14, and Kayce Steger, 15, were also killed and five more were injured, one left paralyzed.

Carneal brought a .22-caliber pistol he had taken from a neighbor and, after the shooting, was disarmed and subdued by the school principal. He later expressed remorse but could not give a clear motive, at one point citing a scene from the movie The Basketball Diaries. Charged as an adult, Carneal pleaded guilty but mentally ill; his plea acknowledged a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and allowed for mental health treatment while incarcerated. He received a life sentence with parole eligibility after 25 years.

Does anyone have memories of Jessica at Heath High School or information about her life that would help preserve her memory?