Kayla Mueller

Mueller was a native of Prescott, Arizona. After graduating from Tri-City College Prep High School in 2007, she attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff to study political science.

Mueller was a practicing Christian.[1][2] As a college student, she was active in an ecumenical Christian campus ministry, United Christian Ministries.[3] She also practiced Bhakti yoga.[4]

Mueller supported a variety of humanitarian aid and human rights initiatives. Her involvement in human rights activism and humanitarian aid included working in India with Tibetan refugees.[5] Her work in the Middle East included volunteering for the pro-Palestinian activist group the International Solidarity Movement and helping African refugees in Israel with the African Refugees Development Center.[6][7] Other humanitarian and activist causes Mueller was involved in at home and abroad were Vrindavan Food For Life, which provides free food, education, and medical care for those in need;[8][9] and during college, Food Not Bombs.[6][7][10]

Mueller started working in southern Turkey in December 2012, where she was assisting Syrian refugees. On August 3, 2013, she traveled to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo with her boyfriend, a Syrian contractor hired to install communications equipment at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo.[11][12]

Although Mueller had been working with international aid agency Support to Life in Turkey, this was not a work-related trip.[13][14] Doctors Without Borders staff were "flabbergasted" at Mueller's arrival, fearing for her safety, as Syria was dangerous for international aid workers and amid a civil war. The following day, Doctors Without Borders staff tried to drive Mueller to a bus station so she could travel back to Turkey.[15] The car was ambushed, and both Mueller and her boyfriend were abducted by ISIS. Her boyfriend was freed 20 days later.[16]

The US military and Mueller's family attempted to rescue Mueller several times, devoting considerable resources to the search.[17] In July 2014, US special operations forces (from Delta Force and 75th Ranger Regiment) raided an abandoned oil refinery near Raqqa in an unsuccessful attempt to find reporter James Foley (whom ISIS later murdered) and other hostages.[17] The commandos found evidence that the hostages had recently been held there, finding writing on the cell walls and hair believed to be Mueller's, but the refinery was empty.[17][18][19]

A Mueller family spokesman said that Mueller's parents "often communicated with the White House in trying to free their daughter."[17] In the summer of 2014, as other options were exhausted, Mueller's parents asked President Barack Obama in a letter to consider trading her for Aafia Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist serving 86 years in federal prison; Siddiqui's release has been a long-sought demand of ISIS and al-Qaeda.[17][20] The proposed exchange did not take place; the Obama administration had also rejected demands from other militant groups to exchange Siddiqui.[20]

Catherine Herridge of Fox News reported via anonymous sources that the location of Mueller and other American hostages was known by the White House in May 2014. However, a decision regarding a rescue mission was not made for seven weeks, because the White House had asked for further intelligence to be obtained. By that time, the hostages had been dispersed.[21]

In August 2015, the New York Times reported that Mueller had been forced into marriage[22] to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, who raped her repeatedly.[23][24] She had also been tortured.[24]

It had also been reported in May 2015 that Mueller was a "personal captive" of Abu Sayyaf.[25] In August 2015, ABC News reported that Abu Sayyaf's widow, Umm Sayyaf, had confirmed that al-Baghdadi had been Mueller's primary abuser.[26]

Fellow captives who were released or escaped reported Mueller's strength and compassion. She was concerned for the safety of others, even intentionally passing up an escape attempt to give other women a better chance at freedom.[1] After months of prolonged torture and abuse, ISIS members, who are known for their persecution of Christians, attempted to use her as propaganda by claiming she had abandoned the Christian faith in front of other prisoners who were men, but she denied it.[2] Daniel Rye Ottosen, a Danish freelance photographer and fellow captive, said that the men in the room "...were impressed by the strength that she showed in front of us. That was very clear."[27]

On February 6, 2015, a media account affiliated with ISIS released a statement claiming that a female American hostage held by the group was killed by one of around a dozen Jordanian airstrikes in Raqqa. The statement came just days after the release of a video showing the burning alive of a Jordanian fighter pilot, Muath al-Kasasbeh, by ISIS and the subsequent execution of Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi and other prisoners of Jordan. The statement was later translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, identifying the hostage as Mueller.[28] Another statement by ISIS claimed Mueller was killed in an American airstrike.[29]

As part of the statement, ISIS published a photo of a damaged building, alleging that Mueller had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike of the building, where she had been left alone with no guards, but no proof of death was provided. The Pentagon agreed the building was one hit in the bombings, but disputed that Mueller or any other civilian had been inside at the time. The site had been bombed by the coalition twice before, and was targeted again because ISIS soldiers sometimes return to bombed sites, thinking the coalition would not bomb those sites again, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. After this, Mueller's name was released by American and other media with the family's consent.[12]

On February 10, 2015, Mueller's family announced ISIS had confirmed her death to them in an e-mail, with three photographs of her dead body, bruised on the face and wearing a black hijab.[30][31] National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said this message was authenticated by the intelligence community.[32]

On August 24, 2016, ABC News reported that Doctors Without Borders had declined to help negotiate her release.[33] Doctors Without Borders then issued a statement (since deleted but archived) to the effect that they felt constrained in their available actions by the complexities of the larger situation and their general lack of expertise in hostage negotiation.[34]

In November 2019, the New York Times reported that Mueller may have been executed on the orders of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to reports from the wife of a close associate of his.[35]

On February 8, 2016, Umm Sayyaf was charged by American prosecutors in Virginia with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization that resulted in a person's death. The federal charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. She remains in Iraqi custody on terrorism-related charges.[36]

In October 2020, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh were extradited to the US and charged in Mueller's murder.[37] Kotey pleaded guilty to four counts of hostage-taking resulting in death and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2022. Elsheikh was convicted at trial and also faces a mandatory life sentence.[38]