Thursday, February 12, 2015

A Heart Wrenching Letter to Family from Now Dead Hostage

A Heart Wrenching Letter to Family from Now Dead Hostage
By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service
ARIZONA. (ANS. FEB. 11, 2015) -- Kayla Mueller wrote her family a heart-wrenching letter nearly a year ago.
Kayla MuellerAccording to a story on www.foxnews.com, the letter was possibly written from the bowels of a Raqqa, Syria, building that U.S. special forces raided on July 4, 2014, only to learn Mueller - and at least three other hostages who were later killed - had been moved days earlier.
“If you could say I have ‘suffered’ at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through,” wrote Mueller, a 26-year-old aid worker from Arizona who was kidnapped in Syria by ISIS, also known as Islamic State (IS) in August 2013.
“I have a lot of fight left inside of me. I am not breaking down and I will not give in no matter how long it takes,” Mueller said in the newly released letter, believed to have been written in the Spring of 2014.
She continued, “I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I and, by God's will, we will be together soon.”
Fox News said Mueller's parents confirmed Tuesday their daughter died while in the hands of the terror group, though they did not say how or when she was killed.
A source familiar with the communications told Fox News that the terror group sent Mueller's parents a photo, taken from the neck up, of their daughter to prove she was dead.
“We are heartbroken to share that we've received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life,” Fox News reported Carl and Marsha Mueller, of Prescott, Ariz., said in a statement.
The statement continued, “Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace.”
The family received information from their daughter's ISIS captors over the weekend that was authenticated, according to U.S. officials.
“The family received a private message from Kayla’s ISIL captors containing additional information,” Fox News reported National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Tuesday.
“Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased.”
ISIS claimed last week she was killed by a Jordanian airstrike, but offered no immediate evidence.
Photo caption: Kayla Mueller displays a poster for aid to Darfur

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