Could captured ISIS fighters lead to Kayla Mueller's body? Her parents hope so

Karina Bland
The Republic | azcentral.com
Kayla Mueller

Islamic State fighters believed to have tortured Kayla Mueller, the Arizona woman who was kidnapped in Syria and reported killed, are in the custody of Syrian Kurdish forces. Now, her parents hope they can lead authorities to her body, which has not been recovered.

Mueller, who had worked for a humanitarian group in Turkey, was kidnapped in Syria in 2013 and later confirmed dead.

In addition to holding her captive, the men are believed to have worked for the ISIS leaders who beheaded other Americans, including journalist James Foley, who once taught at an elementary school in Phoenix

Yet Marsha and Carl Mueller and the parents of Foley and other slain hostages say they want the men's lives spared.  

MORE: Portrait of Kayla Mueller emerges after death confirmation

Final months of freedom: Mueller's time before her capture detailed

“In their country and in their religion, that would make them martyrs," Marsha Mueller told The Arizona Republic on Thursday. "And that would only inspire others to do the same kinds of things.” 

The Muellers joined the other parents to publish a plea last week that the two terrorists be tried in the United States or at least in a court of international justice — even though they believe the men were involved in the gruesome executions.

Now, the Muellers say, they also hope the men can give them closure, by leading them to their daughter's remains.  

See Kayla Mueller connect with refugee children in a video never released before her death:

Two ISIS fighters captured

The families were told about the capture of the men in eastern Syria in early January by their government contacts, including those from the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, a government entity responsible for coordinating the recovery of U.S. hostages abroad, Marsha Mueller said.

Media reports later revealed details about the men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey. They grew up in London, according to the Associated Press, and are among the four British jihadists dubbed "The Beatles" by hostages because of their accents.

MORE: Britain's ISIS 'Beatles' should be tried in the West, families say

Former hostages who shared cells with Mueller told her parents that these two men were among the guards under Mohammed Emwazi.

Emwazi, a Kuwait-born, UK-educated computer science graduate known as “Jihadi John,” carried out the killings of 10 hostages including Foley, Steven Sotloff and Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig. The circumstances of Mueller's death have not been publicly made clear. 

The Muellers had hoped that the news would not leak out and alert others in the terrorist organization that the men were in custody and talking.

The men are identifying the locations of grave sites of former hostages, the Muellers have been told. 

“There are people actively searching now,” Carl said.

The Muellers hope their daughter’s body will be among those found.

Kayla Mueller confirmed dead

The Muellers' daughter, who grew up in Prescott and went to Northern Arizona University before traveling the world as an aid worker, was kidnapped in Syria in 2013 and held for 18 months. She was reportedly enslaved and assaulted by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

It was three years ago this month that ISIS announced that Kayla Mueller had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike, reportedly crushed by rubble of a building targeted in the bombing, and U.S. officials confirmed her death.

But because the Muellers never got the chance to bury her, they said, it left open the tiniest window of hope that maybe it wasn't true, that maybe their daughter wasn't dead.

Throughout 2017, the Muellers and their government contacts heard rumors from multiple sources that Kayla was still alive, that she had been moved to Iraq and then brought back to Raqqa, Syria.

The wondering has been wrenching.

Marsha Mueller said she has to force herself to let go of the idea that her daughter might be alive. “I think just for my own sanity I had to come to the conclusion that she is gone,” she said.

But then she added, “Until we have her back, we can never be sure.” 

MORE: Grieving parents try to help refugee children as their daughter did

After agonizing search, Kayla Mueller's parents now look for her in the only way they can

'We ask for life imprisonment'

The Muellers joined others in signing an opinion piece in the New York Times last week. 

“As parents who have lost children to violence, we also ask for life imprisonment for these men. Execution could be misconstrued as martyrdom, perpetuating violence and diminishing America’s stature as a defender of human rights,” the families wrote.

The piece was attributed to the Muellers; Diane and John Foley of New Hampshire, the parents of James Foley; Shirley and Arthur Sotloff of Florida, the parents of Steven Sotloff; and Paula and Ed Kassig of Indiana, the parents of Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig.

This undated file still image from video released April 7, 2011, by GlobalPost, shows James Foley of Rochester, N.H.

Journalists Foley and Sotloff and aid worker Kassig were beheaded by a member of the so-called Islamic State, the horrifying videos of their executions posted on the internet.

James Foley was a teacher at Lowell Elementary School in south Phoenix from 1996 to 1999 through Teach for America, a non-profit that recruits college graduates to spend two years in low-income public schools.

Three years ago, during a visit to Tucson, John and Diane Foley told The Arizona Republic that they forgave their son’s killer.

"He's such a sad, sick young man. It's just so sad," Diane Foley said then. "As a mom, I would need to forgive him for not knowing what he was doing."

Emwazi, the ISIS leader, reportedly was killed in 2016.

MORE: Slain journalist James Foley remembered as Arizona teacher

How James Foley changed the world, one life at a time

A trial at The Hague? 

The future of the detainees is unclear. The Muellers have been told negotiations are under way with the U.S., England and other countries whose citizens also had been held by the men. Carl Mueller said none are particularly eager to take custody of the men. Britain long ago rescinded their citizenship.

Carl Mueller suspects they will be tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands.

“I think that’s probably our best option,” he said. A trial of this magnitude would cost millions. “At least all the countries would get a little bit of a say and maybe the other families from around the world would get some closure,” he said.

They want the men kept in solitary confinement separate from other prisoners who they may try to convert.

"Their ideology is far too dangerous to allow them to speak to other prisoners,” Carl Mueller said.

In solitary confinement, the men would have spend their time acknowledging what they have done, Marsha Mueller said. “It would give them time to think.”

“Kayla would not want to see people killed,” she said.

In the opinion piece, the families said their children would not want the men executed. 

“The Islamic State wants to intimidate us and lure us into a similar hatred of them,” they wrote. “But we must be true to our children’s commitment to humanity.”

Reach Bland at karina.bland@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8614.

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