Mueller likely last American held by ISIS

Kayla Mueller was believed to be the last U.S. hostage held by Islamic State, which had previously beheaded three U.S. citizens: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and an aid worker, Peter Kassig.

It had been known for months that Mueller, originally from Arizona, had been a prisoner of Islamic State. News outlets had respected the family’s wishes not to name her out of concern for her safety. But on Friday the family released information about Mueller, who had been a prisoner for 18 months.

Islamic State took her captive on Aug. 4, 2013, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after she left a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, the international aid group, the family said. In a statement, Doctors Without Borders said Mueller, who was not an employee, had accompanied a technician sent by a company contracted by the organization to perform repairs at one of its buildings in Aleppo. The technician and Mueller spent the evening at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo for safety reasons. She was captured the next day en route to the bus station in Aleppo, where she planned to depart for Turkey.

Mueller’s family said she had been working with Syrian refugees in the region since December 2012.