DESPERATE

Kayla’s Mueller Family: We Secretly Met With ISIS Militant’s Wife to Find Our Daughter

The American aid worker, who was reportedly raped by Bagdadi, said they secretly went to Irbil to try and learn more from Umm Sayyaf.

The family of Kayla Mueller, the young humanitarian worker from Arizona who was kidnapped and killed by ISIS in 2013, said they secretly met with Umm Sayyaf, the wife of the late ISIS militant Abu Sayyaf, against the advice of the FBI after the U.S. government told them she was dead. The Muellers spoke out after President Trump mentioned their daughter by name when announcing the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Sunday. “President Trump mentioned her today in his statement and he mentioned that he deserved what he got for what he did to Kayla,” Mueller’s father Carl told ABC News. Mueller was held captive in the Sayyaf home, where Baghdadi sexually assaulted her, her father said. Mueller’s body was never found, and the family had hoped the Sayyaf family could tell them what happened—or if their daughter might still be alive. “It makes a big difference when you are talking to these people with a humanitarian attitude.” Mueller said of the meeting in Iraq. “We don’t care what you did, what you’ve done—we just want to know what you know about our daughter to bring her home.”