ARIZONA

Parents of Kayla Mueller join hostage families pushing to bring home missing journalist

Karina Bland
The Republic | azcentral.com
Carl and Marsha Mueller, seen in January 2016, have joined three other families of hostages in urging U.S. action to bring home kidnapped journalist Austin Tice. The Muellers' daughter, Kayla, was held hostage and killed by ISIS.

The parents of Kayla Mueller, the Prescott aid worker who was kidnapped in Syria and killed while held captive by ISIS, joined the families of three other hostages Wednesday with a plea to bring home a missing U.S. journalist.

“We are four families bonded by tragedy and terror,” the families wrote in the letter. “We will never fully recover from the horrific outcome of our own hostage crises. But there is something that still can be done: Bring Austin Tice home."

Tice disappeared in Syria in August 2012 while covering the civil war as a freelance journalist. Six weeks later, he appeared in a short video being led uphill by armed masked men. He has not been heard from since.

The letter urges President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials to do everything possible to secure Tice's safe release and return.

"We hope it will help,” said Marsha Mueller in a phone interview from their Prescott home.

“We understand their pain. All of the families do,” Carl Mueller added.

THE LETTER: Read what the families had to say.

But the Muellers admit they are not sure the plea will do any good. It has been a year since Obama announced changes to improve how the U.S. government responded to foreign hostage situations.

In Houston, Tice's parents have been vocal in their criticism of U.S. efforts to find and return the Marine veteran. Debra and Marc Tice enlisted the help of the families of four Americans kidnapped and killed by ISIS: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and humanitarian aid workers Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

Experts: ISIS takes hostages to get cash, instill fear

The Muellers' daughter was kidnapped in Syria in 2013 and held for 18 months, reportedly enslaved and assaulted by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. She was confirmed dead by U.S. officials after a Jordanian airstrike last year. She was 26.

In the letter, the Muellers wrote, “We, the family of Kayla Mueller, are haunted every day by the fact that we didn’t secure Kayla’s release, by the extraordinary hope she held during her terrifying captivity, by the horrific torture we now know she endured, by the missed opportunities and by the deadly silence that cost all the hostages their lives. Our hearts are broken and our hope is that our government will do all it is able to bring Austin and all hostages home safely. No additional U.S. citizens should have to endure the silence of our country, with that silence filled only by the terrorists holding them.”

Carl Mueller said it is time for the U.S. to take military action against ISIS, which continues to grow, its ideology spread via the Internet.

“They need to take forceful action against these people,” he said. “They need to know if you kidnap Americans, you are going to die. Right now, they’re given a free pass.”

The Muellers are disappointed and increasingly frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress on improving the government’s handling of foreign hostage cases. Last year, Obama opened the door for families to pay ransoms to foreign captors, though the government would continue to follow an official ban on concessions to terrorists. He also created a central office for hostage recovery. On Wednesday morning, the Muellers spoke with staff from the administration's hostage policy review team.

"We don’t really see where they’re doing anything,” Carl Mueller said.

In addition, there has been no new information for more than a year from an ongoing investigation about what happened to their daughter.

Should U.S. pay ransoms for hostages? New scrutiny after Kayla Mueller case

“Do you have definitive proof about the airstrikes? Where’s her body? They don’t give us any information,” he said.

“I think the hardest thing for us is that we still don’t really know what happened,” Marsha Mueller said.

Carl Mueller said he doesn’t imagine the president will respond to the families’ letter.

“If he’s going to make any comment, he’ll say they are doing everything they can,” he said. It is what the Muellers were told.

“It’s the same thing that we heard over and over — we’re doing everything we can,” Carl Mueller said. It was not enough, his wife said.

During the time Kayla Mueller was held captive, the U.S. government had opportunities to negotiate for her return and pay a ransom but refused. The Muellers were told they could face prosecution if they paid the ransom themselves.

These are complicated matters; the Muellers understand that. But they believe the U.S. government could have done more to find and bring home their daughter.

“Kayla should be here,” Marsha Mueller said.

Those exact words are inscribed on the rainbow bracelet she wears on her wrist.

Reach Bland at karina.bland@arizonarepublic.com or 602-320-5465.