The first reports of this surfaced several days ago.  It now appears the reports were accurate.  Kayla Mueller was separated from all other hostages and given to an ISIS militant commander as a trophy….
kayla muellerWASHINGTON – With the confirmed death of Kayla Mueller, new details have emerged about the American hostage’s experience in ISIS captivity, including the belief by some officials that she had been given over to a commander in the jihadi group.
“ISIS didn’t see her as a hostage or a bargaining chip,” a counter-terrorism official told ABC News.
“Reflections” in the limited collection of intelligence in Syria — like indirect indications of a person’s presence somewhere, such as ISIS fighters referring to her in calls or spotted guarding a sensitive site where she might have been held — indicated Kayla was still alive and sometimes in the company of an ISIS leader being actively tracked who had custody over her, possibly by forced marriage, officials told ABC News.
Sometimes she was with her ISIS keeper and other times she was not, two officials said.
kayla jean muellerThe U.S. has no ground-level intelligence from Syrian human sources or American spies and so relies on “airborne collection platforms” like satellites and drones, officials have said.
Mueller’s family in a public plea to ISIS on Friday said the terrorists had referred to her as a “guest” in private communications.
In a letter written by Mueller last year and released by the family today, Mueller said she was “in a safe location, completely unharmed [and] healthy.”
“I have been treated with the utmost respect [and] kindness,” she wrote.
Matt Olsen, former head of the National Counterterrorism Center and current ABC News consultant, said ISIS is known to for the “practice of essentially selling off, or putting young women and girls in the company of ISIS militants.”  (read more)

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