The US have confirmed that American Hostage Kayla Mueller has been killed after she was kidnapped by Islamic State jihadists in 2013.

Update:

The parents of Kayla Mueller have released a letter their daughter wrote them during the time she was held captive by the Islamic State.

It reads:

Mamamia previously reported…

What were you doing in high school?

Experimenting with fashion? Trying to study or maybe falling in love, or at least lust, for the first time.

Was it a whirlwind of texting and friendships with endless hours of writing school essays about gloomy British moors?

Kayla Mueller

For Kayla Mueller high school was all that – but more. It was the start of a devotion to helping others.

The start of an urgent need to do good work – to make the lives of those less fortunate better.

High school was about volunteering and actively assisting women with AIDS and children in need.

It was the start of a time of travel to areas of nations that most of us would not dare to enter – Syria, Israel, Palestine.

And now this young woman, just 26-years old – who was voted best personality and best smile in her high school yearbook is dead.

“Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian.”

Killed at the hands of Islamic State after being kidnapped in August 2013.

The news came through at first last week when Islamic State said 26-year old Mueller had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike on IS-held buildings in Syria.

And then her family’s worst fears were confirmed.

The US President, Barack Obama said overnight “It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller.”

The White House said that Islamic State militants had sent Kayla Mueller’s family a private message over the weekend.

The U.S. intelligence community authenticated the information and determined she was dead.

Kayla with hr family.

An official said the extremists sent photographs of Kayla that were used to confirm her death but that it was impossible from the photos to determine if she had been killed in the recent Jordanian air strikes as the group claimed.

The parents of Mueller released a statement.

“We are heartbroken to share that we’ve received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life,” parents Carl and Marsha Mueller said.

“Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace.”

Her work as an aid worker has been praised throughout the world.

The young woman who upon leaving college spent many years working with volunteer and aid organizations throughout her local community and across the world.

“The common thread of Kayla’s life has been her quiet leadership and strong desire to serve others,” her family previously said in a statement.

The local newspaper in her hometown, The Daily Courier wrote in an editorial just three days ago.“We in Prescott had been inspired by Kayla Mueller’s humanitarian dedication for many years,”

“We remember how in 2013 she helped reunite a missing 6-year-old boy with his family after their refugee camp in Turkey was bombed,”

“Inspirational”

In December 2012, Mueller traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to work for Support to Life and Danish Refugee Council aid groups to help Syrian Refugees. Less than one year later, she was taken hostage  with her Syrian boyfriend while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Syria.

Her colleagues received subsequently received a proof-of-life video, showing her wearing a hijab and begging for her life.

A year later, CBS News reported that IS had demanded a ransom for US$5million her release.

Yesterday Kayla Mueller’s family released a handwritten letter that they say she wrote while in captivity in spring 2014.

She wrote:

This vibrant young woman, whose life gave so much to the world is yet another victim of the brutal Islamic State.