The White House is vowing to bring to justice the Islamic State militants it says are responsible for the "captivity and death" of an American woman in Syria.
The family of 26 year old Kayla Mueller say they have now received proof that she died, although it's not clear whether he death took place as a result of a Jordanian air strike as IS had claimed.
Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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Just a week ago, Americans had not heard of Kayla Mueller.
They may have been aware of reports that an American woman was one of the hostages held by Islamic State….but the government and the family took the decision to keep her identity and story quiet.
Now, her death has struck a chord with Americans from coast to coast.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest, after both President Obama and the family issued simultaneous statements confirming the 26 year-old aid worker's death.
Last weekend, Islamic State said she'd been killed in a Jordanian air strike on a building in Raqqa…a site where western hostages are known to have been held….but they provided no evidence to back up the claim.
On Monday night, the family received a private communication from IS that reportedly provided that proof.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby.
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The US insists that whatever the circumstances of Kayla Mueller's death….IS will be held responsible for it.
The President's statement said the US will seek to bring to justice those who caused "her capture and death"….however long it takes.
In the small town of Prescott, Arizona from where she hailed, family members like her aunt Lori Lyon spent the day mourning…and remembering the humanitarian calling that took her to Syria in the first place.
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The circumstances of Kayla Mueller's captivity are as opaque as those of her death.
Some reports suggest she may have been married off to an Islamic State commander.
That could explain why the other western hostages rarely saw her…and perhaps also explain why she may have been in an IS command bunker that the Jordanians bombed last weekend.
Perhaps because of her gender…perhaps because of the extraordinary last letter she wrote to her parents saying that even in captivity she had found ways of remaining free…Kayla Mueller's death has touched Americans deeply.
And will continue to do so, even if her full story is never accurately known.
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