Government officials have told the family of a U.S. hostage who died in Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) captivity earlier this year that she was repeatedly sexually abused by the group’s leader.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled “caliph” of the extremist group, raped Kayla Mueller repeatedly, counter-terrorism authorities told ABC News. Her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, confirmed officials had informed them of the abuse. “We were told Kayla was tortured, that she was the property of al-Baghdadi,” they said in the interview.
Kayla Mueller was 26 when her death, first reported by ISIS, was confirmed in February. She was captured in northern Syria in the Summer 2013.
Read next: How ISIS Justifies Its Culture of Rape and Sex Slavery
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Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com