EXCLUSIVE: Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of the late American aid worker Kayla Mueller, have penned an emotional open letter to President , appealing to him to utilize his forthcoming meeting with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to secure the return of their daughter’s remains, a decade after her killing by ISIS.
The letter, shared exclusively with Digital, arrives merely days before al-Sharaa’s inaugural visit to Washington since assuming power following the fall of the Assad regime. The Muellers characterized this encounter as “a providential opportunity” to conclude one of the conflict’s most harrowing chapters.
“Ten lengthy years have elapsed since our daughter’s body found its final resting place, unmarked and unknown, somewhere amidst the crimson contours of Syria’s hills,” the Muellers wrote. “Kayla’s remains have not been brought home to us; her narrative remains incomplete.
Kayla Mueller, a 26-year-old humanitarian aid worker from Arizona, was abducted in 2013 while assisting Syrian refugees near the Turkish border. She was enslaved by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who reportedly subjected her to abuse and ultimately murdered her in 2015. Her body was never recovered.
The family’s letter recounts how, in 2019, an — ordered by President Trump — resulted in the death of al-Baghdadi in northern Syria. Standing alongside Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention, the Muellers credited him for “delivering the iron fist of justice against unspeakable evil.”
With Assad’s removal and Syria now operating under an interim government, the Muellers state that the political landscape has dramatically shifted. They commended increasing regional collaboration to locate missing Americans and referenced Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., who personally traveled to Damascus to advocate for her return.
In a statement to Digital, Hamadeh affirmed, “I was sworn into Congress with my hand resting on Kayla Mueller’s Bible, with my family and Kayla’s parents by my side. I pledged to them that I would do everything within my power to bring her home. In their letter to President Trump, Kayla’s parents detailed how Kayla was killed attempting to ‘bring light to the darkest corner of the earth — and in her own darkest hour her spirit refused to break.’ That is why I refuse to abandon the effort to bring this remarkable young woman home to her family.”
” and with new leadership comes a fresh chance to finalize the chapter on Americans still unaccounted for in Syria,” the Muellers penned. “Through your leadership, we believe the torch Kayla was forced to relinquish has blazed back to life.”
The Muellers described the with al-Sharaa as a defining moment — both for U.S. foreign policy and for their family’s decade-long pursuit of closure.
They concluded the letter with a fervent plea: “Your meeting is certain to instill genuine hope throughout Syria’s war-torn streets. Repatriating Kayla’s body will have the same effect on every American heart, and together we will definitively close the era of terror’s dominion in Syria and finally bring resolution to Kayla’s story. This represents an opportunity to reaffirm America’s resolve: that we never abandon our own. One final push could bring Kayla home.”