Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker enslaved three years by the Islamic State for 18 months before she was killed during Jordanian airstrikes in early 2015, bravely defended her Christian faith in the face of her Islamic extremist captors, ABC News reports.
The 25-year-old Mueller was kept as a slave and was repeatedly raped by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to her fellow captives who were interviewed by ABC for a program to be aired Friday on "20/20."
Danish freelance photographer Daniel Rye told ABC about how the captors, which included Brit Mohammed Emwazi, who was later named "Jihadi John" by the media, were nicknamed the Beatles by the captives.
"One of the Beatles started to say, 'Oh this is Kayla and she has been held all by herself. And she is much stronger than you guys. And she's much smarter. She converted to Islam.' And then she was like, 'No, I didn't,'" Rye said.
He said he was surprised by Mueller's bravery.
"I would not have had the guts to say that. I don't think so," Rye said. "It was very clear that all of us were impressed by the strength that she showed in front of us. That was very clear."
Women who were with Mueller said she held up well and gave strength to them, even when they were released and she continued to be held. A group of Yazidi teenagers tried to get her to escape with them in the middle of the night, but said Mueller refused, fearing it would only make their recapture more likely.
"I told Kayla we want to escape and I asked her to come with us. She told me, 'No, because I am American, if I escape with you, they will do everything to find us again,'" the girl, identified as Julia, told ABC.
"It is better for you to escape alone. I will stay here," Mueller told Juila.
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