Paula Kassig

Friends’ recollections paint an intimate portrait of the remarkable young man they knew before the world took notice.

“I have a chance to do something here, to take a stand,” he wrote. “To make a difference.”

At a briefing held at a local church, Ed and Paula Kassig requested “the time and privacy to mourn, cry, and yes, forgive, and begin to heal.”

In releasing a video depicting mass executions, ISIS claimed to have killed Indianapolis native Abdul-Rahman Kassig, born Peter Kassig.

Loved ones hope a social-media campaign organized around a hashtag—#JusticeForAbdulRahmanKassig—will convince his captors to spare the Indianapolis native’s life.