"On Tuesday August 19, the Islamic State released a video in which James Wright Foley, 40-year-old American freelance journalist and nearly two-year captive of the radical group once known as ISIS, read a largely prepared speech and then was beheaded." According to boingboing.net, James Foley's last letter to his loved ones was dictated to a fellow detainee, who memorized it and read it to Foley's mother over the phone when he was released.