The notorious terrorist and member of the ISIS cell dubbed “The Beatles,” who was serving a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of western journalists and aid workers in Syria, has disappeared from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Fox News Digital confirmed Thursday.
Alexanda Kotey, 39, was sentenced to life in prison in April after being transported to the U.S. for trial in 2020 following his 2015 capture by Kurdish forces.
The U.S. Justice Department in April said Kotey and his three partners participated in the “seizure, detention and hostage negotiations” of four Americans, including James Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig, along with 23 others between 2012 -2015.
The native Londoner called “Jihadi George” pled guilty to eight counts of hostage-taking and terrorism-related counts resulting in death.
But Kotey is apparently no longer being held at Pennsylvania’s high-security Canaan prison and records showed he was “Not in BOP custody” as of Thursday, though his release date was listed as “unknown.”
A BOP spokesman confirmed that Kotey “is not currently in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons” but said there could be “several” explanations for his recent disappearance.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Randilee Giamusso said, “Inmates who were previously in BOP custody and who have not completed their sentence may be outside BOP custody for a period of time for court hearings, medical treatment or for other reasons.”
The federal prison system does not disclose specific details relating to an inmate due to safety, security or privacy issues, the spokesman added.
Some reports suggested the notorious ISIS member could also be assisting with investigations into another case, though Fox News Digital could not independently verify this.
Daughter of British aid worker Scot David Haines, who was personally captured by Kotey before he was tortured and beheaded, told The Scottish Daily Record that she was forced to make inquiries with the U.S. Justice Department after she realized he was no longer traceable in the federal prison system.
“I don’t want to think that he has managed to negotiate his way into any kind of easy treatment on the basis of him assisting authorities or anything else,” Bethany Haines, 24, reportedly said.
“In the past he has been traceable, as we have access to data via the U.S. victim notification scheme, and we at least had the reassurance that he was in a high security facility,” she added, noting his disappearance wasn’t fair to the families of the victims “left to wonder where he is.”
Haines said she was assured by U.S. Justice sources that Kotey is still detained in the U.S.