`` Please know that we will be eternally grateful , '' his mother says . Deanna Hackney is a freelance journalist and author . It 's not known whether any ransom was paid , the officials said . He had been held for just five days by ISIS militants . the Islamic State peacekeepers in the Middle East facilitated his handover .
`` Please know that we will be eternally grateful , '' his mother says . Deanna Hackney is a freelance journalist and author . He had been held for just five days by ISIS militants . the Islamic State peacekeepers in the Middle East facilitated his handover .