James Wright Foley (October 18, 1973 – August 19, 2014) was an American photojournalist. He was abducted in northwestern Syria on November 22, 2012, while working for the U.S.-based online news outlet GlobalPost.
He was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at an unknown desert location in August 2014 in revenge for United States airstrikes on the group. His family, President Obama and the United States National Security Council all confirmed that a video of his death was real. Foley's beheading marked the first time ISIS had killed an American citizen.