(Photo by Stina Sieg - KJZZ)

Kayla Mueller's aunts, Lori Lyon (right) and Terri Crippes, could not control their tears as they spoke about Mueller publicly for the first time since her capture and death.

(Photo by Stina Sieg - KJZZ)

The mood of the press conference was at times bittersweet, especially as friend Kathleen Day spoke about Mueller's desire to help others. She called Mueller a "free spirit."

(Photo by Stina Sieg - KJZZ)

A sign of support for Kayla Mueller in Prescott, Ariz., on Tuesday.

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — It’s still unclear how Prescott native Kayla Mueller died after her capture by the so-called Islamic State in Syria. But Tuesday’s press conference did not focus on the 26-year-old aid worker’s death – instead it was about how she lived.

No public officials or law enforcement spoke to all the television cameras gathered outside the Prescott courthouse. Just friends and family, speaking publicly about Mueller for the first time.

Kathleen Day organized a peace group that Mueller was part of at Northern Arizona University – and they kept in touch after she left for Syria.

"It’s not that she was so angelic. It’s just that she saw things and did whatever she could, with whatever she could," Day said. "It was just her heart, her mind, her guitar, her pen, her computer."

Day said Mueller wanted the world to know about the tragic conditions for Syrians — and her capture didn’t change that.

Mueller’s aunt, Lori Lyon, fought back tears as she read a letter Mueller wrote to her family while still in captivity.

"‘I have come to see there is good in every situation. Sometimes we just have to look for it.’ And right now, that’s what we’re all trying to do," Lyon said.

Mueller is the fourth American to die while imprisoned by ISIS. She was kidnapped in 2013 – but that news was kept secret until last week.