Couple cycling the world to prove "humans are kind" was killed by ISIS while riding through their territory

Jay Austin was stabbed 18 times. That is the number investigators confirmed after the attack on a rural road in Tajikistan, where a car carrying five Islamic State members deliberately rammed a group of four cyclists before the attackers stepped out and finished what they had started.

Jay, 29, and his partner Lauren Geoghegan, 25, were former government workers from Washington D.C. who had left their jobs, their apartments, and most of their possessions to cycle the world. Jay had built his own tiny house. Lauren was described by everyone who met her as someone who made strangers feel like old friends. They documented their journey on a blog and social media, sharing story after story of people with very little offering them everything.

The Journey Before Tajikistan

The couple set off in July 2017, starting in South Africa and cycling north through the continent, then through Europe, and into Central Asia. By the time they reached Tajikistan, they had covered tens of thousands of miles and crossed dozens of countries. Fellow cyclists who shared meals and camped with them along the route later wrote that they would forever be inspired by Jay and Lauren's kindness and openness.

There is no evidence the couple knew of any specific terrorist threat in Tajikistan. At the time of their visit, the U.S. State Department listed the country as relatively low risk, acknowledging that extremist organizations had a presence but noting that attacks were infrequent and largely directed at law enforcement, not tourists.

The Attack on July 29

Five members of Islamic State drove a car into the cycling group on a road in the Danghara district. After the initial impact, the attackers got out and used knives. Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan were killed alongside René Wokke, a Dutch citizen, and Markus Hummel, from Switzerland. Two other cyclists survived.

The ringleader, Hussein Abdusamadov, 33, was arrested the following day along with the other attackers. He died in prison less than two years later.

What People Who Knew Them Said Before the Attack

Cyclists who had traveled with Jay and Lauren in the days and weeks before the attack described shared dinners cooked at roadside campsites, long conversations about the places they had been, and a couple who listened more than they talked. One group wrote publicly that Jay and Lauren had welcomed them instantly and made every person in the group feel seen. They had no idea what was coming. None of them did.

After the news broke, Jay's blog received thousands of comments. Many were expressions of grief. Others, directed at two people who could no longer read them, were not.

Jay's mother, Jea Santovasco, later met with the Tajik Ambassador to seek compensation and told reporters she had been forced to leave her job as a property appraiser because she could not function in the months following her son's death.