The reason Westerners are in Syria is because of all the reasons for sympathy carried in the media. The body count and The West's backing of an alternative to Assad's governance. No Western country is going to get away with any propaganda about young men estranged from their country into radical Islam. That is not the case and The West knows it. It did not recruit these young men themselves, but, the reasons are not as simple as the fact they are all wildly ideological radical Muslims. That is the truth.

The truth is they are ideological and they thought they had a cause their countries approved of.

It is no different than any other Western young man who went to fight jihad as a result of his devotion to his faith. It could be John Walker Lindh for that matter. They go to find the fulfillment of manhood as dictated within the teachings of the faith. What they find is a radical Islamic culture that kills. It is their willingness to kill that is exploited and they are among those that will kill them if they don't perform.

The journalist was beheaded because of the retaliatory air strikes against ISIS/L.

I wouldn't expect their families to know much. Obviously, they are estranged from their Western society and relatives as was exampled by Bergdahl. The family wanted him rescued, he didn't care about the rescue in order for it to lead back to his family.