Monmouth County Native Killed By ISIS In Tajikistan

MANALAPAN, NJ — The life, and choices, that Jay Austin made for himself could be taken from the pages of a Hollywood screenplay:

He grew up in rural New Jersey, where he attended Manalapan elementary school and possibly Howell high school, although that's still unconfirmed, according to the Asbury Park Press. He went on to earn his master's degree from Georgetown University and took a job working for the federal government, at the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, where he followed one of the many causes he was passionate about — the need to provide affordable housing for all, according to the New York Times.

Last year, at the age of 29, Austin decided to quit his job and cycle around the world with his girlfriend, Lauren Geoghegan, also 29, who he met at Georgetown. According to their blog, they started their incredible journey in Africa last year, and cycled through North Africa, into Turkey, Italy, France and finally into Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

However, last week, the young American couple was killed in Tajikistan by four men who professed allegiance to the Islamic State, the New York Times reported. On Sunday, July 29 the men in a van deliberately backed up and drove into the young couple, who were cycling with seven cyclists total on a stretch of road in mountainous Tajikistan. This grainy cell phone video on the New York Post purports to show the van making a U-turn on the dusty road to drive right into the group of cyclists. The U.S. embassy in Tajikistan confirmed the attack and the young couple's death on their Facebook page. The four men later released a video proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State and saying they would kill non-believers.

In total, Austin, Geoghegan and cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands were killed. The other three were injured, but survived.

The New York Post quoted the Tajikistan embassy as saying one of the four suspects is in custody, and the other three have been killed.

Reason.com reported that Austin grew up in foster care and that experience had a profound impact on who he was.

"As a ward of the state," he told Reason, "I was an inherent non-conformist."

Before he left D.C., Austin built a tiny home for himself, as his way to protest Washington's increasing lack of affordable housing and his rejection of consumerism and materials goods. You can watch Jay speak in the YouTube video below.

Austin's Monmouth County roots are still being unearthed.

Freehold Regional High School District spokeswoman Rebecca Policastro told the Asbury Park Press she "believes he was a student at Howell High School but have not been able to confirm dates of attendance."