"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne. I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in Philadelphia."

Berg then was pushed to the floor and screamed as one of the executioners wielded a large knife. The man sawed off Berg's head while the other captors shouted: "Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for "God is great."

Outside their home in West Chester, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, Berg's father, brother and sister collapsed after reporters told them about the tape. The family, which had a photograph of Nick Berg taped to their mailbox, had been told by the State Department on Monday that Berg's beheaded body had been found.

Friends of the family were devastated. "He was like a son to me," said the Rev. Bruce Hauser, who lives next door to Berg's parents. The Bergs "are just broken up, distraught. They can't believe it, especially the way he died. It makes it worse." Hauser said he had known Nick Berg since Berg was a little boy.

Will Scott, 27, a software developer in Austin who went to high school with Berg, told CBS that his friend was "approximately the coolest guy ever. He could build a computer out of cardboard and tin foil, and that's not really an exaggeration."

Scott recalled a summer science program he attended with Berg. "Nick had an entire department of his own that he basically invented called Bergology. It was this weird combination of computer engineering, electronics, craftsmanship" Scott said. "He was really good at it — he had an energetic personality and a really good attitude — he would really get along with anybody."