▶ Watch Video: Former “American Idol” contestant found guilty in wife’s murder
Caleb Flynn, a former “American Idol” contestant and pastor, has been found guilty of murder in the killing of his wife, Ashley Flynn, after he tried to pin the blame on an intruder breaking into his home in February.
Flynn was found guilty of nine charges in total, including aggravated murder and three charges of murder, two charges of felonious assault and three charges of tampering with evidence. The jury also found Flynn used a firearm in relation to seven of the charges, which carries a sentencing enhancement to those crimes.
He is set to be sentenced on Oct. 5.
Flynn began tearing up as the guilty verdicts were read in court Tuesday. Afterward, while lawyers from both sides spoke with the judge about possible sentencing dates, Flynn hunched over and appeared to be struggling to hold back further tears.
The jury deliberated for about two hours, which led Flynn’s defense attorney to later quip it was “twice the time that the O.J. [Simpson] verdict came back on, for those old enough to remember that.”
Prosecutors said Flynn, 40, shot his wife twice in the back of the head while she was asleep in bed on Feb. 16. They alleged he then staged their Tipp City, Ohio, home to mimic a break-in and called 911 to claim an intruder was responsible for the murder. The gun used in the shooting has not been recovered.
Flynn had claimed he was in another room when his wife, 37, was killed.
“Today’s verdict brings justice and accountability for Ashley’s death, and our family is deeply grateful to everyone who helped bring us to this moment,” Ashley’s family said in a statement read by prosecutor Paul Watkins after the trial. “However, no verdict can bring Ashley back, give the girls back their mother or erase the pain our family has endured.”
Watkins said he was done talking about Flynn and urged the community and the media to focus on Ashley instead.
“This world would be a much better place if all of us in it lived like Ashley,” he said.
Flynn’s attorney, Patrick Mulligan, told reporters after the verdict was read that Flynn maintains his innocence and, “I fully anticipate that there will be a notice of appeal filed, and this decision will be tested thoroughly in the Court of Appeals.”
Asked about Flynn’s reaction to being found guilty on all charges, Mulligan said his client was “upset. And I understand that because, I think he had expectations. And, you know, it’s disappointing.”
In a statement later Tuesday, Mulligan said: “We have deep respect for the jury system in the United States. At the same time, we are disappointed with the results. Not all juries answer questions correctly. I am confident that this decision by the jury will be tested as many times as is required during the appeal process, which will undoubtedly begin after sentencing.”
Flynn texted, “I need her to die”
In damning testimony, Alleigha Botner, 24, who had an affair with the defendant, testified over two days about the tens of thousands of text messages the two shared, including some in which he wrote he wanted his wife dead.
Botner testified to a roughly 18-month sexual affair with Flynn, whom she met when she was an intern at his church. She described how the two hid their messages, admitted to lying to the FBI at first, and explained how she lost her phone and work laptop just weeks before Ashley’s death.
Asked how she feels about Flynn today, she testified, “I hate him.”
In the texts, many of which were read in court, Flynn repeatedly said he wished Ashley was dead.
“I need her to die, to cheat again, to leave,” Flynn wrote to Botner about his wife on Feb. 11, 2025, almost exactly a year before she was shot. Weeks later, he texted Botner, “I hate her as well and I want her gone.” On March 24, 2025, Botner wrote, “What can I do?” and he responded, “Kill her.”
Flynn once texted Botner, “I was up until 4 a.m. last night … trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail. If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Botner said Flynn talked about leaving Ashley “four or five times” starting around August 2025, and she set deadlines for October, November, December and possibly January.
Botner said she gave him a final deadline of Jan. 11, 2026, to separate from Ashley, then cut off contact until Feb. 14, two days before the murder. During that gap, he sent her a song he wrote, including the line, “Life is now empty since the moment I lost you.”
In his last messages to Botner from the night before the killing, Flynn wrote, “It’s happening,” “actions will come tomorrow,” “I choose you” and “about to be free.” He also said Feb. 16 would be “a day I never forget” and “Tomorrow is a big day.” Botner told the court she understood “actions” to mean the divorce.
Flynn’s defense
Flynn’s lawyers said he was asleep at the time of the shooting and awoke to gunshots while he was in their daughter Ava’s room.
“Caleb is not on trial for being a bad husband,” his attorney, Emily Smith, said during opening statements, conceding he had an affair with Botner. “He’s not on trial for cheating. … A man can fail as a husband without being a murderer.”
Tipp City police released body camera video of them arriving at the house after Flynn called 911, with video of him crying and asking, “Is she, is she gone, sir?”
Flynn’s attorneys argued there was no proof he shot his wife.
FBI Special Agent Sarah Deamron testified on the alleged break-in at the house, saying she found no pry, kick or ram marks on the outside of the door. She found gouge marks on the inside trim of the frame, she said, as opposed to the outside as one would expect. She said she had seen about 75 doors forced open, and the one in this case was not consistent with a forced entry.
FBI Special Agent Andrea Kinzig, who testified during the trial, said she found no evidence on Ashley’s phone of her having an affair as Flynn had told Botner, according to her testimony.
Flynn did not take the stand.
“You heard his statement three times with the police. There wasn’t any reason to put him on for a fourth time,” Mulligan said after the trial of the decision not to have Flynn testify.
Defense questions lost cellphone and computer
While text messages were recovered from Caleb and Ashley Flynn’s phones, none were able to be taken from Botner’s devices. She said on the stand her phone had fallen into the water on a solo trip to Clearwater, Florida, and stopped working. Her laptop, meanwhile, she said was lost on a flight on the way home and never recovered.
“I genuinely … it was completely innocent … anyone who knows me knows that I lose things,” she told the court.
Flynn’s defense lawyers argue Botner’s phone and computer being lost is not a coincidence and suggest it could mean she played a role in the murder. However, Ring video shown during the trial showed she was at home during the time the murder was committed.
In her first interview with FBI agents, Botner told them she did not believe that Flynn had killed his wife, but in her second interview with agents, she said she did, ultimately concluding her death was “way too much of a coincidence,” she testified in court.
Botner was not charged in the case, and told the court she was not offered anything for her testimony. She told the court when she texted she wanted Ashley “gone,” she meant divorce.
The defense called no witnesses in the trial.
Flynn professed love for Ashley on “American Idol”
Caleb Flynn appeared on season 12 of “American Idol,” which took place in 2013. He was given a “golden ticket” to Hollywood after auditioning but was cut early on in the competition.
“Music is all I know, it’s what I live to do and I love to sing, so that’s why I auditioned,” he said in videos from the show. “Maybe my wife kinda nudged me a little too.”
He also raved about Ashley, adding Carrie Underwood was his favorite contestant and his wife would look just like her if she dyed her hair blond.
“I love my wife more than anything. She is very, very pretty,” he said. “I love her.”
In closing arguments Tuesday, Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins picked apart each of Flynn’s defenses.
“He had a lawful way to leave, but he was too greedy,” Watkins said in finishing his rebuttal. “People lie. Evidence doesn’t.”
