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Caleb Flynn, the former "American Idol" contestant and pastor, has been found guilty of murder in the killing of his wife, Ashley, 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. 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.
Prosecutors said Flynn, 40, shot his wife twice in the back of the head while she was asleep in bed on Feb. 16. They allege 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. 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."
Caleb Flynn, the former "American Idol" contestant and pastor, has been found guilty of murder in the killing of his wife, Ashley, after he tried to pin the blame on an intruder breaking into his home in February.