Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn found guilty of murdering wife
Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn has been found guilty of murdering his wife Ashley.
Flynn, 40, was accused of fatally shooting his 37-year-old wife at their home in Ohio on 16 February this year, while their two children slept.
Flynn told investigators that an intruder had broken into their home and shot his wife.
In court, audio from the 911 call was played, prompting the former music pastor to break down in tears.
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In the call, he can be heard telling the dispatcher: “Somebody broke into my home – somebody broke into my home and shot my wife.
“My wife, she’s got two shots to her head. There’s blood everywhere. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”
However, prosecutors shared chilling messages between Flynn and his mistress Alleigha Botner, 24, in which he spoke about killing his wife.
In one message read out in court, he wrote: “If I could literally kill her and not go to hell I would do it in a heartbeat. That is how dark and hateful I feel.”
“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That’s how dark and hateful I feel,” Flynn wrote on May 16, 2025.
In another message shared in court, Botner wrote: “I want to kill her, Caleb,” on July 10, 2025, to which Flynn replied: “That makes two of us.”
Botner told the court that on 15 February, Flynn sent her a flurry of text messages telling her he was going to leave Ashley and planned to ask her for a divorce the following day.
The next day Botner learnt through a fellow churchgoer that Ashely had been killed.
“My heart started pounding,” Botner said.
“It seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he’s divorcing her, she’s just dead all of a sudden.”
After eight days of testimony, the jury took a little over two hours to find him guilty of all nine counts of murder, assault and tampering with evidence.
After Jeannine Pratt read the verdict in Miami County Court of Common Pleas, Flynn broke down in tears and began wiping his eyes and nose.
Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins read a statement from Ashley’s family, saying the verdict helped bring ‘justice and accountability’.
The statement continued: “However, no verdict can bring Ashley back, give the girls back their mother, or erase the pain our family has endured. The cruelty of what happened to Ashley, and the things we’ve been forced to hear and relive, have at times felt unbearable.”
Flynn will be sentenced on 5 October and faces the possibility of life without parole.
Speaking after the verdict was announced, Flynn’s lawyer said his client plans to challenge the conviction.
“This decision will be tested thoroughly in the Court of Appeals,” he said.
Flynn appeared on the 12th season of American Idol but didn’t make it through until the end.
In footage from his appearance on the long-running show, Flynn credited his late wife with encouraging him to apply.
"I love my wife more than anything,” he said.
"She's very, very pretty, just - woof, I love her."
Claire Reid