“American Idol” alum and ex-church pastor Caleb Flynn has been found guilty of heinously murdering his wife while she slept in their bed, so he could plan a future with his much-younger mistress, an Ohio jury decided Tuesday.
The 40-year-old husband and father of two preteen daughters staged a phony break-in at their Tipp City home as a cover for fatally shooting his wife, Ashley, on Feb. 16, the jury in Miami County concluded after deliberating for 2.5 hours.
“He made a choice. Ashley lost her life,” Ohio Prosecutor Paul Watkins told jurors during closing arguments Tuesday.
Flynn staged the crime scene to make it look like a home invader broke into the couple’s house, and shot his 37-year-old wife he and his two daughters were asleep, prosecutors argued in court.
Ashley was shot with a 9mm pistol, but the murder weapon was never recovered. Meanwhile, Flynn’s own 9mm pistol was missing from his truck, where he normally kept it.
Flynn hatched the horrific scheme after a yearslong affair with with Alleigha Botner, 24, whom he met in 2022 while she was a 20-year-old intern at the church where he served as a music pastor, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors unveiled a trove of more than 100,000 text messages between the lovers. Botner she was forced to read messages in court in which Flynn told her he wanted his wife dead and was pondering how to get away with killing her.
Hours before the murder, Flynn allegedly texted her: “I choose you. I’m free. Actions will come tomorrow.”
Flynn’s lawyers countered that the state had proven he was an adulterous husband who hated his wife — but that didn’t make him a murderer.
“This is a murder case, and it’s really nothing more,” said defense attorney Patrick Mulligan, stressing that investigators never recovered the murder weapon and lacked forensic evidence, eyewitness testimony or other direct proof that he was the one who killed his wife.
Flynn, who appeared on the competitive singing show, “American Idol” in 2013, gushed on TV at the time about how much he loved his wife, who was a teacher and volleyball coach.
