Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn has been found guilty of murdering his wife. The 40-year-old shot his wife Ashley while she slept in their home in Ohio in February this year.
Verdict and charges
A jury ruled that Flynn was guilty of murder after only two and half hours of deliberation. The verdict was read out by the judge at the Miami County court and Flynn was said to have started crying at the time. He had been charged with two misdemeanour counts of intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness, but prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss these charges.
The former singer faces life in prison without parole for Ashley's murder. The police said he shot his wife while their two daughters, who are nine and 11, were home. He had initially called the police and claimed that burglar broke into his home and killed his wife, but prosecutors said Flynn, who became a pastor, staged the break in to mislead the investigators.
Affair and motive
Prior to his wife's death, Flynn had been having an affair for years with Alleigha Botner, a worship leader at his church. Prosecutors said he wanted to leave his marriage without losing custody of his children, his position in the church and his job at Ashley's family business, and thus turned to murder.
Botner, 24, testified that she and Flynn had been engaged in an affair and that he had told her he hated his wife and thought about killing her. She added that she met Flynn in 2022, when she was 20-years-old and was interning at the Christian Life Center. The two started their romance in 2024 and lasted for 18 months.
Messages and testimony
In messages Botner read out to the court, Flynn told her he was only still with his wife for his daughters. But he later texted her that he was willing to risk his "daughters, a quarter-million-dollar salary job, a place to live, possibly a church I serve at, public shame and humiliation, and way more" to be with Botner.
She testified that she gave Flynn an ultimatum to leave his wife for her several times and that the last one came the same month that the murder was committed. In another message, he wrote to Botner: "I was up until 4am last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail."
Botner responded by telling him not to kill Ashley: "I'm not asking that you take her life, obviously, because that's not what you should do, and I know you actually wouldn't. But to make the divorce happen, it would change everything."
Shortly before midnight on the night before Ashley died, Flynn sent a final message to Botner. He said: "Good night, tomorrow's a big day. I've got to get to bed. I choose you, I'm about to be free."
Defence and American Idol past
Flynn's lawyers have said that investigators rushed to judgment after the affair was revealed. Pointing out that a gun was never found, defence attorney Patrick Mulligan told the court: "His being unfaithful doesn't equal murder. The issue here isn't, 'Was he a good husband?'"
This comes 13 years after Flynn was on American Idol. He took part in the singing competition in 2013, telling the audience that his wife had encouraged him to pursue his dreams. He did not advance to the main competition.
