Former “American Idol” singer Caleb Flynn, a 40-year-old worship pastor who told a 911 dispatcher that an intruder had shot his wife as she slept, was convicted Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, of murdering her inside their Tipp City, Ohio, home a little before 2 a.m. on Feb. 16.
Jurors at the Miami County Court of Common Pleas in Troy, Ohio, deliberated nearly 2 1/2 hours before finding Flynn guilty of all nine charges against him, including aggravated murder, multiple counts of murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. They also determined he had a firearm while committing the murder. Flynn began to tear up as the verdict was read and appeared to briefly sob in his chair. The judge revoked his bond. He faces up to life in prison without parole.
A 911 Call and a Missing Gun
Ashley Flynn, 37, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach, was shot twice in the back of the head in her bed, prosecutors said. Her husband called 911 to report a break-in at the couple’s home in the suburb north of Dayton. He was arrested three days later.
Prosecutors told jurors the crime scene had been staged, pointing to a side garage door they said was damaged to suggest an intruder had forced his way in. No gun has been recovered, and prosecutors allege Flynn got rid of it. Miami County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Joseph reminded jurors that Flynn kept a 9mm handgun in the console of his truck, that the truck sat in the garage, and that the console was open and the weapon gone by the time law enforcement arrived. Ashley Flynn was killed with 9mm bullets.
Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins said Flynn first told officers he was in his daughters’ bedroom when he heard gunfire and discovered his wife’s body after noticing the garage side door standing open, then later told investigators he had not been to the garage at all. Over eight days of testimony, the state presented police body camera footage along with activity recorded by Flynn’s iPhone and Apple Watch, which Joseph argued placed him awake and moving at the hour he claimed to have been asleep.
More Than 100,000 Text Messages
The most damaging witness was Alleigha Botner, 24, a worship leader who met Flynn while interning at the church where he was worship pastor. She spent two days on the stand describing their affair of nearly 18 months, and some of the more than 100,000 messages the two exchanged were read aloud in court.
In an August 2025 message, Flynn told Botner he had lost a night’s sleep turning over ways to kill his wife without going to prison, and in another he said he wanted her dead. He told Botner he planned a 40-day fast to seek guidance from the Lord about whether to leave his marriage. The texts showed the pair nicknamed Ashley Flynn “douche” and used slurs to refer to her, and that Botner pressed him with repeated ultimatums in the months before the killing. Hours before his wife was shot, Flynn wrote: “I choose you. I’m free. Actions will come tomorrow, February 16, a day I’ll never forget.”
Asked on the stand how she feels about Flynn now, Botner said, “I believe that he murdered his wife.” She also walked jurors line by line through the lyrics of an AI-generated song Flynn had written and dedicated to her. Video of the jury’s reaction as the song played in court, which appeared to include laughter, spread widely online. Special agent Joseph Wilhelm of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation testified that several apps were uninstalled from Flynn’s phone before his wife’s death, among them Instagram and an AI music-generating app that he linked to Flynn’s relationship with Botner.
Defense Expects to Appeal
The defense called no witnesses. Attorney Patrick Mulligan argued the state had assembled only circumstantial evidence, that proof of infidelity was not proof of murder, and that investigators were blaming Flynn for a weapon they could not find. Watkins countered that the messages laid bare Flynn’s hatred for his wife, and described him as a man afraid of losing custody of his daughters in a divorce, along with his job at her family’s business and his position at the church. Joseph told jurors that casting himself as a victim let Flynn keep that job, collect his wife’s life insurance and preserve his standing in the church.
The couple’s daughters, nine and 11 at the time, were in the next room when their mother was shot. They did not testify, though Ashley Flynn’s sister, Keyla Keyt, told the court how the girls reacted when they learned of their father’s affair. Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Watkins said the attention now belongs to Ashley rather than to the man convicted of killing her, and read a statement in which her family said her faith shaped how she lived, that she prayed over her girls, and that the violence that ended her life would not be the last word about her. Defense attorneys said they expect a notice of appeal to be filed. Flynn, who received a golden ticket to Hollywood on “American Idol” in 2013 but never reached the main competition, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5.
