An Ohio jury convicted former “American Idol” contestant Caleb Flynn on Tuesday of murdering his wife, Ashley, rejecting his claim that an intruder shot her inside their home.
Jurors in Miami County Common Pleas Court in Troy deliberated for roughly two to three hours before finding Flynn, 40, guilty on all nine counts, including aggravated murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. They also found he used a firearm in seven of the charges, which adds sentencing enhancements. Sentencing is scheduled for October.
Ashley Flynn, 37, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach, died of two gunshots to the back of the head on Feb. 16 in the family’s Tipp City house. Her husband called 911 around 2:30 a.m. and reported a break-in. Police never recovered the 9-millimeter weapon.
Prosecutors argued Flynn staged the scene to escape a marriage he no longer wanted while keeping custody of his two daughters. They pointed to a side garage door blocked by a refrigerator and to testimony that he removed security cameras from the home about three weeks before the killing, including one that would have covered the garage entrance.
The state’s key witness was Alleigha Botner, 24, a fellow churchgoer who had an affair with Flynn. She told jurors she once texted him, “I want to kill her, Caleb,” and said he answered in kind. Prosecutors showed jurors over 100,000 messages between the two, and said the language turned darker in the months before the shooting. Home video showed Botner at her own residence during the killing.
Flynn did not testify. His attorneys conceded the affair but said it proved nothing about murder. “A man can fail as a husband without being a murderer,” attorney Emily Smith told jurors in opening statements. Co-counsel Patrick Mulligan called the case lacking in concrete evidence, and the defense suggested Botner’s missing phone and computer raised questions about her role.
Flynn, a former music pastor, sang in televised auditions for Season 12 of “American Idol” in 2013 but never reached the main competition. He pleaded not guilty after his arrest days after the killing and had been held on a $2 million bond. Flynn shook his head and sobbed as the clerk read the verdicts.
