Former ‘American Idol’ Contestant Found Guilty of Murdering Wife

The former American Idol contestant and church worship leader who texted his mistress that he wanted his wife dead before she was shot twice in the back of the head was convicted Tuesday on all counts, including aggravated murder with a firearm.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning its unanimous verdict after a two-week trial. Caleb Flynn was found guilty of aggravated murder, murder with a firearm specification, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence. He closed his eyes and began visibly crying as he listened to the verdict while standing in the courtroom in Troy, Ohio, according to a livestream from Court TV. His sentencing was set for Oct. 5.

Flynn, 40, did not testify in his own defense, but his lawyers argued that an intruder had entered the house and killed his wife, Ashley Flynn, on Feb. 16. Prosecutors said Flynn shot her as she lay in bed and then tried to stage the scene to resemble a botched burglary.

The bullets recovered from Ashley Flynn’s killing were 9-millimeter rounds, but the gun used in the murder was never found. Prosecutors said Flynn kept a 9-millimeter handgun in the center console of his truck, which was found open and empty when police arrived.

“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That is how dark and how hateful I feel,” Flynn wrote to his mistress, Alleigha Botner, in May 2025.

Three months later, in August, he wrote: “All I want is you. I’m sorry I’ve hurt you. I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail.” In another message, he added, “I hate every second of this life I have to live.” Prosecutors said the messages were among more than 100,000 that Flynn exchanged with Botner in the year before Ashley’s death.

In testimony streamed live by Court TV, Botner told jurors last week that she now believed Flynn had killed his wife, though she said that during their affair she had not thought him capable of violence.

Botner, 24, said she met Flynn at their church in the summer of 2022. She described a secret affair that began in March 2024 and included matching Harry Potter lightning-bolt tattoos. She showed jurors hers, on her right forearm, and said Flynn had his placed near his armpit because “he didn’t want Ashley to see.”

She also walked jurors through the lyrics of a song Flynn had written for her. Prosecutors later played a version set to AI-generated music, prompting what appeared to be secondhand embarrassment, barely suppressed smiles, and pained expressions as the camera panned across the gallery.

Botner testified that Flynn repeatedly refused to leave his wife to be with her, straining their relationship. The day before Ashley was killed, prosecutors said, Flynn texted Botner, “I choose you,” and “actions will come tomorrow.”

Both sides rested on Monday, with the defense declining to call any witnesses. Prosecutors, by contrast, called dozens. They said investigators found no evidence that an intruder had fled the scene and that damage to a garage side door, which was found open that night, appeared to have been made with multiple tools rather than by a single act of forced entry.

Flynn told police that he had been asleep in his daughters’ room when he heard the gunshots and called 911 shortly afterward. But Joseph Wilhelm, a digital forensics examiner with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, testified that Flynn’s electronic devices recorded 196 steps during the hour before the call. The devices recorded another 346 steps around the time Flynn called 911, at about 2:30 a.m.

Flynn was a contestant on Season 12 of American Idol in 2013. He qualified for the early pre-taped rounds but was eliminated before the season reached its televised live shows.

In his “Road to Hollywood” interview posted by American Idol on YouTube, Flynn said he auditioned for the popular talent contest because he loved to sing. “Msybe my wife kinda nudged me a little bit too,” he added, referring to Ashley.

He mentioned Ashley twice more in the two-minute video, saying he loved her “more than anything.” He then described himself as eager to learn from the show’s judges, adding, “When I want something, I’m gonna go after it.”