Jurors spent hours Thursday listening to droves of messages exchanged between former "American Idol" contestant Caleb Flynn and his former mistress, Alleigha Botner, before defense attorneys sought to recast the relationship as an emotionally volatile affair centered on divorce – not murder.
asserted
attorneys → spend → divorce
The day ended with an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation digital forensics expert beginning testimony about data recovered from Flynn's cellphone.
asserted
expert → end → cellphone
Here are the biggest moments from Day 6 of testimony:
1. Botner said 'I want to kill her'
Botner testified that she and Flynn exchanged messages about wanting his wife dead months before Ashley was killed.
"I just wish I didn't say this," she said as she became emotional on the stand.
asserted
she → say → stand
Botner then read her message to Flynn: "I want to kill her, Caleb."
asserted
I → read → her
She said Flynn responded: "That makes two of us."
asserted
That → say → us
WATCH: Caleb Flynn had ominous response when mistress said ‘I want to kill her’
2.
asserted
I → watch → her
Jurors heard the final messages before Ashley Flynn was killed
Prosecutors focused heavily on the final hours before Ashley Flynn was shot, walking jurors through messages exchanged the night before her death.
asserted
Flynn → hear → death
Botner repeatedly questioned whether Flynn was prepared to leave his wife.
asserted
Flynn → question → wife
"I said, 'Caleb, I've never felt anything as deep as I felt with you.
asserted
I → say → you
I trusted you with my heart.
asserted
I → trust → heart
We will see if your actions finally match your words,'" Botner testified, reading from the messages.
asserted
Botner → see → messages
She said Flynn responded: "I've never felt anything like it either.
asserted
I → say → it
It's why I know it's actually real ...
asserted
it → know → ?
I'm terrified as well, but tomorrow it all starts."
asserted
it → start → ?
When Botner asked whether he was "more excited or scared," Flynn allegedly replied: "Well, I got a pretty massive day tomorrow so I'm gonna head to sleep.
uncertain
I → ask → sleep
Please be praying for me and I'll update you the whole time."
asserted
I → pray → you
Later in the conversation, Botner testified she wrote: "You're about to be free."
asserted
You → testify → conversation
She said Flynn replied: "I choose you ...
asserted
I → say → you
Flynn allegedly made an ominous remark after Ashley's death
Botner testified she later went to Ashley's parents' home, where church staff had gathered after the shooting.
uncertain
staff → make → shooting
She said Flynn hugged her shortly after she arrived.
"The first thing he said to me was, 'It didn't happen the way we thought it would, did it?'"
asserted
it → say → me
She testified she immediately questioned him about what happened and became increasingly suspicious as he described hearing a gunshot, finding blood inside the home and discovering Ashley.
asserted
he → testify → Ashley
Defense argued the messages were about divorce – not murder
Defense attorney Emily Smith sought to reframe the prosecution's key evidence, arguing Botner understood Flynn's messages to be about leaving his wife – not killing her.
Smith asked whether Flynn's repeated references to becoming "free," taking action and leaving Ashley meant he intended to divorce her.
asserted
he → argue → her
"Yes," Botner replied.
asserted
Botner → reply → ?
Smith then asked whether she understood those same messages to mean Flynn was planning a murder.
asserted
Flynn → ask → murder
"I did not," Botner answered.
asserted
Botner → do → ?
Smith also zeroed in on Botner's ChatGPT research before Ashley's death.
asserted
Smith → zero → death
Botner testified she looked up divorce proceedings, deleting messages and digital evidence because she feared Ashley could discover their affair if Flynn followed through with a divorce.
uncertain
Flynn → testify → divorce
She also said she was trying to keep the affair from becoming public – not cover up a homicide.
5.
asserted
she → say → homicide
Botner said she never believed Flynn meant violent messages literally
asserted
Flynn → say → messages
One of the defense's most significant exchanges came when Smith questioned Botner about Flynn's repeated statements that he wanted Ashley dead.
asserted
Ashley → come → statements
Botner acknowledged she did not believe he actually intended to carry out those statements.
asserted
he → acknowledge → statements
"I did not believe that he meant it," she said.
asserted
she → believe → it
Asked why, Botner replied, "I don't think he could ever be capable of doing something like that."
uncertain
he → ask → that
6. Defense portrayed Botner as pushing Flynn to leave his wife
Smith then turned to Botner's own messages, arguing she repeatedly pressured Flynn to leave Ashley.
"I'm so done with you," Botner wrote in one of the texts she read in court.
asserted
she → portray → court
"You have murdered my heart."
asserted
You → murder → heart
"I hope you're glad you took my virginity and also my heart and stomped all over it," she later continued.
asserted
she → hope → it
I'm done."
asserted
I → do → ?
Smith also walked Botner through months of messages in which she acknowledged giving Flynn four or five separate deadlines to leave Ashley after he failed to follow through on earlier promises.
asserted
he → walk → promises
The defense also pointed to exchanges in which Botner demanded reassurance Flynn hated Ashley, questioned him whenever he spent time with his wife and threatened to end the relationship if he didn't leave Ashley.
asserted
he → point → Ashley
Prosecutors began building a digital timeline – and played AI-generated songs
After Botner stepped down, prosecutors called Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Joseph Wilhelm, a digital forensics examiner who spent the remainder of the day walking jurors through evidence recovered from Flynn's iPhone.
asserted
who → begin → iPhone
…and 8 more, not listed.
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