A former Ohio music pastor who once appeared on "American Idol" is on trial on charges that he killed his wife while
more than a decade after gushing to TV viewers about how she encouraged him to chase his dreams on the singing competition.
asserted
she → appear → competition
Caleb Flynn, 40, has pleaded not guilty to murder, assault and tampering with evidence charges in the February shooting of Ashley Flynn, 37, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach, at their Tipp City home, north of Dayton.
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Flynn → plead → Dayton
Flynn and their two daughters were home when police arrived.
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police → arrive → ?
Flynn's trial, which heads to closing arguments on Tuesday, has featured testimony from a woman who said she and Flynn had been having an affair at the time of his wife's killing.
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she → head → killing
Jurors also heard AI-generated love songs that prosecutors say he made for his paramour and some of the more than 100,000 text messages that authorities say they exchanged.
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they → hear → that
Prosecutors say Flynn staged a home invasion to mislead investigators and claimed in a frantic 911 call that a burglar had shot his wife.
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burglar → say → wife
Flynn's alleged paramour, 24-year-old Alleigha Botner, testified that he had remarked that he hated his wife and harbored thoughts of killing her.
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he → testify → her
Here's what you need to know about Flynn's trial:
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you → need → trial
Mistress testifies at trial
Botner's bombshell affair testimony has been the highlight so far.
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testimony → testify → trial
On the witness stand for two days, Botner described how she met Flynn in 2022 while she was a 20-year-old intern at his church and carried on an affair with him that spanned more than a year.
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that → describe → year
She detailed the secret life she says they shared, including candid conversations in which he mused about leaving his wife and wanting her dead.
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her → detail → wife
"He told me that he hates her," Botner testified.
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Botner → tell → her
"He told me the only reason that he's still with her is because of the girls."
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he → tell → girls
Botner sobbed as she read some of her text messages with Flynn, saying she regretted telling him: "I want to kill her, Caleb."
Rather than dissuade her from that dark thought, Flynn replied: "That makes two of us."
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That → sob → us
In August 2025, about six months before the killing, Flynn texted Botner: "I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail."
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I → texte → jail
In another text message read in court, Botner said she wasn't serious, telling Flynn: "I'm not asking that you take her life obviously, because that's not what you should do, and I know
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I → read → what
But to make the divorce happen, it would change everything."
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it → make → everything
Botner at one point texted Flynn: "Until she's gone, I'm gone."
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I → texte → Flynn
On cross-examination about that text and others in which she presented similar ultimatums, Botner testified, "I always meant divorce."
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I → present → divorce
When a prosecutor asked how she felt about Flynn now, Botner said: "I hate him."
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I → ask → him
Asked why, she said: "Because I believe that he murdered his wife."
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he → ask → wife
Botner did not speak to the FBI until four days after the murder, when a tip from her aunt prompted law enforcement to reach out to her.
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tip → speak → her
At first, Botner told FBI investigators that she didn't believe Flynn had killed his wife.
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Flynn → tell → wife
In her second interview, however, she said she had concluded her killing was "way too much of a coincidence," she testified.
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she → say → coincidence
Prosecutors played some of Flynn's AI-generated love songs, which included lyrics such as: "Age never mattered, when it was you and me," and "we danced on the edge of a life we could choose, so close to forever, so much left to lose."
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much → play → forever
911 call audio, police interviews played in court
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interviews → play → court
They also played audio of Flynn's 911 call, in which he said someone had broken into his home and killed his wife.
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someone → play → wife
He told a dispatcher that she was shot multiple times in the head and didn't know whether the intruder was still there.
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intruder → tell → head
When police arrived, the garage door, a side door and the center console of Flynn's pickup truck were all open.
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door → arrive → truck
Flynn told officers he kept a gun in the console, but no weapon was found there, according to a police report.
uncertain
weapon → tell → report
Police say they never found the gun used in the killing.
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they → say → killing
The defense has argued that no gunshot residue was found on Flynn the night of the murder and that none of his wife's blood was on him either.
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none → argue → him
They also noted that investigators found none of Flynn's tools appeared to have caused the damage to the garage door.
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none → note → door
Jurors also saw videos of Flynn's police interviews.
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Jurors → see → interviews
Crying and wearing a sweatshirt that said, "God-Sized Vision," he said he was sleeping on the couch when he was awoken by a pair of gunshots.
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he → cry → gunshots
Flynn told investigators that a man had come to the door a day before the killing and handed his wife an American flag while making a "weird sales pitch for America."
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man → tell → America
In another police interview, Flynn told investigators: "We are a normal married couple who love each other and disagree.
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who → tell → other
I've never laid hands on her."
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I → lay → her
Flynn didn't testify on his own behalf.
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Flynn → testify → behalf
Nor did anybody else.
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anybody → do → ?
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
