Verdict has been reached in Caleb Flynn murder trial

By Nicki Brown, Eric Levenson, Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN

(CNN) — A jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial of Caleb Flynn, the former “American Idol” contestant accused of killing his wife and staging the scene to look like an intruder did it, a court official told CNN.

Flynn, 40, has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated murder and tampering with evidence, among others. If convicted of the most serious charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The jury deliberated for about two hours. The verdict is expected to be read in court shortly.

Flynn is standing trial for the fatal shooting of his wife roughly seven months after he called 911 and told authorities an intruder broke into his home and killed her in the middle of the night.

Prosecutors allege Flynn murdered his wife, Ashley, and staged the crime scene, pointing to his affair with a fellow worship leader at his church as a motive. During the trial, jurors visited the crime scene at the family’s Tipp City, Ohio, home, watched police bodycam footage from the night of Ashley’s death and heard Flynn’s messages to his 24-year-old mistress.

“I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail,” Flynn wrote in a message to his paramour in August 2025.

In closing arguments, prosecutors spent about 16 minutes making their final case to jurors, while the defense took about 40 minutes to present theirs.

“As you consider each of those charges, remember that the evidence in this case is not to be considered in isolation,” Miami County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matt Joseph said in his closing. “Consider the evidence together, and when you do, the pieces connect. They corroborate one another, and they tell you what happened inside the Flynn residence on February 16, 2026.”

In the defense’s closing, attorney Patrick Mulligan said the prosecution proved Flynn had an affair, but they did not prove he killed his wife, noting the missing murder weapon.

“This simply is proven versus not proven, and respectfully I would suggest this is a matter of not proven, and therefore worthy of a verdict of not guilty,” he said.

Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins had the final say in the state’s rebuttal. “The evidence never pointed to an intruder; it pointed to the defendant,” he said.

Flynn appeared emotional, wiping tears and sniffling as both the prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments.

The closing arguments came after nearly two weeks of testimony. The prosecution called 40 witnesses over seven days of testimony, while the defense did not call any witnesses.

In opening statements, the prosecution said Flynn wanted to frame a “faceless” intruder for his wife’s killing in order to keep his relationship with his mistress, full custody of his two daughters, his “lucrative” job at his wife’s family business and his position as a worship leader.

“The evidence will not show that Ashley was murdered by a stranger who vanished into the night,” Watkins said. “The evidence will show that Ashley was murdered by her husband, the father of her two young children.”

The defense argued there was simply a lack of evidence, despite his secret affair.

“Caleb gave them motive and his conduct made him incredibly easy to dislike – none of those things can substitute for proof of murder,” Smith said in her opening statement.

Prosecution focused on affair, alleged intruder

The prosecution focused its case on Flynn’s secret affair and disproving his claim that an intruder broke into their home.

The case began in the early morning hours of February 16 when Flynn called 911 and reported, “Somebody broke into my home and shot my wife.”

Police raced to the scene and found Ashley dead in her bedroom of two gunshot wounds. Flynn told investigators he had been lying in his daughters’ bedroom when he heard a gunshot. He said he noticed the garage side door was flung open, and then found his wife dead in the bed.

“I went in their room, and I laid down with them for – I don’t even know how long, and that’s when I heard it,” Flynn told officers in a conversation captured on police bodycam footage.

“When I finally got up, the door leading to the garage was open, but I didn’t see anybody,” he said.

The center console of Flynn’s truck, where he said he stored his handgun, was open when police arrived, according to David Hammond, a special agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Investigators did not find any trace of an intruder fleeing the area, and the damage to the garage side door was inconsistent with a typical break-in, police testified. The firearm has never been found.

In an interview later that day, Flynn told an investigator he and his wife had no marital problems “whatsoever.”

Former mistress gave key testimony

Alleigha Botner, 24, testified across two days about her and Flynn’s nearly two-year romantic relationship. She read aloud their text messages in which Flynn described how much he hated his wife and expressed a desire to rid her from his life.

“I just want her dead and gone,” Flynn wrote to the mistress in early 2025.

In a spree of texts the day before his wife’s death, Flynn assured Botner he was going to get a divorce the following day. When Botner learned of Ashley’s death the next morning, she said her “heart started pounding.”

“It seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he’s divorcing her, she’s just dead all of a sudden,” Botner testified.

Hours after Ashley’s death, Flynn and Botner met at his in-laws’ house, where members of their church were gathered. When Botner arrived, Flynn hugged her, she testified.

“It didn’t happen the way we thought it would, did it?” Flynn said, according to her testimony.

Botner asked Flynn a lot of questions about the shooting, she testified, telling the court she was “very suspicious.”

According to Botner’s testimony, Flynn told her he had been sleeping on the couch when he heard a gunshot and ran straight to the garage, where he saw the side door open. He said he then found Ashley dead in the bedroom, Botner testified. That account appeared to contradict Flynn’s statement to law enforcement in which he said he was lying in his daughters’ bedroom when he heard a gunshot.

Other witnesses testified about evidence prosecutors say undermines Flynn’s initial story to police. A digital forensics examiner said Flynn’s electronic devices recorded roughly 200 steps at intermittent times in the hour before he called 911 to report his wife had been shot. Around 2:30 a.m., when Flynn called 911, another 346 steps were recorded.

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