Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn convicted of murdering wife

Caleb Flynn, a 40-year-old former American Idol contestant and church worship leader, was convicted on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, of murdering his wife Ashley Flynn. The unanimous verdict was delivered in a courtroom in Troy, Ohio, after a two-week trial. Rolling Stone

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours. They found Flynn guilty of aggravated murder, murder with a firearm specification — an additional penalty attached to using a gun — felonious assault and tampering with evidence. The charges relate to the fatal shooting of Ashley Flynn in the couple's Ohio home. NBC News

Ashley Flynn was killed on 16 February. She was shot twice in the back of the head inside her home. Prosecutors said Flynn shot her as she lay in bed and then tried to stage the scene to resemble a botched burglary.

Investigators found no evidence that an intruder had fled the scene. Damage to a garage side door, found open that night, appeared to have been made with multiple tools rather than by a single act of forced entry. The bullets recovered were 9-millimetre rounds. The gun was never found. Prosecutors said Flynn kept a 9-millimetre handgun in the centre console of his truck, which was found open and empty when police arrived.

Much of the trial focused on Flynn's affair with Alleigha Botner, aged 24. She said she met Flynn at their church in the summer of 2022. The prosecution characterised the relationship as beginning in March 2024 and told the court the pair had matching Harry Potter lightning-bolt tattoos. In the year before Ashley Flynn's death, Flynn and Botner exchanged more than 100,000 messages.

In May 2025, Flynn wrote to Botner that if he could kill his wife and not go to hell, he would do it in a heartbeat, prosecutors said. The day before Ashley Flynn was killed, Flynn texted Botner "I choose you" and "actions will come tomorrow". The court heard those messages as part of the prosecution case that the killing was planned.

Flynn told police he had been asleep in his daughters' room when he heard gunshots. He called 911 at about 2.30 a.m. Digital forensics examiner Joseph Wilhelm testified that Flynn's devices recorded 196 steps in the hour before the call and another 346 steps around the time of the call.

Both sides rested on Monday. The defence called no witnesses. Flynn did not testify in his own defence.

The verdict was reported on Tuesday, 29 September 2026. 6ABC