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Former \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d singer Caleb Flynn was found guilty Tuesday of murdering his wife in their Ohio home in February.
The jury took a little over two hours to convict Flynn on all nine counts of murder, assault and tampering with evidence in the death of Ashley Flynn, 37.
After Judge Jeannine Pratt read the verdict in Miami County Court of Common Pleas in Troy, Flynn broke down in tears and repeatedly wiped his nose and eyes. He was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Following the proceedings, Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins read from a statement released by Ashley\u2019s family, who said the verdict brings \u201cjustice and accountability.\u201d
\u201cHowever,\u201d he continued, reading from the statement, \u201cno verdict can bring Ashley back, give the girls back their mother, or erase the pain our family has endured. The cruelty of what happened to Ashley, and the things we\u2019ve been forced to hear and relive, have at times felt unbearable.\u201d
Sentencing will be Oct. 5, when Flynn faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Defense attorney Patrick Mulligan said his client will challenge the verdict.
\u201cThis decision will be tested thoroughly in the Court of Appeals,\u201d Mulligan said after Tuesday\u2019s proceedings.
Caleb Flynn found guilty of wife's murder
Flynn, a former music pastor, told a 911 dispatcher that his wife, who worked as a schoolteacher and volleyball coach, had been shot multiple times in the head by an intruder. He told the dispatcher that he did not know whether the intruder was still in their Tipp City home.
In police interviews played in court, Flynn told officers that he was sleeping on the couch when he woke up to the sound of gunshots. He said that a day before the killing, a man had come to their home and handed his wife an American flag while making a \u201cweird sales pitch for America.\u201d
When police arrived at the home on the day of the shooting, the garage door, a side door and the center console of Flynn\u2019s pickup truck were open. Flynn told police that he kept a gun in the console, but no weapon was found there.
Prosecutors alleged that Flynn, 40, staged the home invasion to mislead investigators and shared thoughts of killing his wife in text messages to his then-mistress. Authorities never found the gun used in the killing.
\u201cThe evidence has proven the defendant\u2019s account to be a complete fabrication,\u201d Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matthew C. Joseph said in closings Tuesday.
\u201cWhile the defendant told law enforcement that he was sleeping, his electronic devices documented something different. They documented movement and activity in the hours leading up to Ashley\u2019s murder,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cThe defendant said he was sleeping. His devices say he was awake and moving.\u201d
Joseph told the court that Flynn, who sang in televised auditions in Chicago for Season 12 of \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d in 2013 but did not advance to the main competition, \u201cwanted to be a victim\u201d and wanted to \u201ckeep his mistress and have his daughters all to himself.\u201d
\u201cBeing the victim allowed him to do that without being the husband who left his wife for a mistress,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cInstead, he\u2019d be the husband whose wife was tragically murdered by an unknown intruder.\u201d
Over eight days, the jury heard from 40 prosecution witnesses, including Alleigha Botner, who said she met Flynn when she was 20 and an intern at his church. She said they had been having an affair at the time of Ashley\u2019s killing.
Botner, now 24, testified that Flynn had made remarks that he hated his wife and harbored thoughts of killing her. Botner sobbed on the stand as she read some of their text messages, telling the court that she regretted having told him in one message: \u201cI want to kill her, Caleb.\u201d
Botner said Flynn replied: \u201cThat makes two of us.\u201d
In other text messages shown in court, Flynn discussed wanting his wife dead.
\u201cI was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail,\u201d he is alleged to have written in a text in August 2025, about six months before the killing.
In another text, Botner said she wasn\u2019t serious. \u201cI\u2019m not asking that you take her life obviously, because that\u2019s not what you should do, and I know you actually wouldn\u2019t,\u201d she wrote. \u201cBut to make the divorce happen, it would change everything.\u201d
Botner told the court that her feelings about Flynn have since changed and that she hated him. When a prosecutor asked her why, she said: \u201cBecause I believe that he murdered his wife.\u201d
The defense rested Monday without calling a single witness.
Mulligan, one of Flynn\u2019s defense attorneys, said in his closing argument that being \u201cunfaithful doesn\u2019t equal murder.\u201d
\u201cThis case is wholly lacking in concrete evidence. Connecting a couple of meaningless dots doesn\u2019t solve the case,\u201d he said.
Afterward, Mulligan said the defense was \u201cdisappointed\u201d in the jury\u2019s decision.
Ashley\u2019s family said she lived a virtuous life.
\u201cShe loved being a mom,\u201d Watkins said, still reading from the family statement. \u201cShe prayed over her girls, taught them to love God and showed them what it looked like to live with faith, kindness, joy and grace. We refuse to let the evil that ended Ashley\u2019s life have the final word in her story.\u201d
Watkins praised law enforcement and prosecutors for their success in prosecuting the case. He said he is tired of talking about Flynn and wants renewed focus on the victim.
\u201cThis world would be a much better place if all of us in it lived like Ashley,\u201d he said.
Selina Guevara is an NBC News field producer, based in Chicago.
Shaquille Brewster is a correspondent for NBC News.
Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.
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