Ex-mistress testifies against former 'American Idol' contestant: 'I believe that he murdered his wife'
The former mistress of an Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his wife in their bedroom and staging the crime scene to make it seem like an intruder broke into their home testified Wednesday that she believes he committed the murder.
Caleb Flynn, 40, a former pastor who once appeared as a contestant on the fourth season of "American Idol," is on trial in Miami County, Ohio, for the murder of his 37-year-old wife, Ashley Flynn.
He was arrested days after calling 911 to report a burglary and shooting at their home in Tipp City, north of Dayton in February. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors allege that Caleb Flynn shot his wife twice in the back of the head in bed, while their two daughters were asleep in the house, and manipulated the scene to make it seem as if someone broke into their home.
Hours before calling 911 on Feb. 16 to report the shooting and intruder, Caleb Flynn texted his former mistress, "I choose you. I'm free. Actions will come tomorrow," according to prosecutors.
The former mistress, 24-year-old Alleigha Botner, testified for the state during his trial on Wednesday that he told her that he planned to talk to his wife about divorce on Feb. 16, and that's what she understood the words "Actions will come tomorrow" to mean. Upon learning that Ashley Flynn was dead, she told the court, "My heart started pounding."
"In my mind, it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he's divorcing her, she's just dead all of a sudden," Botner said.
Botner said she thought she once loved Caleb Flynn, though when asked by the prosecutor to describe her feelings for him today, she said, "I hate him."
Asked why her feelings changed, she testified, "Because I believe that he murdered his wife."
Botner testified that she first met Caleb Flynn in 2022 while interning at their church. She said they had a sexual relationship for about a year, starting in May 2024, despite knowing he was married.
"I found myself in a place I never thought I would be," she said. "I never morally justified it. I just did it, even while I knew it was wrong."
She testified that they talked about marriage and got matching tattoos of a lightning bolt -- which she said was a reference to Harry Potter, "one of the first things we bonded over." She showed the jury her tattoo on her arm, and said Caleb Flynn's was on his armpit because "he didn't want Ashley to see."
She testified that Caleb Flynn would regularly express that he wanted his wife "gone" or "dead," and that he referred to his spouse as "douchebag," "whore," "slut" and "spawn of Satan."
"He said that he wishes if he could kill her and not go to jail or get arrested -- I forget exactly what he said -- that he would do it," she testified.
She read some of the more than 100,000 text messages she said they exchanged during her testimony, in which he allegedly said he hated his wife.
Botner said that she grew frustrated in their relationship because Caleb Flynn never did leave his wife, even going on a 15th anniversary cruise together. During that cruise, she said Ashley Flynn discovered their text messages and confronted her about it over text, asking to meet. Botner said she never did meet with his wife.
"I didn't think I could face her, knowing that I was having a relationship with her husband," Botner said.
The court played an audio message she said Caleb Flynn sent her following the cruise to apologize.
"I was wrong for going on a cruise. I was wrong for hurting you," the message said in part.
"I know I, yet again, have made things worse. It only comes out of just sheer absolute massive love for you," the message said. "But until I can be released from her, I know that you do not have to do anything."
She said she told Caleb Flynn that she was done waiting and if he didn't leave his wife by Jan. 11, she would move on with her life.
"He said he was going to leave her by that date, but then he didn't," she said.
She testified that the following month, he told her he was divorcing his wife, though she said didn't believe him.
"I told him that I don't trust him, and that I'm moving on with my life," she said.
The prosecutors showed lyrics of a song she said Caleb Flynn wrote and sent her around that time, that stated in part, "Life is now empty since the moment I lost you."
On Feb. 15, a day before Ashley Flynn was killed, she said she sent Caleb Flynn images from ChatGPT on how divorce proceedings work with proof of an affair.
"He was worried about custody with the kids," she said.
She said she also sent him images about how to delete messages from your phone.
"I was afraid that if he got a divorce, that actually would bring up the messages she saw between us," she said. "I was worried about my reputation. I was worried about losing my job, and so I was sending Caleb ChatGPT screenshots of how to fully delete all messages from his phone."
Botner was being asked by the prosecutor to read some of their text messages during her testimony when the court went into recess for the day. She is set to resume her testimony on Thursday.
Prosecutors alleged that Caleb Flynn killed his wife so he could be with his mistress and staged it to look as if an intruder did it so he "too would be a victim."
"He'd get to keep his mistress, have his daughters all the time," Miami County prosecuting attorney Paul Watkins said during opening statements last week. "He would benefit financially, get to keep his lucrative job working for Ashley's family business, and he'd get to keep his position as a worship leader."
Defense attorneys have conceded that Caleb Flynn said "ugly, hurtful" things in the messages with his mistress, though said he did so to appease her and lied to her to make her happy.
"A man can fail as a husband without being a murderer, and a man can make selfish decisions without committing a crime," defense attorney Emily Smith said during opening statements.
The defense has also argued that there is no direct evidence, such as a firearm, tying Caleb Flynn to the murder, "only a theory following an affair."
