An Ohio man accused of murdering his wife in their bedroom and allegedly staging the crime scene to make it seem like an intruder broke into their home denied killing his spouse in an interview with police days after the deadly shooting, according to video shown during his trial on Monday.
Caleb Flynn, 40, a former pastor who once appeared as a contestant on “American Idol” in 2013, is on trial in Miami County, Ohio, for the murder of his 37-year-old wife, Ashley Flynn.
He was arrested on Feb. 19, three 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 alleged that Caleb Flynn shot his wife twice in the back of the head in bed so that he could be with his mistress and manipulated the scene to make it seem as if an intruder did it so he “too would be a victim.” According to prosecutors, Ashley Flynn was shot with two 9mm bullets, and Caleb Flynn kept a 9mm handgun in his truck console that was missing from the console when officers arrived at the scene.
While being questioned by a Tipp City police detective and Miami County deputy on the day of his arrest, Flynn was asked point-blank if he had anything to do with his wife’s death, according to video of the interview shown in court on Monday.
“Did you do this? Because I have to ask you,” Chief Deputy Steve Lord of the Miami County Sheriff’s Office asks while questioning Caleb Flynn about what could have led to the deadly shooting.
“No,” Caleb Flynn responds.
While discussing the gun that was missing from Caleb Flynn’s truck console, Lord says he believes the husband is “involved” in the shooting, and that when a grand jury hears the evidence of the case, “they’re going to conclude something.”
“I didn’t touch my wife,” Caleb Flynn says.
Asked if he had any explanation for his gun, Caleb Flynn continues to reiterate, “I didn’t touch my wife.”
“The evidence is a little bit contrary to that,” Lord replies.
The state rested its case on Monday, after calling more than three dozen witnesses over seven days of testimony.
The defense also rested on Monday without calling any witnesses. Caleb Flynn did not testify in his own defense.
Closing arguments are expected Tuesday.
During interviews with investigators played during the trial, Caleb Flynn said that the night of the shooting, he left his bedroom because his coughing was bothering his wife. He said that while sleeping on the couch his dogs woke him up and he went to check on their two daughters and fell asleep in their room. He said he was woken up by the sound of gunshots and found his wife shot in bed in the early hours of Feb. 16.
He called 911 to report the shooting and intruder.
“Somebody broke into my home. Somebody broke in my home and shot my wife,” a frantic-sounding Caleb Flynn can be heard in the 911 call.
“My wife, she’s got two shots to her head, there’s blood everywhere, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” he says, adding that the door to the garage was “wide open” and urging first responders to “please hurry.”
Hours before calling 911 on Feb. 16, Caleb Flynn texted his mistress, “Actions will come tomorrow,” prosecutors said.
The former mistress, Alleigha Botner, testified for the state during the trial, reading from some of the more than 100,000 messages they exchanged over her two days of testimony.
“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Caleb Flynn said in one message from May 2025, she testified.
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. 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.”
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