An Ohio pastor and former American Idol contestant, Caleb Flynn, has been convicted of murdering his wife after prosecutors exposed his secret affair using thousands of deleted text messages and an AI-generated love song.
A jury found the 40-year-old guilty of murder and eight other charges on Tuesday, which took less than three hours to reach a decision.
According to prosecutors, Flynn shot his 37-year-old wife, Ashley, twice in the back of her head while she was sleeping in their home in Dayton on February 16, before opening a side door in the garage to make the killing look like a random home invasion.
Investigators used data from Flynn’s iPhone and Apple Watch to track his actual movements that night, which contradicted his original statement to the police.
Flynn was accused of having an 18-month affair with Alleigha Botner, a former intern at his church. Prosecutors revealed that Flynn wanted his wife dead so he would not lose custody of his daughters, his church job, and his position at his wife’s family business in a divorce.
According to reports, out of roughly 100,000 text messages exchanged with his mistress, it was a plan to eliminate his wife in a text from August 2025;
“I was up until 4am last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail… just want her dead and gone”, Flynn.
Investigators also discovered that Flynn had deleted an AI music-generating app from his phone just before his wife’s death. He used the app to create a dedicated love song for Botner, which was played out loud in the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Flynn’s defense lawyer, Patrick Mulligan, argued that cheating on a spouse does not make someone a murderer. He added that police never found the actual murder weapon.
Flynn may faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge is scheduled to officially hand down his sentence on October 5.
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