American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn convicted of murdering wife in Ohio

Former pastor Caleb Flynn, 40, was found guilty on all nine counts including aggravated murder after shooting his wife Ashley twice in the head. His fake 911 call, obtained by TMZ, captured him feigning distress.

Former pastor's fabricated 911 call exposed as jury convicts him on all counts

Caleb Flynn, a 40-year-old former pastor and American Idol season 12 contestant, was found guilty of murdering his wife Ashley on Tuesday after jurors deliberated for just over two hours, The Sun reports. Flynn shot Ashley twice in the back of the head before staging the scene to resemble a home invasion.

Flynn was the one who dialled 911 following the shooting in February, claiming an intruder had killed his wife. In the call, obtained by TMZ, he could be heard sobbing and describing the scene in graphic terms.

"Somebody, somebody broke into my home, somebody broke into my home and shot my wife," Flynn told the dispatcher. "Please, please hurry. Please, please hurry."

When the dispatcher asked him to describe what he was seeing inside his Ohio home, Flynn responded in a shaking voice: "My wife, she's got two shots to her head. There's blood everywhere. Oh my God. Oh my God."

He repeatedly begged for first responders to arrive quickly, told the dispatcher he had found the garage door wide open, and could be heard calling out to his wife: "Wake up, wake up." He also mentioned that his daughters were in their own rooms.

"Her face is, oh sir, her face is white and ghostly," Flynn sobbed as the dispatcher urged him to take a deep breath.

Prosecution: account of February 16 was fabricated

Matthew C. Joseph, an assistant prosecutor with the Miami County Prosecuting Attorney's Office in Troy, Ohio, told the jury in his closing arguments that Flynn's version of events on the night of 16 February was entirely fabricated.

Police found no evidence that anyone had fled the property. Officers also said that damage near the garage-side door was not consistent with signs of forced entry.

Flynn had told police he was sleeping in a separate room with his and Ashley's daughters when he heard a gunshot, and that he then discovered his wife dead.

Text messages to ex-mistress entered as evidence

A significant body of text messages between Flynn and his ex-mistress of 18 months, Alleigha Botner, was presented in court. Botner had met Flynn when she was 21 and interning at Christian Life Center in Dayton, where he served as a music pastor.

In one exchange, Flynn told Botner he had stayed away until 4am while thinking about "ways to kill her and not go to jail." Botner replied that she did not want Ashley to be killed, and suggested a divorce would "change everything."

"I'm not asking that you take her life," Botner wrote, according to court evidence. Flynn responded: "I'll work on getting rid of her. Until then, I love you."

Botner had repeatedly pressed Flynn to leave his wife. In one message she wrote: "Until she's gone, I'm gone." The night before Ashley was killed, Botner texted Flynn expressing concerns about divorce and child custody.

Just before midnight on that same night — hours before Ashley was found dead — Flynn sent Botner a final message: "Good night, tomorrow's a big day. I've got to get to bed. I choose you, I'm about to be free."

Ashley Flynn was a school teacher and volleyball coach.

Guilty on all nine counts

Jurors found Flynn guilty on all nine counts he faced, including tampering with evidence and aggravated murder. He wept in court and wiped away tears as the verdict was read.

Flynn's defence team argued that investigators had zeroed in on him early in the investigation, and that his affair had coloured the way officials assessed the evidence against him.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Monday, at which Flynn faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.

Outside the Ohio courthouse, Flynn's mother broke down after the verdict was announced and maintained her son's innocence. "We couldn't get ahead of the media's propaganda and lies," she said. "He didn't do it. It was all circumstantial junk."

Source: The Sun