Former American Idol contestant and Ohio pastor Caleb Flynn has been convicted of murdering his wife, Ashley Flynn, following a trial that featured evidence from his former lover, thousands of text messages and a song prosecutors alleged he wrote about their affair.
Flynn, 40, was found guilty on Tuesday of murder and eight other offences, including aggravated murder and tampering with evidence, after the jury deliberated for less than three hours.
He faces life imprisonment without parole and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 5.
Flynn reportedly wept in court as the verdicts were announced, BBC News reported on Tuesday evening.
Prosecutors alleged that Flynn shot his 37-year-old wife twice in the back of the head while she was asleep at their home in Tipp City, a suburb of Dayton, on February 16.
They said he subsequently attempted to make the killing appear as though it had been committed by intruders.
The prosecution presented police body-camera footage as well as data retrieved from Flynn’s iPhone and Apple Watch from around the time of the killing.
Dozens of witnesses were also called, including Alleigha Botner, a former intern at Flynn’s church who had an affair with him.
Botner told the court about her relationship with Flynn, which lasted nearly 18 months, while some of the approximately 100,000 text messages they exchanged were presented as evidence.
In one message sent to Botner in August 2025, Flynn wrote: “I was up until 4am last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail.”
In another message, he wrote: “I just want her dead and gone.”
Botner told the court that she now hates Flynn “because I believe that he murdered his wife”.
Prosecutors argued that Flynn feared losing custody of his daughters during a divorce, as well as his positions at his wife’s family business and their church.
They also highlighted what they described as contradictions in Flynn’s account of the night Ashley was killed.
Prosecuting attorney Paul Watkins said Flynn initially told police that he was in his daughters’ bedroom when he heard gunshots and later discovered his wife dead in their bedroom after noticing that the garage side door was open.
Watkins said Flynn subsequently told investigators that he had not been to the garage, contradicting his earlier account.
Flynn’s defence maintained that prosecutors had failed to provide concrete evidence proving he was responsible for the murder.
His lawyer, Patrick Mulligan, said: “Connecting a couple of meaningless dots doesn’t solve the case.”
Mulligan also argued that evidence of Flynn’s affair did not prove that he had killed his wife.
“They can’t find the gun, therefore they blame it on him?” he said, referring to the tampering-with-evidence charge.
The gun Flynn kept in the console of his truck has not been recovered. Investigators found the truck’s centre console open when they arrived at the scene.
Prosecutors also introduced evidence relating to music Flynn allegedly produced about his relationship with Botner.
A song prosecutors said Flynn wrote and dedicated to Botner was played during the trial, with Botner explaining its lyrics line by line while giving evidence.
The prosecution also called Joseph Wilhelm, a special agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, who testified that several applications had been removed from Flynn’s phone before his wife’s death.
One of the applications was an AI music-generation app which Wilhelm said “related to his relationship with Alleigha Botner”.
The jury’s reaction to the song, including apparent laughter, was later widely shared online.
Flynn’s case also attracted attention because of his previous appearance on American Idol.
He featured in the 12th season of the programme in 2013, performing before judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson.
He received a “golden ticket” to Hollywood during the televised auditions but did not progress to the main competition.
In footage from the programme, Flynn said: “Music is all I know, it’s what I live to do and I love to sing, so that’s why I auditioned.”
“Maybe my wife kinda nudged me a little, too,” he added.
Ashley Flynn was a schoolteacher and volleyball coach.
Caleb Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced on October 5.