Horrifying photo found saved in phone of American Idol pastor Caleb Flynn’s wife weeks before her murder
Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn’s wife had saved a disturbing photo on her phone just weeks before she was shot to death.
The photo showed Ashley Flynn posing with her more famous husband – but with his face scratched out. It was apparently saved on February 2, just over two weeks before Ashley, 37, was shot twice in the back of the head while she slept.
Flynn, 40, is now facing life in prison without parole for his wife’s murder on February 16, with prosecutors claiming the former reality-show contestant and music pastor killed Ashley so he could be with his mistress, Alleigha Botner, 24.
He then allegedly staged their Tipp City, Ohio, home to resemble a break-in and blamed Ashley’s murder on a mystery intruder.
Flynn has pleaded not guilty and insists he was sleeping in another room with the couple’s daughters when an intruder killed his wife.
His defense maintains investigators rushed to judgment and that lurid publicity surrounding his affair has distorted the evidence against him.
Prosecutors have since filed a motion to dismiss misdemeanor counts of intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case as both they and the defense team rested their cases on Monday, WHIO reports.
Closing arguments are now scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Ashley Flynn saved a photo on her phone with her husband Caleb’s face scratched out
Caleb Flynn, 40, is now facing life in prison without parole for his wife’s murder on February 16
Flynn had called police to his and his wife’s home early in the morning on February 16, reporting that ‘Somebody broke into my home and shot my wife.’
When officers then arrived on the scene, they found Ashley dead in her bedroom of two gunshot wounds.
Flynn then told investigators he had been lying in his daughters’ room when he heard the gunshot.
He also claimed he noticed the garage-side door was flung open before he found his wife dead in the bed.
But authorities found no trace of an intruder fleeing the area, and said the damage to the garage-side door was inconsistent with a typical break-in.
Officers further noticed that the center console of Flynn’s truck, where he said he stored his handgun, was open when police first arrived.
When police then questioned Flynn later that day, he insisted he and his wife had no marital problems ‘whatsoever.’
Yet authorities soon discovered he had been having a months-long affair with Botner, who repeatedly gave the father-of-two ultimatums to leave his wife.
Flynn has pleaded not guilty and insists he was sleeping in another room with the couple’s daughters when an intruder killed his wife
Flynn allegedly told his mistress he would be willing to risk his daughters for her
Jurors heard last week how the lovers exchanged more than 100,000 messages during an affair lasting roughly 18 months.
In one September 2025 message, Flynn himself listed what he was prepared to sacrifice to be with his mistress – and put his daughters first.
He said he was willing to risk his ‘daughters, a quarter-million-dollar salary job, a place to live, possibly a church I serve at, public shame and humiliation, and way more.’
Botner, meanwhile, repeatedly demanded that he leave Ashley.
‘Until she’s gone, I’m gone,’ she wrote in one ultimatum.
‘I was up until 4am last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail,’ he wrote.
Botner responded by explicitly telling him not to kill Ashley.
‘I’m not asking that you take her life, obviously, because that’s not what you should do, and I know you actually wouldn’t,’ she wrote.
‘But to make the divorce happen, it would change everything.’
Flynn responded: ‘I’ll work on getting rid of her. Until then, I love you.’
Alleigha Botner, 24, testified she repeatedly pushed Flynn to leave his wife
Botner testified she was just 20 when she met Flynn at Christian Life Center in Dayton in 2022, where she was an intern and he was in his mid-30s.
Their relationship became romantic in early 2024, she said.
By the night before Ashley’s death, prosecutors say the secret relationship was reaching a decisive moment.
Botner sent Flynn information she had researched about divorce proceedings, custody, deleting messages and how Ashley could potentially prove her husband’s infidelity.
Shortly before midnight, Flynn sent his mistress one final message.
‘Good night, tomorrow’s a big day. I’ve got to get to bed,’ he wrote. ‘I choose you, I’m about to be free.’
Hours later, Ashley was dead.
Botner testified that the timing immediately alarmed her.
‘Caleb, what’s going on? Were you involved? Is this real?’ she messaged Flynn on the morning of the killing.
She later deleted the message because she feared investigators would examine his phone and discover their affair, she admitted.
When she learned Ashley had supposedly been killed by an intruder, Botner said her ‘heart started pounding.’
‘In my mind, it just seemed like too much of a coincidence that, the day he’s divorcing her, she’s just dead all of a sudden,’ she testified.
