Caleb Flynn's defense rests without calling any witnesses in his murder trial

The prosecution and defense rested Monday in the murder trial of Caleb Flynn, the former "American Idol" contestant accused of killing his wife and staging the crime scene.

The prosecution called 40 witnesses over seven days of testimony, while the defense did not call any witnesses. Closing arguments are set for Tuesday morning.

Flynn, 40, is standing trial for his wife's murder roughly seven months after he called 911 and told authorities an intruder broke into his home and killed her while he was in his daughters' bedroom.

Flynn has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and several other charges. If convicted of the most serious charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors allege the former "American Idol" contestant murdered his wife, Ashley, and staged the crime scene, pointing to his affair with a fellow worship leader at his church as a motive for the killing.

During the trial, jurors visited the crime scene at the family's Tipp City, Ohio, home, saw police bodycam footage from the night of Ashley's death and heard testimony from Flynn's 24-year-old mistress.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

"I just want her dead and gone," Flynn wrote to the mistress in early 2025.

Flynn believed if he could successfully frame a "faceless" intruder for his wife's murder, he would be able to keep his relationship with his mistress, full custody of his two daughters, his "lucrative" job at his wife's family business and his position as a worship leader, Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins said in his opening statement.

"The evidence will not show that Ashley was murdered by a stranger who vanished into the night," Watkins said. "The evidence will show that Ashley was murdered by her husband, the father of her two young children."

Flynn's defense acknowledge he had an affair but told jurors, "a man can fail as a husband without being a murderer." Defense attorney Emily Smith argued the prosecution's case lacked key evidence, including the murder weapon, and had little to stand on aside from his infidelity.

"Caleb gave them motive and his conduct made him incredibly easy to dislike - none of those things can substitute for proof of murder," Smith said in her opening statement.

Prosecution focused on affair, alleged intruder

The prosecution focused its case on Flynn's secret affair and on disproving his claim that an intruder broke into their home.

The case began in the early morning hours of February 16 when Flynn called 911 and reported, "Somebody broke into my home and shot my wife."

Police raced to the scene and found Ashley dead in her bedroom of two gunshot wounds. Flynn told investigators he had been lying in his daughters' bedroom when he heard a gunshot. He said he noticed the garage side-door was flung open, and then found his wife dead in the bed.

"I went in their room, and I laid down with them for - I don't even know how long, and that's when I heard it," Flynn told officers in a conversation captured on police bodycam footage.

"When I finally got up, the door leading to the garage was open, but I didn't see anybody," he said.

The center console of Flynn's truck, where he said he stored his handgun, was open when police arrived, according to David Hammond, a special agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Investigators did not find any trace of an intruder fleeing the area, and the damage to the garage side-door was inconsistent with a typical break-in, police testified. The firearm has never been found.

In an interview later that day, Flynn told an investigator he and his wife had no marital problems "whatsoever."

However, Alleigha Botner, 24, testified across two days about her and Flynn's nearly two-year romantic relationship. She read aloud scores of their text messages, including many where Flynn described how much he hated his wife and expressed a desire to rid her from his life.

"I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail," he wrote in a message to Botner in August 2025.

In a spree of texts the day before his wife's death, Flynn assured Botner he was going to get a divorce the following day. When Botner learned of Ashley's death from a church congregant the next morning, she said her "heart started pounding."

"It seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he's divorcing her, she's just dead all of a sudden," Botner testified.

Hours after Ashley's death, Flynn and Botner met at his in-laws' house, where members of their church were gathered. When Botner arrived, Flynn hugged her, she testified.

"It didn't happen the way we thought it would, did it?" Flynn said, according to her testimony.

Botner asked Flynn a lot of questions about the shooting, she testified, telling the court she was "very suspicious."

According to Botner's testimony, Flynn told her he had been sleeping on the couch when he heard a gunshot and ran straight to the garage, where he saw the side door open. He said he then found Ashley dead in the bedroom, Botner testified. That account appeared to contradict Flynn's statement to law enforcement in which he said he was lying in his daughters' bedroom when he heard a gunshot.

Other witnesses testified about evidence prosecutors say undermines Flynn's initial story to police. A digital forensics examiner said Flynn's electronic devices recorded roughly 200 steps at intermittent times in the hour before he called 911 to report his wife had been shot. Around 2:30 a.m., when Flynn called 911, another 346 steps were recorded.

Days after Ashley was killed, the Flynns' two preteen daughters seemed "nervous" following a walk with their father, their grandmother Jill Smith testified. Later, while they were alone, one of the girls said she was indeed "very nervous," the grandmother testified.

Smith said she then "marched" the girl to her father and said, "She's afraid to tell the truth. Tell her to tell the truth."

According to Smith, Flynn responded, "Of course, baby, you're supposed to tell the truth."

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