"I Cried Thinking About How to Avoid Prison" Former US Pastor Convicted of Killing Wife

Jury Accepts Prosecution's Arguments; Flynn Found Guilty on Nine Charges
Evidence Includes Step Count at Time of Wife's Death and Messages with Mistress

Caleb Flynn (40), who rose to fame after appearing on the American audition program "American Idol," has been convicted of murdering his wife.

Caleb Flynn. Photo by Yonhap News/AP

According to ABC and CNN on September 29 (local time), a jury at a first-instance court in Ohio accepted the prosecution's arguments and found Flynn guilty on all nine charges, including murder, assault with intent to cause bodily harm, and evidence tampering.

Based on the jury's verdict, Flynn faces the maximum penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 5.

Previously, Flynn was indicted on charges of killing his wife, Ashley Flynn, at their home in Tipp City on February 16. At the time of the incident, Flynn called 911, claiming that an intruder broke in while he was lying in his daughters' room and shot his wife.

However, police found no trace of an intruder and noted that the circumstances differed from typical break-in cases. Data from Flynn's electronic devices showed he took about 200 steps at 1:30 a.m., prior to the reported time of his 911 call, and an additional 346 steps at the time of the call.

Ashley's father, Todd Smith, questioned, "Why would someone break in, shoot my daughter, and then just flee?" He added, "If it was a robbery, wouldn't the house have been ransacked?"

Meanwhile, suspicions around Flynn intensified after messages he sent to his 24-year-old mistress, Alia Boatner, with whom he had been involved for nearly two years after meeting at church, were released.

It was confirmed that last year, Flynn sent messages to Boatner saying things like, "I wish my wife was dead and gone," and "I cried all night thinking about how to kill my wife and not go to prison."

After Ashley found out about the affair in August last year, she demanded a divorce. Flynn refused, citing reasons related to his two daughters, in-laws, and his work with the family business.

Accordingly, prosecutors argued that Flynn murdered his wife with a firearm and staged the scene to look like a crime committed by an outside intruder, in an effort to maintain his affair, custody of his daughters, a high salary from the in-laws' business, and his reputation at church.

Meanwhile, Flynn previously gained recognition as a music pastor when he appeared on "American Idol" in 2013.

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