Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of killing his wife in Ohio, United States.
Flynn, 40, was convicted last week of murdering Ashley Flynn, 37, a teacher. According to the BBC, he was also found guilty of eight other charges, including aggravated murder and tampering with evidence.
Ashley was shot while she was in bed at the couple’s home in Tipp City in February. Their two daughters, aged nine and 11, were inside the house at the time.
Flynn initially told investigators that he had been asleep when he heard gunshots and later found his wife dead. He claimed an intruder had entered through the garage, but prosecutors argued that the crime scene had been staged to make it appear that someone had broken into the home.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence from Flynn’s iPhone and Apple Watch, police body-camera footage and thousands of messages exchanged between Flynn and Alleigha Botner, a former intern at his church with whom he had an affair.
Botner testified about messages in which Flynn allegedly discussed killing his wife. In one message, he reportedly said he had spent hours thinking about ways to kill Ashley without going to prison.
Prosecutors also presented AI-generated songs they said Flynn had created for Botner.
At Monday’s sentencing, Flynn’s two daughters delivered messages through relatives, asking him to admit responsibility for their mother’s death.
According to the BBC, one daughter wrote: “Dear Daddy, I don’t even know where to start. How could you do such a thing?”
She described Ashley as the “perfect person” and accused her father of choosing to kill her.
The other daughter addressed Flynn as “Caleb” instead of calling him her father. She urged him to tell the truth and accept the consequences of his actions.
“You made me feel like an idiot thinking I could trust you,” she wrote, adding that she still had faith in God but would never visit him in prison.
According to the BBC, Flynn sobbed as the letters were read in court.
In his own statement, Flynn expressed love for his family and apologised for unspecified decisions, while continuing to deny killing Ashley.
“I made vows to Ashley on our wedding day. I failed those vows,” he said.
Judge Jeannine Pratt described Flynn as an extreme risk to the public before imposing the life sentence.
Flynn’s lawyer, Patrick Mulligan, said the defence planned to appeal the conviction, arguing there was insufficient evidence to prove the killing had been planned.
Flynn briefly appeared on American Idol in 2013, where he spoke about his love for Ashley.