A disturbing photograph allegedly saved to Ashley Flynn’s phone just weeks before her death was shown to jurors Monday in the murder trial of her husband, former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn.
The image showed Ashley posing beside her better-known husband, whose face had been scratched out.
According to evidence presented in court, the photo was saved on February 2—just over two weeks before Ashley, 37, was shot twice in the back of the head as she slept.
Caleb Flynn, 40, could face life in prison without parole if convicted of killing his wife on February 16. Prosecutors allege the former reality television contestant and music pastor murdered Ashley so he could pursue a relationship with his mistress, 24-year-old Alleigha Botner.
They also claim Flynn staged the couple’s Tipp City, Ohio, home to make it appear that a stranger had broken in before blaming the killing on an unknown intruder.
Flynn has pleaded not guilty. He maintains that he was asleep in another room with the couple’s daughters when an intruder entered the home and killed his wife.
Defense Claims Rushed Inquiry as Prosecutors Drop Charges
His defense team argues that investigators settled on Flynn too quickly and that sensational coverage of his affair has influenced how the evidence has been viewed.
Prosecutors have also moved to dismiss misdemeanor charges alleging intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case. Both sides rested their cases Monday, according to WHIO.
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Tuesday morning.
Flynn called police at the couple’s home early on February 16, telling dispatchers, “Somebody broke into my home and shot my wife.”
Responding officers found Ashley dead in the couple’s bedroom with two gunshot wounds.
Flynn told investigators that he had been in his daughters’ room when he heard a gunshot.
He said he then saw that the door on the garage side of the house had been thrown open before discovering Ashley dead in bed.
However, authorities found no evidence that an intruder had fled the property. They also said the damage to the garage-side door did not match what would typically be expected in a burglary, CNN reported.
‘Ways to Kill Her’
Police additionally observed that the center console of Flynn’s truck was open when they arrived. Flynn had previously said he kept his handgun there.
During questioning later that day, Flynn insisted that he and Ashley had experienced no marital problems “whatsoever.”
Investigators soon learned, however, that Flynn had been involved in a months-long affair with Botner, who repeatedly pressured the father of two to leave his wife.
Jurors were told last week that Flynn and Botner exchanged more than 100,000 messages during their approximately 18-month relationship.
In a message sent in September 2025, Flynn outlined what he was willing to give up to be with Botner—while saying his daughters remained his top priority.
He wrote that he was prepared 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.
‘I’ll Work on Getting Rid of Her’
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.’
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.
‘I Choose You, I’m About to Be Free’
‘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.
