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Caalarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter Tuesday, February
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twenty fourth, twenty twenty six. Last week we brought you
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the first two days of the Colin Gray trial in
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winder Georgia, the father of Appalachi High School shooter, Colt Gray,
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facing two counts of second degree murder and two counts
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of involuntary manslaughter for giving his fourteen year old son
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an assault style rifle and ignoring every warning sign that
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child was planning a massacre. Days three, four and five
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filled in the picture, and it is ugly forensic testimony
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about what one hundred three cartridges due to a school hallway,
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a medical examiner saying none of the four victims could
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have survived their wounds even if it happened on the
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steps of a hospital, and Colt Gray's maternal grandmother on
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the stand revealing that before the shooting, her grandson asked
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her a question that should haunt everyone who let this happen.
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That's the main event today. Then. Caleb Flynn, thirty nine
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years old. You might remember him from American Idol in
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twenty thirteen, music pastor worship leader devoted Christian at two
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thirty in the morning on February sixteenth, he called nine
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to one one from his Tip City, Ohio home, hyperventilating,
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said someone broke in and shot his wife, Ashley, twice
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in the head. Police say he did it, charged with murder,
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and finally, a peer reviewed forensic paper just published in
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the International Journal of Forensic Science says Kurt Cobain didn't
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kill himself, says he was overdosed on heroin by an
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assailant and then shot. The Seattle Police Department isn't interested.
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We are. I'm Reed Carter. Today a father's trial, a
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pastor's nine one one call, and a thirty one year
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old murder mystery. This is celebrity trials. Let's go back
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to Barrow County, Georgia. Winder Barrow County Courthouse the trial
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of Colin Gray, fifty four years old, accused of giving
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his son the weapon used to kill four people at
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Appalachi High School on September fourth. Di Vituxtoshi Divdesmitchetri. We
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covered days one and two. Last week, opening statements, survivor
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testimony from the students and teachers in the classrooms the moment.
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Colt Gray, just fourteen years old, only in his fifth
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day at a new school, walked out of a bathroom
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in yellow work gloves, carrying an AR style rifle concealed
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inside a rolled up poster board. Day three picked up
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with the forensic reconstruction of what happened. Next. Zay Zeen,
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now eighteen years old and graduated from Appalachi, took the stand.
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He was a student there that morning. He described seeing
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a white male with blondish hair carrying what appeared to
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be an AR style weapon. Colt Gray pointed the gun
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directly at him. Zaye ran. His teacher wouldn't open the
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classroom door to let him back in, following lockdown protocol,
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and told him to hide in the bathroom instead. He did.
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He told the court he was prepared to defend himself
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if it came to that. De Martin, the assistant principal,
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testified next. On the morning of the shooting, Colt's first
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period teacher, Suzanne Harris, had already emailed the school with
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concerns about this student. He'd asked her whether the school
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held active shooter drills. He had a heavy, awkward looking
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backpack that alone should have set off alarms. And then
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the detail that absolutely floors you Colt's mother, Marcy Gray,
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called the school four minutes before her son stood up
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from his desk to leave class. She was worried about
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his emotional well being, and she told them he had
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access to firearms. Four minutes later, Colt left his second
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period algebra class, supposedly to go to the counseling office.
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He didn't. He went to the bathroom. He stayed there
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for thirty two minutes. The school was already searching for him.
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They had a name confusion problem. Another student was also
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named Colton Gray also went by Colt. It slowed them down.
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At ten twenty two in the morning, he walked back
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into that hallway. The forensic testimony in day three was
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methodical and devastating. GBI crime scene specialist Daniella Stewart showed
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the jury a video scan of the school, the entire
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crime scene captured and preserved. The stocking cap Colt had
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in his backpack was found in the men's bathroom. The
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poster board he'd wrapped around the gun barrel was recovered
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on the ground in the hallway. Then GBI firearms examiner
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Sarah van Holm testified about the weapon and the ammunition
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thirty six cartridge casings were recovered from the scene, meaning
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Colt Gray fired at least thirty six shots. There were
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sixty seven unused cartridges also recovered. He could have fired
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sixty seven more. He brought one hundred and three cartridges
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to school that morning one hundred and three. The rifle itself,
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a modified AR fifteen style Big sour M four hundred,
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cost approximately one thousand dollars. It had a vertical foregrip
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and sights added after purchase. Required seven point twenty five
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pounds of trigger pressure to fire, the equivalent of lifting
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a gallon of milk. A fourteen year old doing it
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over and over, and then Doctor Samantha Maddox, the GBI
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medical examiner, took the stand. Mason Shermerhorn fourteen years old,
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shot three times in the head, and Torso Christian Angelo
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fourteen years old, shot once, but the bullet passed through
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both of his arms and then into his chest. He
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was trying to protect himself trying to block the shot.
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Christina Eremi fifty three years old, teacher, shot once. The
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bullet struck her. Aorda Richard Aspinwall thirty nine years old,
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teacher coach, shot three times. Doctor Maddox described all four
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injuries as catastrophic, and then she said something that will
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stay with you. She testified that none of the victims
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would have survived their wounds even if those injuries had
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occurred just outside the hospital. None of them. There was
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nothing anyone could have done to save them. Once Colt
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Gray pulled that trigger. Nothing. Day four moved the focus
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from the school itself to the question at the center
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of this trial, what did Colin Gray know and when
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did he know it? The prosecution brought a parade of
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witnesses through social services, school systems, and law enforcement to
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build the case that Colin wasn't just negligent, he was actively,
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repeatedly warned and repeatedly looked away. A school employee testified
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that back in twenty twenty one, Colt had used a
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school computer to search the terms abuse and how to
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kill my Dad. The school sent a resource officer to
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the home. They spoke with Marci, They did not contact
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Colin directly. A DFCS caseworker testified that a case was
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opened in September twenty twenty one after Marci struck Colt.
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Marcie told the caseworker she would get Colt into counseling.
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Colin was aware the case had been opened. He took
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Colt back to North Georgia and told the caseworker he
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would get his son counseling. He did not get his
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son counseling. A witness from a ministry in Barrow County
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testified there are no records of Colin Gray ever seeking
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counseling for Colt. In October twenty twenty three. A mental
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health therapist testified she received an inquiry about counseling for
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Colt in August twenty twenty four, just weeks before the shooting.
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She spoke to Colin Gray once the appointment was never
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set up. She never heard from him again. One of
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the most significant witnesses on Day four was Dan Miller
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of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. In May twenty twenty three,
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the FBI received a tip about a discord user making
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school shooting threats. The tip traced back to Colt Gray's address.
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Law enforcement visited Colin Gray's home. Colt claimed his discord
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account had been hacked. The officer told Colin as a
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matter of standard protocol, to secure the weapons in the home.
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The next month, June twenty twenty three, a DFCS caseworker
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visited the home. Colin Gray did not tell her about
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the school shooting threat that had been investigated the month before.
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A Child Protective Services investigator also did a home safety assessment.
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Colin Gray did not tell her about the other DFCS cases.
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Colin Gray's body camera footage from the day of the
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shooting was played in court. He's at home when police arrive.
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He can be heard saying he knew something had happened,
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that his daughter had texted him. He told officers he
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was hoping to God that his son hadn't done anything,
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and then he told them Colt was in counseling. He
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was not. Day five Friday, the jury saw photographs of
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Colt Gray's bedroom and the shrine Nicholas Cruz, the Parkland shooter.
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February twenty eighteen, seventeine students and staff murdered at Marjorie
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Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Colt Gray had a
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shrine to Nicholas Cruz next to his computer, multiple photographs,
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a deliberate, organized tribute to one of the deadliest school
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shooters in American history. This shrine was in the bedroom
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in a home. Colin Gray lived in in a house
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where he was, by his own defense attorney's argument, a
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full time father trying to help his struggling son. Colt's
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maternal grandmother, Debbie pul Haemis, took the stand. She described
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Colt's chaotic upbringing. Colin and Marcie moved back and forth
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between North and South Georgia multiple times between twenty twenty
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and twenty twenty four. Marci had documented drug problems and
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legal issues. Colt was bounced between households, between school systems
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fourteen different schools over his academic career, with his eighth
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grade year effectively missing from the record entirely, no evidence
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of homeschooling, no enrollment anywhere, just gone and then pull
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Hamos Toda described a moment that stopped the courtroom. After
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a panic attack at school, Colt Gray asked his grandmother
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a question if I do something terrible, would you still
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love me? That question was asked before September fourth, twenty
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twenty four. A fourteen year old child with a shrine
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to a mass murderer in his bedroom, a history of threats,
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cutting himself, breaking windows, hearing voices, asked his grandmother if
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she would still love him if he did something terrible.
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Marcy Gray was scheduled to testify after her mother, but
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she was late to the courthouse. She went briefly missing.
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The judge released the jury early for the weekend while
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the parties waited for her. Day six continues today, we'll
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bring you updates. Richard Aspenwall was thirty nine years old.
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He was a teacher, a coach, a man who walked
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towards students to protect them and was shot three times
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for it. He should be in a classroom right now.
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Christina Hearramie was fifty three years old, a teacher who
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looked out from her classroom and was shot once, one
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bullet through the aorda. She should be grading papers right now.
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Mason Shermerhorn was fourteen years old. Christian Angulo was fourteen
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years old. They were in their first weeks of high school.
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They should be in class right now. Rest in peace
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to all four. We'll be right back with the American
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idol contestant now charged with murdering his wife while their
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children slept in the next room. Welcome back to celebrity trials.
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I'm reed Carter February sixteenth, twenty twenty six two thirty
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in the morning. Tip City, Ohio, a small town about
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twenty miles north of Dayton. A nine to one to
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one operator picks up a call. There's a man on
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the line. He is hyperventilating, sobbing, barely getting words out.
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Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god. Somebody
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broke into my home and shot my wife. The dispatcher
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asks if the intruder is still inside. He doesn't know.
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Please hurry, please, please hurry. Asked what he can see,
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the man says, my wife. She's got two shots to
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her head. There is blood everywhere. Oh my god, Oh
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my god, Oh my god. Officers arrived at the home
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and found Ashley Flynn, thirty seven years old, dead in
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the master bedroom, two gunshot wounds to the head. The
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man on the phone was Caleb Flynn, thirty nine years old,
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the husband and now the defendant. Prosecutors alleged that Caleb
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Flynn shot his wife himself and then called nine to
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one one to stage a break in scenario. Some of
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you may know the name Caleb Flynn appeared on American
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Idol in twenty thirteen. He made it through a auditions,
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talking about his faith and his family, spoke about how
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much he loved his wife. I absolutely love the Lord.
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I love my wife more than anything. She is very,
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very pretty. I love her. That's him on national television
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over a decade ago. After the show, Caleb became a
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music pastor and worship leader at Christian Life Center in
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Butler Township, Ohio. A figure of the faith community, a
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family man, Ashley Flynn was a beloved figure two. A
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graduate of Tippecanu High School and Lee University, she coached
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girls volleyball at Tippecanu Middle School, worked as a substitute
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teacher for Tip City Schools, taught at LifeWise Academy, a
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nonprofit providing Bible based education to public school students. Her
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district described her as someone known for her beautiful smile, warmth, kindness,
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and the positive impact she had on so many both
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in and out of the classroom and on the court.
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A go fund me for her daughters raised more than
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one hundred thousand dollars in a single day. Their two
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children were sleeping in nearby rooms when this happened two
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thirty in the morning. Here's what investigators say. They found
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two shell casings near the foot of the bed, the
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center console of Caleb's twenty twenty four Ford pickup truck
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was open and that is where he told police he
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kept his handgun. And in the garage a large refrigerator
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had been positioned directly in front of the garage's side door.
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In order for an intruder to enter through that door,
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they would have had to push that refrigerator aside. They
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didn't because there was no intruder. Caleb Flynn has been
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charged with murder, two counts of felonious assault with a
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deadly weapon, and two counts of tampering with evidence. His
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bond was set at two million dollars. He was booked
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into Miami County Jail on Thursday evening and was due
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back in court for a preliminary hearing. Police Chief Greg
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Adkins pushed back on reports circulating online that a suspect
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had confessed. The Flynn family is coping with an unam
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imaginable loss and the department will not try this case
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in the media. This matter will be resolved through the
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judicial process and adjudicated in a court of law. The FBI,