Sept. 22, 2026
American Idol Murder Trial: Caleb Flynn Texts “I Could Literally Kill Her” To Mistress
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RSS Feed Testimony is underway in the murder trial of former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn. 40-year-old Flynn is accused of shooting his wife of 15 years while their two daughters were in the room next door, and then staging a burglary before calling 9-1-1. Jurors have already heard the 9-1-1 call, watched dramatic police body cam video as prosecutors read aloud several damning texts Flynn reportedly sent to his mistress describing hating and wanting to kill his wife. That mistress, along with his two daughters are expected to testify later in the trial, as jurors have seen Flynn sobbing in court over the past two days of testimony.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there folks, it is Tuesday, September 22nd, and a hundred thousand messages to his mistress. Not a good look for the man accused of murdering his wife. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Ropes. We are just getting started in this so-called American Idol murder trial, if you will. But the man accused of murder here, Ropes, was a prominent and fairly successful run on American Idol. And that's got a lot of people's attention. But bottom line, tale as old as time. A man accused of murdering his wife because he wanted to be with his mistress. Yes.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: And unfortunately, in this digital age, there's a lot of evidence pointing directly to his motive. which obviously is right there for the jurors, but when you hear his text messages, what he says, it's beyond belief.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Is it pointing to, Rose, this stuff is other level. This is wild. It's jaw-dropping.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: I know we use that word a lot, but this absolutely warrants it. We're talking about 40-year-old Caleb Flynn. On trial for murdering his wife of 15 years, 37-year-old Ashley Flynn. And why these two are actually known to all of us, if you are or have been an American Idol fan, this goes back to season 12, 2013. And I'm sure many of you have seen it by now, but if you haven't, you should Google it. He is on video. You know how they do the contestants and you get to know the contestants. You get to kind of fall in love with the contestants so you can root for them. Well, he gushed and gushed and gushed about how much he loved his pretty wife. And it's all there for everyone to see.
00:01:45
Speaker 1: They were so young.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: They were so young.
00:01:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker 2: I mean, they've been married for 15 years. They have two daughters together. And this is just an awful thing. Shocking story. Yes, you mentioned more than 100,000 text messages to his mistress that he had been carrying on with, I believe, for about a year. But some of the headlines that are coming out from just the past two days of testimony are as salacious as they get.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: And this guy, Robes, because we were shocked when we first heard it. This was out of Ohio. But again, Robes, this follows like familiar patterns. Shoots his wife. stage the scene, say an intruder did it, cry like crazy when the cops come. Rose, he followed everything. We've seen this story before.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: We have. And he's been crying. He's been crying in court nonstop, sobbing.
00:02:42
Speaker 1: Fair to say he's making a scene in court.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: He is making a scene.
00:02:45
Speaker 1: Did you buy what you see?
00:02:46
Speaker 2: No, because look, we'll get into what the jury has already seen. And there has been a lot of dramatic footage that the jury has already seen. witnessed from the 911 call to the body cam footage. He has been performative from the beginning. If you believe he is guilty of murder, this is all an absolute act. And the text messages really drive that point home.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: Drive it home. Ropes, again, we say this a lot. We cover a lot of murder trials. Oftentimes, it's the digital footprint of the Google searches. It's the text messages, e-mails. And they are always remarkable. And sometimes, Robes, we've seen some that aren't so clear, but still circumstantial. Like, okay, you put this together, that must be what he's talking about. Robes, this one is not that. Like, maybe he meant this, and maybe he meant that. He is flat out saying this stuff out loud that he wants to give his wife.
00:03:45
Speaker 2: Yes. And I'm actually, we're expecting more of some of the details of these text messages later in the trial because some of these just came up in opening statements we heard from the prosecution. But yes, he's had a year-long affair with the woman, which the defense fully admits to. They say just because he was a bad husband doesn't mean he's a murderer. We've certainly heard a defense take on that mantra before, but the prosecution has the dates and the receipts days before the murder of Ashley, a direct text saying, From Caleb to his mistress. I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail.
00:04:27
Speaker 1: What day was that? Oh, sorry.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: Days before the murder.
00:04:30
Speaker 1: Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That's how dark and how hateful I feel.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Okay. I only had heard the first part of that text message, so I thought it was done. Sorry about that. Holy hell. How about this?
00:04:45
Speaker 2: Hours before the murder. This is the smoking gun, so to speak, even though they don't have the gun, which we'll get into. But this would be the virtual smoking gun. I choose you. I'm free. Actions will come tomorrow, February 16th, a day I'll never forget. The day of Ashley's murder was February 16th.
00:05:17
Speaker 1: You can't explain that one as just a coincidence.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: How?
00:05:20
Speaker 1: That he was just joking. You can't explain that one away. Rose, I'm on the jury. What else do I need to hear?
00:05:27
Speaker 2: It's insane.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: What else do you need to hear? Seriously.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: I mean, how and why would he send that? I mean, if he thought he was going to get away with it. sending that text message to your mistress hours before you do what you basically tell her you're going to do, why you put that in writing is beyond me.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: And she, I would like to say, and maybe we will, what was her response? What did she reply to that text message?
00:05:54
Speaker 2: So it's funny you should mention that. And by the way, we should point out the mistress is not accused of any wrongdoing or being a part of this in any way, shape, or form, and she is expected to testify. That is going to be a hell of a day in court. We don't know which day, but we will be watching for sure. And I also thought this was interesting. As we hear these texts, prosecutors also showed jurors Ashley's phone because chillingly, it had a screensaver. Her screensaver was her kissing Caleb's cheek. It just showed where her state of mind was You know, you see what's on your screensaver. I've got a picture of you and I holding hands in a European city. And I just, I love looking at that. And I do think what your screensaver is on your phone says a lot about your state of mind. And to see that was hers, and then to hear the text messages or to see the text messages that he's sending his mistress, that is quite the difference.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: And Rome. So we are... How many days of testimony? Today will be day three.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: Today will be day three.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: But Monday was the first full day. Is that fair?
00:06:59
Speaker 2: Yes. On Friday, jurors got to hear the 911 call, and they got to watch the body cam footage. And I actually just watched it because it's out there. Babe, it's unbelievable. Do you see police? Because first of all, let's start with the 911 call. Because he is very emotional. He calls 911. He goes, oh my God, somebody broke into my home. Somebody broke into my home and shot my wife. My wife, she's got two shots to her head. There's blood everywhere. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. So they're hearing his very emotional 911 call. Cut to the body cam footage of police showing up to the home. Caleb is literally, they find him hiding, like underneath the dining room table when officers found him. He's described as hyperventilating and hysterical.
00:07:52
Speaker 1: I mean, he just lost his wife. Yeah.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: His two kids are upstairs, his two little girls. He's by himself under the table. And then you can see him calling Ashley's mom and then his own mom. And on the audio, you hear him saying, mommy, she's gone. I mean, it's it's really dramatic. And if in fact, I just, when you see the text messages and then you cut to this grown man acting hysterical and sobbing and literally feeling very performative, it's stunning to see those two.
00:08:27
Speaker 1: Can we say in fairness, his attorney is going to say what about that video?
00:08:30
Speaker 2: They are saying this is a man who is distraught. This is a man who is overwhelmed. He's just been burglarized. He's just found his wife shot. He's in pain. Yes, all of those things. But this reminds me of so many other trials we've seen where they've got the body cam footage, they've got the 911 calls, and then you see that same person sitting there in a defendant's chair charged with murder.
00:08:57
Speaker 1: Robes, we watch a lot of true crime shows. These are often, for me, the most fascinating. to see someone who ends up later maybe found guilty, who's guilty of a crime, a murder, to see their behavior, like a full Oscar-winning performance beforehand. It's one of the most fascinating parts of many of these trials in these videos.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And when you, so if you see the performance, I shouldn't say this, but you see how he's acting on this body cam footage, you see how he sounds on this 911 call, and the I haven't seen it yet, but I would think they would put out this video, this audition tape, or this get-to-know-Caleb tape of him saying, I love my wife more than anything. She's very, very pretty. I love her. He credits her with pushing him to try out for the reality singing show. So you see all of this, and then you get the contrast of these text messages to his mistress describing how much he hates his wife, how much he wants to kill his wife. How can you trust anything this man says? He seems nothing but performative when you put all of that together.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: The stuff in court, and again, he is, by our justice system, an innocent man until otherwise proven guilty. The stuff in court is a lot.
00:10:17
Speaker 2: It is.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: It's over the top almost, babe. And you want to leave space for him being in pain and seeing this stuff. But he is watching himself on video. Okay, let's go with this possible theory if you think he's guilty. You're watching a guy perform on video, watching him perform while he watches himself perform. On video performed in court. The stuff in court is a lot, baby. It's a lot.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: And as we mentioned, we're expecting the mistress to testify later. Guess who else is expected to testify? His two daughters, who are now aged 10 and 12. And this murder happened last year. So look, they were young, but they were old enough to be able to speak to what they saw, what they heard, what they knew about their parents. I mean, that's awful to think, but they are expected to testify in this trial. And when we come back, we will tell you about all the testimony that jurors heard on Monday from the medical examiner to the law enforcement officers who all testified against about this intruder theory that Caleb Flynn is claiming happened in his home. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ, as we are already fascinated by the testimony that has taken place in the Caleb Flynn murder trial. That is, of course, the American Idol, the former American Idol contestant. He made it all the way to Hollywood Week And so, yes, he was a part of the show. His wife, Ashley, who is the murder victim at this point, she also was a part of the show. We saw him gushing about how much he loved her. And now we're hearing these text messages that he's sending to his mistress. And yet this all happened February of this year. So this was February of 2026. He's already on trial for murder. That's that's quick detective work and quick. Court scheduling. Well, yeah.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: It's not what we're used to. Sometimes trials take years and years. They are moving along there in Ohio. But yeah, this was... That's why I was... When you said it, I was thinking, well, how old were the kids? You said they're 10 and 12 now?
00:12:30
Speaker 2: They're 10 and 12 now.
00:12:32
Speaker 1: But is there any way? Do they have to testify?
00:12:35
Speaker 2: They are on the list of scheduled witnesses.
00:12:39
Speaker 1: Well, maybe they won't, though.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: And maybe they want to. Maybe they want to be a part of this. I don't know. You can't force a child to. So I would believe... They've done whatever they need to do to determine whether or not a child is capable of testifying.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: But not capable. Can you prove your case without putting the kids on the stand? Do you have to do that?
00:12:59
Speaker 2: It seems like they've got a lot of evidence. And speaking to that, the jurors already heard. And this was where it got really tough yesterday. And it always is this way when the medical examiner got on the stand and described the some of the very gruesome details of the autopsy photos. But this was a woman who they believe was sleeping. She was dead asleep. And that's a bad way to describe it. But she was asleep when they say that her husband of 15 years shot her twice in the head. And they showed her eye bruise, bone fragments protruding from her face. And they were describing it. And that's when Flynn really started sobbing. But courtroom reporters say there were several people in the courtroom sobbing as the medical examiner went through what happened to this 37-year-old mom of two. You know what?
00:13:49
Speaker 1: Every time we watch, isn't the medical examiner testimony.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: It's always the worst.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: The worst. Because they have to show pictures. They have to be descriptive. It's the worst.
00:13:56
Speaker 2: It's awful. And the jurors saw the photos. They did not show the photos in open court. That's how- tough they were, but those jurors had to take that all in. They did show the videos. Yes. And that was, yes, just probably more entertaining than anything else. But law enforcement got up and this is their big thing. Caleb Flynn says an intruder came into his home, was burglarizing his home, shot his wife and fled. Well, every detective got up on the stand and said there were no signs of forced entry from the outside. And they actually said that any damage to the door happened, they believe, from the inside. And so the quote was, And that was after 12 hours of being in the home. They said they were very quickly able to determine that this was not an intruder. I thought this was interesting. They said they had drones with thermal grid searching to see if anybody was fleeing. They canvassed more than 80 homes. They had a canine who tracks sent from inside the home, and the dog just kept consistently going back to the garage and would not leave the property. So all of those signs also agreed with the door that was damaged. They said it was very obvious from the beginning.
00:15:15
Speaker 1: It's probably one out of every five true crime episodes we watch. They say, yeah, it was a break-in, but the window was broken from the inside.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: Correct.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: It was a break-in, but yeah, but the door was damaged from the inside. This is another one of those cases. It's amazing. And again, we're not trying to encourage anybody and give you tips, but this is like you missed like obvious stuff here. And so Robes, how long did they take seriously that they had a killer on the loose out there with a nine millimeter just going into homes and shooting random sleeping women?
00:15:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think they thought it for very long. And look, they never found the gun, the 9mm gun that they know shot Ashley. But they also know that he was known, Caleb was known to keep a 9mm gun in his car's center console. In the garage, they found the car's center console open and the gun missing.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: Where's the gun, babe?
00:16:12
Speaker 2: They can't find it anywhere.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Where did Caleb say it was? He misplaced it?
00:16:17
Speaker 2: I think the intruder must have taken it. Ah. That must have been what happened.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Isn't that the other thing? No intruder breaks in unarmed to look for a weapon to use in said crime.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: And knows to look for it in the center console exactly where Caleb Flynn kept his gun. But yeah, they said they searched the sewers. They went everywhere with metal detectors looking for this gun. They haven't found it. And the defense is trying to use that. There is no evidence. The only evidence they have, the defense says, is that Caleb Flynn was a terrible husband who said really awful things about his wife.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: Okay, I still, do they have an official answer, the defense, as to where that gun is? Are they really going with the intruder must have taken it?
00:17:03
Speaker 2: Absolutely going with the intruder theory, and they're sticking to it. Look, if you've got your client on camera, on a 911 call, repeatedly saying that an intruder broke in... You kind of have to stick with that. So that's where they are. We will see where the testimony takes us today. But yes, the third day of testimony continues in the American Idol trial, and we will be following it. With that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:17:32
Speaker 1: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there folks, it is Tuesday, September 22nd, and a hundred thousand messages to his mistress. Not a good look for the man accused of murdering his wife. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Ropes. We are just getting started in this so-called American Idol murder trial, if you will. But the man accused of murder here, Ropes, was a prominent and fairly successful run on American Idol. And that's got a lot of people's attention. But bottom line, tale as old as time. A man accused of murdering his wife because he wanted to be with his mistress. Yes.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: And unfortunately, in this digital age, there's a lot of evidence pointing directly to his motive. which obviously is right there for the jurors, but when you hear his text messages, what he says, it's beyond belief.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Is it pointing to, Rose, this stuff is other level. This is wild. It's jaw-dropping.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: I know we use that word a lot, but this absolutely warrants it. We're talking about 40-year-old Caleb Flynn. On trial for murdering his wife of 15 years, 37-year-old Ashley Flynn. And why these two are actually known to all of us, if you are or have been an American Idol fan, this goes back to season 12, 2013. And I'm sure many of you have seen it by now, but if you haven't, you should Google it. He is on video. You know how they do the contestants and you get to know the contestants. You get to kind of fall in love with the contestants so you can root for them. Well, he gushed and gushed and gushed about how much he loved his pretty wife. And it's all there for everyone to see.
00:01:45
Speaker 1: They were so young.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: They were so young.
00:01:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker 2: I mean, they've been married for 15 years. They have two daughters together. And this is just an awful thing. Shocking story. Yes, you mentioned more than 100,000 text messages to his mistress that he had been carrying on with, I believe, for about a year. But some of the headlines that are coming out from just the past two days of testimony are as salacious as they get.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: And this guy, Robes, because we were shocked when we first heard it. This was out of Ohio. But again, Robes, this follows like familiar patterns. Shoots his wife. stage the scene, say an intruder did it, cry like crazy when the cops come. Rose, he followed everything. We've seen this story before.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: We have. And he's been crying. He's been crying in court nonstop, sobbing.
00:02:42
Speaker 1: Fair to say he's making a scene in court.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: He is making a scene.
00:02:45
Speaker 1: Did you buy what you see?
00:02:46
Speaker 2: No, because look, we'll get into what the jury has already seen. And there has been a lot of dramatic footage that the jury has already seen. witnessed from the 911 call to the body cam footage. He has been performative from the beginning. If you believe he is guilty of murder, this is all an absolute act. And the text messages really drive that point home.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: Drive it home. Ropes, again, we say this a lot. We cover a lot of murder trials. Oftentimes, it's the digital footprint of the Google searches. It's the text messages, e-mails. And they are always remarkable. And sometimes, Robes, we've seen some that aren't so clear, but still circumstantial. Like, okay, you put this together, that must be what he's talking about. Robes, this one is not that. Like, maybe he meant this, and maybe he meant that. He is flat out saying this stuff out loud that he wants to give his wife.
00:03:45
Speaker 2: Yes. And I'm actually, we're expecting more of some of the details of these text messages later in the trial because some of these just came up in opening statements we heard from the prosecution. But yes, he's had a year-long affair with the woman, which the defense fully admits to. They say just because he was a bad husband doesn't mean he's a murderer. We've certainly heard a defense take on that mantra before, but the prosecution has the dates and the receipts days before the murder of Ashley, a direct text saying, From Caleb to his mistress. I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail.
00:04:27
Speaker 1: What day was that? Oh, sorry.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: Days before the murder.
00:04:30
Speaker 1: Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That's how dark and how hateful I feel.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Okay. I only had heard the first part of that text message, so I thought it was done. Sorry about that. Holy hell. How about this?
00:04:45
Speaker 2: Hours before the murder. This is the smoking gun, so to speak, even though they don't have the gun, which we'll get into. But this would be the virtual smoking gun. I choose you. I'm free. Actions will come tomorrow, February 16th, a day I'll never forget. The day of Ashley's murder was February 16th.
00:05:17
Speaker 1: You can't explain that one as just a coincidence.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: How?
00:05:20
Speaker 1: That he was just joking. You can't explain that one away. Rose, I'm on the jury. What else do I need to hear?
00:05:27
Speaker 2: It's insane.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: What else do you need to hear? Seriously.
00:05:30
Speaker 2: I mean, how and why would he send that? I mean, if he thought he was going to get away with it. sending that text message to your mistress hours before you do what you basically tell her you're going to do, why you put that in writing is beyond me.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: And she, I would like to say, and maybe we will, what was her response? What did she reply to that text message?
00:05:54
Speaker 2: So it's funny you should mention that. And by the way, we should point out the mistress is not accused of any wrongdoing or being a part of this in any way, shape, or form, and she is expected to testify. That is going to be a hell of a day in court. We don't know which day, but we will be watching for sure. And I also thought this was interesting. As we hear these texts, prosecutors also showed jurors Ashley's phone because chillingly, it had a screensaver. Her screensaver was her kissing Caleb's cheek. It just showed where her state of mind was You know, you see what's on your screensaver. I've got a picture of you and I holding hands in a European city. And I just, I love looking at that. And I do think what your screensaver is on your phone says a lot about your state of mind. And to see that was hers, and then to hear the text messages or to see the text messages that he's sending his mistress, that is quite the difference.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: And Rome. So we are... How many days of testimony? Today will be day three.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: Today will be day three.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: But Monday was the first full day. Is that fair?
00:06:59
Speaker 2: Yes. On Friday, jurors got to hear the 911 call, and they got to watch the body cam footage. And I actually just watched it because it's out there. Babe, it's unbelievable. Do you see police? Because first of all, let's start with the 911 call. Because he is very emotional. He calls 911. He goes, oh my God, somebody broke into my home. Somebody broke into my home and shot my wife. My wife, she's got two shots to her head. There's blood everywhere. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. So they're hearing his very emotional 911 call. Cut to the body cam footage of police showing up to the home. Caleb is literally, they find him hiding, like underneath the dining room table when officers found him. He's described as hyperventilating and hysterical.
00:07:52
Speaker 1: I mean, he just lost his wife. Yeah.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: His two kids are upstairs, his two little girls. He's by himself under the table. And then you can see him calling Ashley's mom and then his own mom. And on the audio, you hear him saying, mommy, she's gone. I mean, it's it's really dramatic. And if in fact, I just, when you see the text messages and then you cut to this grown man acting hysterical and sobbing and literally feeling very performative, it's stunning to see those two.
00:08:27
Speaker 1: Can we say in fairness, his attorney is going to say what about that video?
00:08:30
Speaker 2: They are saying this is a man who is distraught. This is a man who is overwhelmed. He's just been burglarized. He's just found his wife shot. He's in pain. Yes, all of those things. But this reminds me of so many other trials we've seen where they've got the body cam footage, they've got the 911 calls, and then you see that same person sitting there in a defendant's chair charged with murder.
00:08:57
Speaker 1: Robes, we watch a lot of true crime shows. These are often, for me, the most fascinating. to see someone who ends up later maybe found guilty, who's guilty of a crime, a murder, to see their behavior, like a full Oscar-winning performance beforehand. It's one of the most fascinating parts of many of these trials in these videos.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And when you, so if you see the performance, I shouldn't say this, but you see how he's acting on this body cam footage, you see how he sounds on this 911 call, and the I haven't seen it yet, but I would think they would put out this video, this audition tape, or this get-to-know-Caleb tape of him saying, I love my wife more than anything. She's very, very pretty. I love her. He credits her with pushing him to try out for the reality singing show. So you see all of this, and then you get the contrast of these text messages to his mistress describing how much he hates his wife, how much he wants to kill his wife. How can you trust anything this man says? He seems nothing but performative when you put all of that together.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: The stuff in court, and again, he is, by our justice system, an innocent man until otherwise proven guilty. The stuff in court is a lot.
00:10:17
Speaker 2: It is.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: It's over the top almost, babe. And you want to leave space for him being in pain and seeing this stuff. But he is watching himself on video. Okay, let's go with this possible theory if you think he's guilty. You're watching a guy perform on video, watching him perform while he watches himself perform. On video performed in court. The stuff in court is a lot, baby. It's a lot.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: And as we mentioned, we're expecting the mistress to testify later. Guess who else is expected to testify? His two daughters, who are now aged 10 and 12. And this murder happened last year. So look, they were young, but they were old enough to be able to speak to what they saw, what they heard, what they knew about their parents. I mean, that's awful to think, but they are expected to testify in this trial. And when we come back, we will tell you about all the testimony that jurors heard on Monday from the medical examiner to the law enforcement officers who all testified against about this intruder theory that Caleb Flynn is claiming happened in his home. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ, as we are already fascinated by the testimony that has taken place in the Caleb Flynn murder trial. That is, of course, the American Idol, the former American Idol contestant. He made it all the way to Hollywood Week And so, yes, he was a part of the show. His wife, Ashley, who is the murder victim at this point, she also was a part of the show. We saw him gushing about how much he loved her. And now we're hearing these text messages that he's sending to his mistress. And yet this all happened February of this year. So this was February of 2026. He's already on trial for murder. That's that's quick detective work and quick. Court scheduling. Well, yeah.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: It's not what we're used to. Sometimes trials take years and years. They are moving along there in Ohio. But yeah, this was... That's why I was... When you said it, I was thinking, well, how old were the kids? You said they're 10 and 12 now?
00:12:30
Speaker 2: They're 10 and 12 now.
00:12:32
Speaker 1: But is there any way? Do they have to testify?
00:12:35
Speaker 2: They are on the list of scheduled witnesses.
00:12:39
Speaker 1: Well, maybe they won't, though.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: And maybe they want to. Maybe they want to be a part of this. I don't know. You can't force a child to. So I would believe... They've done whatever they need to do to determine whether or not a child is capable of testifying.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: But not capable. Can you prove your case without putting the kids on the stand? Do you have to do that?
00:12:59
Speaker 2: It seems like they've got a lot of evidence. And speaking to that, the jurors already heard. And this was where it got really tough yesterday. And it always is this way when the medical examiner got on the stand and described the some of the very gruesome details of the autopsy photos. But this was a woman who they believe was sleeping. She was dead asleep. And that's a bad way to describe it. But she was asleep when they say that her husband of 15 years shot her twice in the head. And they showed her eye bruise, bone fragments protruding from her face. And they were describing it. And that's when Flynn really started sobbing. But courtroom reporters say there were several people in the courtroom sobbing as the medical examiner went through what happened to this 37-year-old mom of two. You know what?
00:13:49
Speaker 1: Every time we watch, isn't the medical examiner testimony.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: It's always the worst.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: The worst. Because they have to show pictures. They have to be descriptive. It's the worst.
00:13:56
Speaker 2: It's awful. And the jurors saw the photos. They did not show the photos in open court. That's how- tough they were, but those jurors had to take that all in. They did show the videos. Yes. And that was, yes, just probably more entertaining than anything else. But law enforcement got up and this is their big thing. Caleb Flynn says an intruder came into his home, was burglarizing his home, shot his wife and fled. Well, every detective got up on the stand and said there were no signs of forced entry from the outside. And they actually said that any damage to the door happened, they believe, from the inside. And so the quote was, And that was after 12 hours of being in the home. They said they were very quickly able to determine that this was not an intruder. I thought this was interesting. They said they had drones with thermal grid searching to see if anybody was fleeing. They canvassed more than 80 homes. They had a canine who tracks sent from inside the home, and the dog just kept consistently going back to the garage and would not leave the property. So all of those signs also agreed with the door that was damaged. They said it was very obvious from the beginning.
00:15:15
Speaker 1: It's probably one out of every five true crime episodes we watch. They say, yeah, it was a break-in, but the window was broken from the inside.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: Correct.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: It was a break-in, but yeah, but the door was damaged from the inside. This is another one of those cases. It's amazing. And again, we're not trying to encourage anybody and give you tips, but this is like you missed like obvious stuff here. And so Robes, how long did they take seriously that they had a killer on the loose out there with a nine millimeter just going into homes and shooting random sleeping women?
00:15:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think they thought it for very long. And look, they never found the gun, the 9mm gun that they know shot Ashley. But they also know that he was known, Caleb was known to keep a 9mm gun in his car's center console. In the garage, they found the car's center console open and the gun missing.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: Where's the gun, babe?
00:16:12
Speaker 2: They can't find it anywhere.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Where did Caleb say it was? He misplaced it?
00:16:17
Speaker 2: I think the intruder must have taken it. Ah. That must have been what happened.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Isn't that the other thing? No intruder breaks in unarmed to look for a weapon to use in said crime.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: And knows to look for it in the center console exactly where Caleb Flynn kept his gun. But yeah, they said they searched the sewers. They went everywhere with metal detectors looking for this gun. They haven't found it. And the defense is trying to use that. There is no evidence. The only evidence they have, the defense says, is that Caleb Flynn was a terrible husband who said really awful things about his wife.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: Okay, I still, do they have an official answer, the defense, as to where that gun is? Are they really going with the intruder must have taken it?
00:17:03
Speaker 2: Absolutely going with the intruder theory, and they're sticking to it. Look, if you've got your client on camera, on a 911 call, repeatedly saying that an intruder broke in... You kind of have to stick with that. So that's where they are. We will see where the testimony takes us today. But yes, the third day of testimony continues in the American Idol trial, and we will be following it. With that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:17:32
Speaker 1: We'll talk soon.