‘American Idol’ Alum on Trial for Wife’s Murder

The woman who says she had an affair with former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn has delivered a stunning statement at his murder trial: She once believed she loved him. Now, she believes he killed his wife.

Alleigha Botner took the stand September 23 in Miami County, Ohio, where Flynn is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Ashley, and staging a break-in.

“I hate him,” Botner told the court. Asked why her feelings had changed, she replied, “Because I believe that he murdered his wife.”

That is her belief, not a jury finding. Flynn has pleaded not guilty.

His two young daughters were also identified in pretrial reporting as expected witnesses. Their anticipated testimony adds another painful dimension to a case involving their mother’s death and their father’s prosecution.

Botner, 24, testified that she met Flynn through their church and later began a sexual relationship with him. She described conversations about a future together and messages in which he expressed wanting Ashley dead.

But she also offered an important distinction about one message prosecutors have highlighted.

When Flynn told her that actions would follow, Botner testified, she understood that he intended to discuss divorce with Ashley—not that he planned a killing.

ABC News’ courtroom video shows part of Botner’s testimony.

She returned to the stand September 24, reading further messages exchanged before Ashley’s death. According to WHIO’s courtroom updates, Botner said Flynn last responded to her at approximately 12:45 a.m. February 16—less than two hours before his reported 911 call.

That call initially sent police searching for an intruder.

Flynn told the dispatcher that someone had broken into the family’s Tipp City home and killed his wife. Ashley, 37, was found fatally shot in her bed. The couple’s daughters were elsewhere in the house.

Investigators ultimately accused Flynn of carrying out the shooting himself and manipulating the scene to mislead police. He was arrested February 19, three days after Ashley’s death. Those accusations formed the basis of the initial criminal complaint.

A grand jury returned an 11-count indictment in March, including aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, evidence tampering and witness intimidation charges, according to the prosecutor’s announcement published by the Tippecanoe Gazette.

The defense has pushed back against the prosecution’s emphasis on the affair and messages.

In opening statements, defense attorney Emily Smith argued that an unfaithful husband is not necessarily a killer and challenged whether the state’s circumstantial evidence proves Flynn committed the shooting.

“A man can fail as a husband without being a murderer,” Smith told jurors.

Ashley was a substitute teacher and seventh-grade volleyball coach in Tipp City, a community north of Dayton. Her death has left a family grieving and two children without their mother.

The trial now centers on whether prosecutors can connect the messages, witness accounts and physical evidence to the killing. The affair and Botner’s suspicions are part of the state’s case. Whether Flynn murdered Ashley remains for the jury to decide.