“I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail.”
“If I could literally kill her and not go to Hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That is how dark and how hateful I feel.”
These text messages were sent to Alleigha Botner, Caleb Flynn’s mistress, months before his wife Ashley Flynn was shot and killed in her bed while she was sleeping. And these texts were read by the prosecutor during opening statements in Caleb’s murder trial. Then they were read again by Alleigha herself because the prosecution team made her read many of their exchanges – showing everyone how much they both hated Caleb’s wife, calling her “douche” and other derogatory names.
Caleb and Alleigha were certainly united in their hate of Ashley and wanting to get rid of her – in any way possible it seemed. But unfortunately, at this time, Caleb is the only one receiving handcuffs over it. He was found GUILTY [1] on Tuesday by the jury. GUILTY of all nine charges against him, including one count of aggravated murder, three counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and three counts of tampering with evidence. Jurors also found firearm specifications attached to seven of the charges. Caleb now faces the possibility of life in prison without parole when he is sentenced Oct. 5.
Being a true crime junkie, I listened to much of the testimony of the trial. I hadn’t watched him on American Idol so I didn’t know much about him at the beginning of the trial. I found out he and his mistress met at their church where they were on the worship team. How lovely. And in between their discussions about how much they hated Ashley, they often talked about church and God in the texts too (disgusting).
It was not rocket science to figure out if he was guilty or not. There was plenty of evidence that showed Caleb was guilty. Was Alleigha involved? Possibly. But Caleb definitely was. The jury agreed. It only took them about 2-1/2 hours to “deliberate” and find him guilty. One hour and 50 minutes of that time was probably spent on lunch and paperwork.
Caleb and Alleigha exchanged more than 100,000 messages during their obsessive affair. Some of the text messages the day before Ashley was killed included Caleb saying, “Good night, tomorrow’s a big day. I’ve got to get to bed…I choose you, I’m about to be free.” Yeah, that’s not ominous at all. His defense attorney and Alleigha tried to convince everyone that they were talking about Caleb asking for a divorce. But no one was buying that.
Why did he do it? That was obvious. His mistress kept threatening to leave him – giving him deadlines and ultimatums. He had no other choice if he wanted a future with Alleigha. Over and over, Alleigha threatened him and he was cowardly. His mistress said things to him like, “Until she’s gone, I’m gone.” She pressured him over and over again.
Caleb was always making promises to Alleigha, saying things like, “I’ll work on getting rid of her.” He DID finally come through for her on February 16th after all of his promises and her threats. That’s the day Ashley was shot and killed.
But a criminal mastermind he was not. Flynn claimed some mysterious intruder did it. Prosecutors said there was no evidence of a break-in and argued Flynn staged the scene. His 9mm handgun was also missing and has never been recovered.
Really, Caleb. How would a stranger – an intruder – know that your gun was in the console of your truck? And why would a stranger take the gun, go up to your wife’s bedroom, shoot her twice while she was sleeping and leave? Just for sport? On a dare?
Caleb’s fake (and real) tears that he has shed during the trial and the verdict mean nothing to most of us. He’s only crying for himself because he got caught – and because he figured out that he won’t be having sex with Alleigha anymore. Poor thing. She’s gotta find a new guy to obsess over too although if I was a guy I’d stay pretty far away from her.
Caleb is almost as bad as murderers Scott Peterson and Chris Watts. The only thing he didn’t do (thank God) was kill his kids too. What a creep.
Alleigha isn’t much better in most people’s eyes. She admitted sending Caleb a message saying, “I want to kill her (Ashley),” with Flynn responding, “That makes two of us.” She repeatedly pushed him to leave Ashley, although Alleigha testified she meant divorce, not murder. She has not been charged with anything – for now.
Whether Alleigha ever faces charges – or whether Ashley’s family eventually pursues her in civil court – remains to be seen. Judging by the conversations playing out on social media, plenty of people believe her role in the ugly saga deserves a much closer look.
As for Caleb, he once texted that he would be “free” soon. He got that part spectacularly wrong. Instead of freedom, he is now facing the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars – an outcome that few following this case are likely to lose any sleep over.