Caleb Flynn Trial Day 7: Analyst Counts 141 Messages About Killing Ashley

Tony Brueski (0:00)

You're listening to continuing coverage in the trial of Caleb Flynn from the Hidden Killers podcast and True Crime Today. Now, back to the courtroom.

Samantha Reeb (0:13)

Mr. Lofkin, you're being fired with this witness.

SPEAKER_3 (0:15)

Thank you, Your Honor. Please state your name and spell it for the record.

Samantha Reeb (0:19)

Samantha Reeb, S-A-M-A-N-T-H-A. Reeb is R-E-E-P as in boy.

SPEAKER_4 (0:26)

And where are you employed?

Samantha Reeb (0:28)

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

SPEAKER_3 (0:30)

What's your current position?

Samantha Reeb (0:31)

I'm a criminal intelligence analyst.

SPEAKER_3 (0:34)

How long have you been with VCI?

Samantha Reeb (0:35)

About 12 years.

SPEAKER_3 (0:38)

What unit are you assigned to?

Samantha Reeb (0:39)

I'm assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Unit.

SPEAKER_4 (0:42)

What does that unit do?

Samantha Reeb (0:44)

So we assist law enforcement and local agencies in three major ways.

We can assist with collecting information that can be, if we have a victim or a subject of interest, we can run their information through different law enforcement databases, public record resources, open source resources, and collect information such as their address, what car they drive, any social media information that they may have. The second way that we can assist is through analyzing data, helping go through search warrant returns from some providers, going through celebrate extractions, looking at social media data, and starting to pull out those pieces of information that are of value to the investigators. And then we can also help identify additional social media sites or different usernames that that person might have so that law enforcement can send additional search warrants or subpoenas to those. And then the last way is just by organizing and putting together visuals of all of the data in a case, to kind of simplify it and make it a little bit easier to understand.

SPEAKER_3 (2:01)

Could you please describe your educational background?

Samantha Reeb (2:03)

Yes. So I have a bachelor's degree in forensic science and law enforcement, a master's degree in criminal behavior.

And then I also, through my job, have gone through several courses through police technical, the Alpha Group, and the National White Color Crime Center. Those are all different training companies that offer certifications. So I also hold a few certifications in analytics, intelligence, and cell phone investigations.

SPEAKER_3 (2:35)

Personally, how many bases have you worked on as a criminal intelligence analyst since 2014?

Samantha Reeb (2:42)

It's hard to say for sure, but I'd say well over 100 cases that I've assisted with.

SPEAKER_3 (2:47)

How many of those were homicides?

Samantha Reeb (2:49)

A large majority of the cases I've worked are homicides. Part of our agency assists with cold cases, so I've been assigned to several cold case homicides as well.

SPEAKER_3 (3:00)

How many data sets would you estimate you've analyzed over your career?

Samantha Reeb (3:04)

Easily hundreds.

SPEAKER_3 (3:07)

How many times have you testified in court?

Samantha Reeb (3:10)

I testified in state court six times and in federal court once.

SPEAKER_3 (3:15)

Were you assigned to work on BCI case number 2026, that 0612, the homicide of Ashley Flynn?

Samantha Reeb (3:23)

Yes, I was.

SPEAKER_3 (3:23)

When were you assigned to this case?

Samantha Reeb (3:25)

I was assigned the evening of February 16th, 2026

SPEAKER_3 (3:30)

Who assigned you to the case?

Samantha Reeb (3:32)

My supervisor contacted me. The Tip City Police Department had requested assistance with sending some preservation requests for records.

SPEAKER_3 (3:40)

What were you asked to do in connection with the case?

Samantha Reeb (3:43)

Initially, I was requested just to send some preservation requests. So, talking about collecting information, they knew who the victim was, as well as who the 911 caller was at the time. So, I ran the information for Ashley and Caleb Flynn, tried to determine what social media sites they had, who were their cell phone care providers, did they have any email addresses, things like that, and then I sent preserations to those companies to preserve that data.

Approximately a week later, I became more involved in the case. In doing that second part of analysis, where we start to go through the information, I became part of the investigative team. So, I had access to a large majority of the search warrant returns, the data from those, as well as the other information that was collected in the investigation.

SPEAKER_4 (4:38)

And then, did you make it to the third silo of your work in this case?

Samantha Reeb (4:42)

Yes. So, I analyzed quite a lot of records in this case, cell phone extractions, call detail records, social media returns, email address returns, financial records, as well as reviewing, you know, police reports, crime scene photos, interviews, and then kind of compiled all of that information into timelines and other visuals for this case.