Former American Idol contestant on trial. Plastic surgeon allegedly murders lawyer. Plus, AI scams.

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Good morning.

Andrea Canning (0:02)

It's the start of another workday for the Dateline team.

SPEAKER_3 (0:05)

Just talking to the DA, they were really looking at the boyfriend.

Andrea Canning (0:08)

Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news.

SPEAKER_1 (0:11)

Bodycam and family are kind of front and center in this case. He's back in jail.

SPEAKER_3 (0:16)

It looks like he's going to be staying there for a while.

Andrea Canning (0:19)

Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's September 24th, and here's what's on our docket.

In Florida, a plastic surgeon is on trial accused of stalking and murdering an attorney, and he's representing himself.

Alexa Koltoff (0:34)

He showed up every day voluntarily in his orange jail clothes.

Andrea Canning (0:39)

In Dateline Round Up, an update from the prosecutor in the case of Nolan Wells, the Mississippi teen whose mysterious death over the July 4th weekend made headlines across the country.

Sue Simpson (0:50)

On Monday night, 11 weeks after Nolan's death, the Jackson County District Attorney posted a video statement the findings of the grand jury investigation.

Andrea Canning (0:59)

Plus, scammers using AI to pull out your heartstrings. NBC News chief investigative consumer correspondent, Vicky Nguyen, tells us about something called Sadness Bait.

Vicky Nguyen (1:10)

These AI tools make it look like real people are suffering, real people are crying, real people are asking you for help.

Andrea Canning (1:17)

Before all that, we're taking you to a courthouse in Troy, Ohio, where a former American Idol contestant is on trial for his wife's murder. In the early morning hours of February 16th of this year, 39-year-old Caleb Flynn was on the line with 911 making this plea for help.

SPEAKER_3 (1:36)

My wife, she got two shots to her head, blood everywhere, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

SPEAKER_7 (1:43)

They're bleeding me.

Andrea Canning (1:44)

Caleb told police that an intruder had broken into their home and fatally shot Ashley while she was sleeping. But investigators didn't buy Caleb's story. After processing the scene, they suspected he'd staged the whole thing. Three days after making that 911 call, he was arrested and later charged with Ashley's murder.

He is pleaded not guilty. Up until the trial, we hadn't heard much about the prosecution's case against Caleb. But in a dramatic opening statement, the prosecutor revealed for the first time what he believes Caleb's alleged motive might be.

Another woman. Here to fill us in on all of it is Dateline Field producer Justin Ratchford, who is calling us from the courthouse. Hey, Justin.

Justin Ratchford (2:26)

Hi, Andrea.

Andrea Canning (2:26)

Thank you for coming on. So, Justin, this case is getting a lot of attention. As we mentioned, Caleb was once a contestant on American Idol, which is part of why this is making headlines.

Give us a little bit of background on Caleb's time on the show.

Justin Ratchford (2:41)

It was back in 2013

He was a contestant in Season 12 And in his interview, he described himself as a music pastor who connected with his church through music. And the thing that you might remember about him is how we talk about Ashley, who really nudged him to even audition and the love that he had for her. I love my wife more than anything. She is very, very pretty.

SPEAKER_9 (3:02)

Just, I love her.

Justin Ratchford (3:04)

Wow.

Andrea Canning (3:04)

Now, 13 years later, Ashley is dead. Do we know anything about what Caleb and Ashley were up to between 2013 and 2026?

Justin Ratchford (3:14)

Yeah. So the couple actually settled in Ashley's hometown, Tip City. That's where she grew up. They had two daughters together. Ashley was a substitute teacher and middle school volleyball coach.

Caleb, he actually worked as the vice president of sales for Ashley's family business, a flooring company.

Andrea Canning (3:31)

Okay. So it seems like you're typical all-American family.

The crux of this case, this is the question the jury has to answer, is whether an intruder murdered Ashley or did Caleb murder Ashley? So Justin, what was Caleb's version of the event?

Justin Ratchford (3:47)

So Caleb made the 9-1 call around 2 31 a.m. And that's actually what the jurors got to hear right away the first day of the trial. Prosecutors played it and it was really eerie and chilling hearing Caleb's voice.

SPEAKER_11 (4:01)

Is she breathing?

SPEAKER_3 (4:03)

I don't know. I don't think so. Ashley, baby, baby, please. Oh my God. No, she's not. Okay. She's not responding to you?

No, no. Okay. Do you see anybody in the house now?

No, it's pitch black and the doors are locked. The door to leading to the god's door was wide open when I ran in there.