VERDICT: Caleb Flynn

Katie Ring (0:16)

I wanted to start today's episode off with just saying, please just get a divorce. If you want to be with your mistress, just get a divorce, you don't have to murder your wife. I have just seen too many cases of this lately, and with the Caleb Flynn Trial just wrapped, I have to talk about it. If you don't want to be married anymore, hello, there's a thing called divorce. Is it messy? Usually. Is it expensive? Sometimes. Are a lot of people going to be pissed at you? Maybe. But you're alive, she's alive, everybody can move on and you don't end up in jail.

From my rant, you've probably picked up on what this trial was about. But if you don't know anything about this case, a man named Caleb Flynn, who was a worship leader and a former American Idol contestant called 911 and told the dispatcher that someone had broken into his house and shot his wife. The trial went viral on social media and on September 29th, a jury found him guilty of murdering his wife, Ashley. If you do know about this case, you will still probably learn something new. If you followed True Crime at all over the last couple of weeks, you've probably seen at least a piece of this trial. It was live streamed on Court TV, it has been all over national news and as soon as that verdict came in, I knew I wanted to talk about it. If you don't know me, I'm Katie Ring, the host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. We usually break down one case every week over three episodes, but we've also started something new. Looking at cases in the headlines right now that we already know, we'll never forget. Today, I'm tackling the Caleb Flynn trial, and more importantly, the woman at the center of it all, his wife, Ashley.

Now, before we get into Caleb Flynn, I actually want to start with Ashley. Because when a case gets this much attention, and this is a former American Idol contestant, a worship pastor, an affair, more than 100,000 text messages, and a murder trial, the victim can very easily get pushed into the background. I don't want to do that. Ashley wasn't just Caleb's wife, she was a whole person.

Ashley Flynn was 37 years old, and she lived in Tip City, Ohio, a small town just north of Dayton with Caleb, their two daughters, and two golden doodles. And this was home for her. She graduated from Tippie Canoe High School, and years later, she was back in that same school district, working as a substitute teacher and coaching seventh grade girls volleyball at the middle school. She also taught weekly Bible lessons at Lifewise Academy, a nonprofit that takes public school kids off campus during the school day for Bible classes, and she volunteered at the church. The school district said she was known for her beautiful smile, her warmth, and her kindness, and one of her neighbors put it even more simply, she was full of light. But I actually think the way her family talked about her on the witness stand tells you even more, because they weren't just getting up there and saying she was a great person. They were describing someone they did basically everything with. Her mom Jill Smith testified that she and Ashley were best friends, and that they talked every single day.

And then there was Ashley's sister Kayla, who talked about how the two of them just tag teamed life. So when you listen to Ashley's family talk about her, you start getting this picture of somebody who is constantly showing up for other people. She loved her family, she loved her faith, she loved her students, and obviously she absolutely adored her daughters. That was a huge part of who she was. The last time Ashley's mom saw her was on Friday, February 13th, just three days before she was killed, when Ashley's dad took her and both of their daughters out for Valentines. The next night, the last time Jill and Ashley talked, Ashley was getting ready for a little Galentine celebration with her girls. Jill said she did facials, washed their hair, painted their nails, and made them special food. Just a perfect night for the three of them. Those completely normal, silly little things you do with your kids. Nothing dramatic, nothing that feels important in the moment. Just a mom spending time with her daughters. But by early Monday morning, Ashley was dead. It was the middle of the night when Jill's phone rang, and she testified she was surprised to see it was Caleb calling. He told her someone had broken into the house and shot Ashley.