2026-09-29T15:46:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：马克·奥斯本、安杰尔·卡纳莱斯
更新时间：2026年9月29日 / 美国东部时间下午3:53 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
陪审团已就凯莱布·弗林的审判作出裁决。这位前《美国偶像》参赛者、牧师被控谋杀妻子阿什利。预计裁决将很快在法庭上宣布。
检方称，40岁的弗林于2月16日在妻子熟睡时朝其脑后开了两枪。他们指控他随后布置了俄亥俄州蒂普城的家中现场，伪装成入室抢劫，并拨打911谎称入侵者应对谋杀负责。作案枪支尚未被找到。
弗林声称妻子遇害时他在另一个房间。
他被控加重谋杀罪、谋杀罪、恶意攻击罪和篡改证据罪。他已提出无罪抗辩。
弗林曾发短信：“我希望她去死”
在极具毁灭性的证词中，与被告有婚外情的24岁女子阿莱加·博特纳就两人之间的数万条短信作证两天，其中包括一些据称他写道希望自己妻子死亡的内容。
博特纳作证称，她与弗林有过约18个月的不正当性关系，两人是在她作为他教堂的实习生时相识的。她描述了两人如何隐藏聊天记录，承认最初对联邦调查局撒谎，并解释了她如何在阿什利遇害前几周丢失了手机和工作笔记本电脑。
当被问及如今对弗林的看法时，她作证说：“我恨他。”
庭审中宣读了多条短信内容，弗林多次表示希望阿什利去死。
2025年2月11日，也就是阿什利被枪杀整一年前，弗林在给博特纳的短信中谈到妻子时写道：“我需要她去死，她又出轨了，赶紧离开我。”几周后，他又给博纳特发消息称：“我也恨她，希望她滚蛋。”2025年3月24日，博特纳写道：“我能做什么？”弗林回复：“杀了她。”
弗林曾给博特纳发短信说：“我昨晚熬到凌晨4点……一直在想办法杀了她又不用坐牢。如果我能真的杀了她又不下地狱，我立马就会动手。”
2026年9月28日，凯莱布·弗林（左）在俄亥俄州特洛伊市迈阿密县普通初审法院与其律师之一艾米丽·史密斯坐在一起。 pooled/美联社
博特纳称，从2025年8月左右开始，弗林“四五次”提到要离开阿什利，还设定了10月、11月、12月甚至可能1月的期限。
博特纳说，她给弗尼定下最后期限：2026年1月11日前与阿什利分开，之后便切断了联系，直到案发两天前的2月14日才恢复。在此期间，弗尼给她发了一首自己写的歌，其中有一句歌词是“自从失去你的那一刻起，人生便一片空虚”。
在案发前一晚发给博特纳的最后几条短信中，弗尼写道：“要动手了”、“明天就会有行动”、“我选择你”以及“就要获得自由了”。他还说2月16日将是“我永远不会忘记的一天”，以及“明天是重要的一天”。博特纳在法庭上作证称，她当时理解“行动”指的是离婚。
弗林的辩护理由
弗林的律师称，枪击发生时他正在睡觉，在女儿艾娃的房间里时被枪声惊醒。
“凯莱布不是因为是个糟糕的丈夫而受审，”他的律师艾米丽·史密斯在开庭陈述中表示，同时承认弗尼与博特纳有婚外情。“他不是因为出轨受审……一个丈夫可以做得很差，但不必是杀人犯。”
蒂普城警方公布了弗林拨打911后警方抵达住宅的随身摄像头录像，视频中弗尼哭着问道：“她是不是……是不是没救了，警官？”
弗林的律师辩称，没有证据证明是他枪杀了妻子。
联邦调查局特工萨拉·迪姆伦就所谓的住宅入室盗窃案作证，称她在房屋外门上没有发现任何撬、踹或撞痕。她说，她在门框内侧饰面上发现了凿痕，而正常情况下强行闯入应会在外侧留下痕迹。她表示，自己经手过约75扇被强行打开的门，本案中的这扇门与强行闯入的痕迹不符。
在庭审中作证的联邦调查局特工安德里亚·金齐格称，她在阿什利的手机上没有发现任何弗尼告诉博特纳的婚外情证据。
辩方质疑丢失的手机和电脑
虽然从凯莱布和阿什利·弗林的手机中恢复了短信，但无法从博特纳的设备中提取到任何内容。她在证人席上表示，自己的手机在独自前往佛罗里达州克利尔沃特的旅行中掉进水里，无法使用。而她的笔记本电脑则称是在返程航班上丢失，再也没有找回。
“我真的……这完全是无心之失……认识我的人都知道我总丢东西，”她告诉法庭。
弗林的辩护律师认为，博特纳的手机和电脑丢失并非巧合，暗示她可能参与了谋杀。不过，庭审中展示的Ring监控录像显示，案发时她正身处家中。
在第一次接受联邦调查局特工采访时，博特纳告诉特工她不认为弗尼杀了自己的妻子，但在第二次采访中，她表示相信弗尼就是凶手，最终得出结论称妻子的死“太过巧合”，她在法庭上作证说。
博特纳未在本案中被起诉，她告诉法庭，自己并未因作证而获得任何好处。她还告诉法庭，当她发短信说希望阿什利“滚蛋”时，指的是离婚。
辩方在本次审判中未传唤任何证人。
弗林曾在《美国偶像》节目中表达对阿什利的爱意
凯莱布·弗尼曾参加2013年的《美国偶像》第12季。他在试镜后获得了前往好莱坞的“黄金通行证”，但在比赛初期就被淘汰。
“音乐就是我的全部，是我活着的意义，我热爱唱歌，这就是我参加试镜的原因，”他在节目视频中说道。“或许我妻子也稍微推了我一把。”
他还对阿什利赞不绝口，补充说凯莉·安德伍德是他最喜欢的参赛者，他妻子如果把头发染成金色，看起来会和她一模一样。
“我爱我的妻子胜过一切。她非常、非常漂亮，”他说。“我爱她。”
周二的结案陈词中，迈阿密县检察官保罗·沃特金斯逐一驳斥了弗尼的辩护理由。
“他本可以通过合法途径离婚，但他太贪婪了，”沃特金斯在反驳发言结束时说道。“人会撒谎，但证据不会。”
Jury reaches verdict in murder trial of Caleb Flynn, former “American Idol” contestant and pastor
2026-09-29T15:46:00-0400 / CBS News
By Mark Osborne, Angel Canales,
Updated on: September 29, 2026 / 3:53 PM EDT / CBS News
The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Caleb Flynn, the former “American Idol” contestant and pastor charged with murder in the killing of his wife, Ashley. The verdict is expected to be announced in court shortly.
Prosecutors said Flynn, 40, shot his wife twice in the back of the head while she was asleep in bed on Feb. 16. They allege he then staged their Tipp City, Ohio, home to mimic a break-in and called 911 to claim an intruder was responsible for the murder. The gun used in the shooting has not been recovered.
Flynn had claimed he was in another room when his wife, 37, was killed.
He was charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. He has pleaded not guilty.
Flynn texted, “I need her to die”
In damning testimony, Alleigha Botner, 24, who had an affair with the defendant, testified over two days about the tens of thousands of text messages the two shared, including some in which he allegedly wrote he wanted his wife dead.
Botner testified to a roughly 18-month sexual affair with Flynn, whom she met when she was an intern at his church. She described how the two hid their messages, admitted to lying to the FBI at first, and explained how she lost her phone and work laptop just weeks before Ashley’s death.
Asked how she feels about Flynn today, she testified, “I hate him.”
In the texts, many of which were read in court, Flynn repeatedly said he wished Ashley was dead.
“I need her to die, to cheat again, to leave,” Flynn wrote to Botner about his wife on Feb. 11, 2025, almost exactly a year before she was shot. Weeks later, he texted Botner, “I hate her as well and I want her gone.” On March 24, 2025, Botner wrote, “What can I do?” and he responded, “Kill her.”
Flynn once texted Botner, “I was up until 4 a.m. last night … 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.”
Caleb Flynn, left, sits next to Emily Smith, one of his attorneys, on Sept. 28, 2026, in the Miami County Court of Common Pleas in Troy, Ohio. Pool/AP
Botner said Flynn talked about leaving Ashley “four or five times” starting around August 2025, and she set deadlines for October, November, December and possibly January.
Botner said she gave him a final deadline of Jan. 11, 2026, to separate from Ashley, then cut off contact until Feb. 14, two days before the murder. During that gap, he sent her a song he wrote, including the line, “Life is now empty since the moment I lost you.”
In his last messages to Botner from the night before the killing, Flynn wrote, “It’s happening,” “actions will come tomorrow,” “I choose you,” and “about to be free.” He also said Feb. 16 would be “a day I never forget,” and “Tomorrow is a big day.” Botner told the court she understood “actions” to mean the divorce.
Flynn’s defense
Flynn’s lawyers said he was asleep at the time of the shooting and awoke to gunshots while he was in their daughter Ava’s room.
“Caleb is not on trial for being a bad husband,” his attorney, Emily Smith, said during opening statements, conceding he had an affair with Botner. “He’s not on trial for cheating. … A man can fail as a husband without being a murderer.”
Tipp City police released body camera video of them arriving to the house after Flynn called 911, with video of him crying and asking, “Is she, is she gone, sir?”
Flynn’s attorneys argued there was no proof he shot his wife.
FBI Special Agent Sarah Deamron testified on the alleged break-in at the house, saying she found no pry, kick or ram marks on the outside of the door. She found gouge marks on the inside trim of the frame, she said, as opposed to the outside as one would expect. She said she had seen about 75 doors forced open, and the one in this case was not consistent with a forced entry.
FBI Special Agent Andrea Kinzig, who testified during the trial, said she found no evidence on Ashley’s phone of her having an affair as Flynn had told Botner, according to her testimony.
Defense questions lost cellphone and computer
While text messages were recovered from Caleb and Ashley Flynn’s phones, none were able to be taken from Botner’s devices. She said on the stand her phone had fallen into the water on a solo trip to Clearwater, Florida, and stopped working. Her laptop, meanwhile, she said was lost on a flight on the way home and never recovered.
“I genuinely … it was completely innocent … anyone who knows me knows that I lose things,” she told the court.
Flynn’s defense lawyers argue Botner’s phone and computer being lost is not a coincidence and suggest it could mean she played a role in the murder. However, Ring video shown during the trial showed she was at home during the time the murder was committed.
In her first interview with FBI agents, Botner told them she did not believe that Flynn had killed his wife, but in her second interview with agents, she said she did, ultimately concluding her death was “way too much of a coincidence,” she testified in court.
Botner was not charged in the case, and told the court she was not offered anything for her testimony. She told the court when she texted she wanted Ashley “gone,” she meant divorce.
The defense called no witnesses in the trial.
Flynn professed love for Ashley on “American Idol”
Caleb Flynn appeared on season 12 of “American Idol,” which took place in 2013. He was given a “golden ticket” to Hollywood after auditioning but was cut early on in the competition.
“Music is all I know, it’s what I live to do and I love to sing, so that’s why I auditioned,” he said in videos from the show. “Maybe my wife kinda nudged me a little too.”
He also raved about Ashley, adding Carrie Underwood was his favorite contestant and his wife would look just like her if she dyed her hair blond.
“I love my wife more than anything. She is very, very pretty,” he said. “I love her.”
In closing arguments Tuesday, Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins picked apart each of Flynn’s defenses.
“He had a lawful way to leave, but he was too greedy,” Watkins said in finishing his rebuttal. “People lie. Evidence doesn’t.”
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