2026年10月5日 / 美国东部时间晚上8:02 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
记者 亚历克斯·桑德比 高级编辑
亚历克斯·桑德比是CBSNews.com的高级编辑。除编辑内容外，他还报道突发新闻，撰写关于犯罪、极端天气，以及从多州彩票头奖到国庆日热狗吃比赛等各类题材的报道。
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马克·奥斯本、安吉尔·卡纳莱斯，
前《美国偶像》选手、牧师凯莱布·弗林上周因谋杀妻子罪名成立，他曾试图将这起罪行归咎于闯入家中的入侵者，周一在俄亥俄州被判处终身不得假释。
弗林在庭审期间并未出庭为自己辩护，但在判刑前，他坚称自己没有杀害妻子阿什利。
“不幸的是，过去几年里我在很多事情上撒了谎，但当我站在终极审判者上帝面前时，我说我没有杀害妻子，这绝非谎言，”弗林说道。“只要主允许，我会继续为自己的清白而战，因为我没有杀害我的妻子。”
阿什利·弗林的母亲吉尔·史密斯在法庭上宣读了这对夫妇的两个女儿之一、艾莉莎·弗林的证词。
“我全心全意深爱着你，但可悲的是，你除了自己谁也不爱，”史密斯宣读她12岁孙女的证词时说道。她还表示，承认自己的杀人罪行是她父亲至少应该做的事。
“我们的家庭从未如此团结，经历了你给我带来的一切之后，上帝定会将坏事变好事。顺便说一句，我不打算去见你，”史密斯宣读的证词中写道。
迈阿密县普通诉讼法院法官珍妮恩·普拉特表示，该案陪审团作出的有罪裁决让她得出了“一个明确且毋庸置疑的结论”。
“弗林先生，你的行为令人发指，”普拉特说道。“老实说，你所表现出的层层欺骗、操纵和残忍令人难以想象，坦率地说，先生，你利用自己的信仰操纵他人的生活。”
检察官表示，弗林于2月16日在睡梦中的妻子脑后开了两枪，受害者年仅37岁。他们指控他随后布置了俄亥俄州蒂普城的家，伪造入室抢劫现场，并拨打911称一名入侵者应对这起谋杀案负责。
凯莱布·弗林此前声称妻子遇害时他在另一个房间。
2026年10月5日，在俄亥俄州特洛伊市的庭审中，凯莱布·弗林在被判刑前向法庭宣读自己的陈述。此画面取自视频，美联社泳池照片
弗林总共面临九项罪名成立，包括加重谋杀罪、三项谋杀罪、两项严重攻击罪和三项篡改证据罪。加重谋杀罪是判处终身监禁的依据，包括三项谋杀罪在内的另外五项罪名均并入该刑罚。弗林还因每项篡改证据罪名被判处三年监禁，两项单独的枪支加重情节各判处三年，第三项枪支加重情节判处一年监禁。
凯莱布·弗林曾发短信：“我希望她去死”
庭审期间，自称与被告有婚外情的24岁女子阿莱加·博特纳作证，披露了两人之间数以万计的短信内容，其中包括一些他写道希望自己妻子死亡的信息。
博特纳作证称，她与凯莱布·弗林维持了约18个月的婚外情，两人是在她于弗林的教堂实习时相识的。她讲述了两人如何隐藏聊天记录，起初承认曾对联邦调查局撒谎，并解释了自己的手机和工作笔记本电脑在阿什利遇害前几周丢失的情况。
当被问及如今对弗林的看法时，她作证道：“我恨他。”
许多短信内容在法庭上被宣读，凯莱布·弗林多次表示希望阿什利·弗林去死。
2025年2月11日，也就是妻子被枪杀的差不多一年前，凯莱布·弗林在给博特纳的短信中谈及妻子时写道：“我需要她去死，不要再出轨，离开我。”联邦调查局特别探员安德里亚·金齐格在庭审中作证称，她在阿什利·弗林的手机上未发现任何她有婚外情的证据，正如凯莱布·弗林此前告诉博特纳的那样。
几周后，凯莱布·弗林给博特纳发短信说：“我也恨她，希望她消失。”2025年3月24日，博特纳写道：“我能做些什么？”他回复道：“杀了她。”
凯莱布·弗林曾给博特纳发短信说：“我昨晚熬到凌晨四点……试图想办法杀了她而不进监狱。如果我能杀了她又不下地狱，我会毫不犹豫立刻动手。”
乔丹·弗莱曼对本报道亦有贡献。
Caleb Flynn, former “American Idol” contestant and pastor, sentenced to life without parole in wife’s murder
October 5, 2026 / 8:02 PM EDT / CBS News
By Alex Sundby Senior Editor
Alex Sundby is a senior editor at CBSNews.com. In addition to editing content, Alex also covers breaking news, writing about crime and severe weather as well as everything from multistate lottery jackpots to the July Fourth hot dog eating contest.
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Mark Osborne, Angel Canales,
Caleb Flynn, a former “American Idol” contestant and pastor who was convicted last week of murdering his wife, a crime he tried to blame on an intruder breaking into their home, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Monday in Ohio.
Flynn did not take the stand in his defense during the trial, but he proclaimed his innocence in the killing of his wife, Ashley, before he was sentenced.
“I have unfortunately lied about a lot of things over the last couple of years, but as I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife,” Flynn said. “I will continue to fight for my innocence as long as the Lord allows me to, as I did not kill my wife.”
Ashley Flynn’s mother, Jill Smith,read a statement in court from one of the couple’s two daughters, Alyssa Flynn.
“I love you deeply with all my heart, and it’s sad that you can’t love anyone but yourself,” Smith read from her 12-year-old granddaughter’s statement. She also said that confessing to the killing would be the least her father could do.
“Our family has never been stronger, and through all of what you put me through, God is going to work something out for good, and by the way, I don’t plan on coming to see you,” Smith read from the statement.
Miami County Common Pleas Judge Jeannine Pratt said the jury’s guilty verdict in the case left her with “one clear and obvious conclusion.”
“Your actions, Mr. Flynn, were abhorrent,” Pratt said. “The layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty that you have shown are quite honestly impossible to fathom, and frankly, sir, you used your faith to manipulate the lives of others.”
Prosecutors said Flynn shot his wife, 37, twice in the back of the head while she was asleep in bed on Feb. 16. They alleged 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.
Caleb Flynn had claimed he was in another room when his wife was killed.
Caleb Flynn reads his statement to the court before being sentenced in Troy, Ohio, Oct. 5, 2026, in this image taken from video. Pool Photo via AP
Flynn was found guilty of nine charges in total, including aggravated murder and three charges of murder, two charges of felonious assault and three charges of tampering with evidence. The aggravated murder charge is what carried the life sentence, and five other charges, including the three murder charges, were rolled into that sentence. Flynn was also sentenced to three years for each of the tampering with evidence charges, three years each for two separate firearm enhancements and another year for a third firearm enhancement.
Caleb Flynn texted, “I need her to die”
During the trial, Alleigha Botner, 24, who said she had an affair with the defendant, testified about the tens of thousands of text messages the two shared, including some in which he wrote he wanted his wife dead.
Botner testified to a roughly 18-month sexual affair with Caleb 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, Caleb Flynn repeatedly said he wished Ashley Flynn was dead.
“I need her to die, to cheat again, to leave,” Caleb Flynn wrote to Botner about his wife on Feb. 11, 2025, almost exactly a year before she was shot. FBI Special Agent Andrea Kinzig, who testified during the trial, said she found no evidence on Ashley Flynn’s phone of her having an affair, as Caleb Flynn had told Botner, according to her testimony.
Weeks later, Caleb Flynn 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.”
Caleb 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.”
Jordan Freiman contributed to this report.
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