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(NEW YORK) — A verdict has been reached in the murder trial of an Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his wife, who had called 911 to report that an intruder broke into their home and killed the mother of two.

Caleb Flynn, 40, who once appeared as a contestant on “American Idol” in 2013, was charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of his wife, 37-year-old Ashley Flynn. He has pleaded not guilty.

The jury deliberated for nearly 2 1/2 hours before reaching a verdict Tuesday afternoon. The verdict has not yet been announced.

The former pastor called 911 early on Feb. 16 to report that his wife had been shot by an intruder at their home in Tipp City, north of Dayton. He was arrested three days later.

Prosecutors alleged that Caleb Flynn “executed” his wife by shooting her twice in the back of the head in bed so that he could be with his mistress and manipulated the crime scene to make it seem as if an intruder had broken in through the garage.

Miami County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Joseph pointed to evidence including the physical scene, 911 call, text messages between Caleb Flynn and his mistress discussing the end of his marriage and digital records from the night of the shooting, which he argued “leads straight to the defendant.”

“The evidence showed that being the victim would allow the defendant to keep his lucrative job working for Ashley’s family business, he would benefit from Ashley’s life insurance, and he could keep his position as a working worship leader with zero impact to his reputation within the church,” Joseph said during closing arguments Tuesday in the Miami County courtroom. “The evidence does not tell the story of an intruder.”

Joseph argued that key details in Caleb Flynn’s recounting of what happened that night changed, and at the time when he told investigators he was sleeping before being woken up by gunshots, “his devices say he was awake and moving.”

No gun has been found in the shooting, though Joseph told jurors that the recovery of the gun is not an element the state has to prove.

“But you heard the defendant kept a 9mm handgun in his truck console. His truck was parked in the garage. That console was up before law enforcement arrived and the gun was missing,” Joseph said. “You heard that Ashley was shot twice in her head with 9mm bullets.”

Defense attorney Patrick Mulligan argued during his closing that the state’s evidence is circumstantial, and that the only thing prosecutors proved was that Caleb Flynn was having an affair.

“Connecting a couple of meaningless dots doesn’t solve the case,” Mulligan told jurors.

Mulligan said Caleb Flynn voluntarily spoke with detectives three times when he “didn’t have to,” consented to a search of his home and phone and voluntarily gave his fingerprints.

“He wanted to figure out who shot Ashley,” Mulligan said.

On rebuttal, Miami County prosecuting attorney Paul Watkins urged jurors to use “common sense” and argued that the “evidence is clear” that Caleb Flynn is guilty.

The evidence in the case did not begin with the two gunshots, but months earlier, he argued, citing text messages between the defendant and his mistress, Alleigha Botner.

“The defendant, he had Alleigha, and he wanted out of his marriage,” Watkins said. “The evidence shows that his feelings toward Ashley went far beyond simply wanting a divorce. He hated her.”

Watkins said the language in the more than 100,000 messages Caleb Flynn and his mistress had sent each other “escalated” in months before the shooting while recounting some of the texts, including one from the defendant that said, “I want my girls full time in a life with you, but I can’t have both. So I weigh the options, and I choose you.”

“Not just hours before Ashley’s execution, the defendant wrote this: ‘Actions will come tomorrow. I’ll never not be scared to do this, as I never want to hurt my daughters. That will always be there. But this month away from you has terrified me beyond belief,'” Watkins said, continuing to read the message. “‘I know I can’t live without you, and so again, if this gives me a 1% chance to spend my life with you, it’s the 100% right decision. I choose you. I’m free.'”

“We are not here only because of someone’s words,” Watkins told jurors. “We are here because the defendant put actions to those words. The defendant made decisions.”

Twenty days before Ashley Flynn was killed, Watkins said Caleb Flynn removed security cameras that had been in his home for years, including one that would have captured an intruder coming in from the garage. The day of the shooting, Watkins said the evidence shows that the defendant was also deleting apps off his phone and trying to delete his messages.

“In the hours after Ashley was murdered, the defendant was not mourning the death of his wife. He was whispering to his mistress, ‘It didn’t happen the way we thought it would,'” Watkins said. “I am confident after you deliberate, your verdict will tell the world this case did not end the way the defendant thought it would. The defendant wanted a new life. He wanted Ashley out of their life, and he didn’t want to face the consequences of making the choice to pursue divorce.”

Caleb Flynn could be seen crying throughout the closing arguments. He did not testify during the trial and the defense called no witnesses.

He denied killing his spouse in an interview with police days after the deadly shooting, according to video shown during the trial.

His former mistress testified for the state during the trial, reading from some of the more than 100,000 messages they exchanged over her two days of testimony.

“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Caleb Flynn said in one message from May 2025, Botner testified.

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(NEW YORK) — A verdict has been reached in the murder trial of an Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his wife, who had called 911 to report that an intruder broke into their home and killed the mother of two.

Caleb Flynn, 40, who once appeared as a contestant on “American Idol” in 2013, was charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of his wife, 37-year-old Ashley Flynn. He has pleaded not guilty.

The jury deliberated for nearly 2 1/2 hours before reaching a verdict Tuesday afternoon. The verdict has not yet been announced.

The former pastor called 911 early on Feb. 16 to report that his wife had been shot by an intruder at their home in Tipp City, north of Dayton. He was arrested three days later.

Prosecutors alleged that Caleb Flynn “executed” his wife by shooting her twice in the back of the head in bed so that he could be with his mistress and manipulated the crime scene to make it seem as if an intruder had broken in through the garage.

Miami County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Joseph pointed to evidence including the physical scene, 911 call, text messages between Caleb Flynn and his mistress discussing the end of his marriage and digital records from the night of the shooting, which he argued “leads straight to the defendant.”

“The evidence showed that being the victim would allow the defendant to keep his lucrative job working for Ashley’s family business, he would benefit from Ashley’s life insurance, and he could keep his position as a working worship leader with zero impact to his reputation within the church,” Joseph said during closing arguments Tuesday in the Miami County courtroom. “The evidence does not tell the story of an intruder.”

Joseph argued that key details in Caleb Flynn’s recounting of what happened that night changed, and at the time when he told investigators he was sleeping before being woken up by gunshots, “his devices say he was awake and moving.”

No gun has been found in the shooting, though Joseph told jurors that the recovery of the gun is not an element the state has to prove.

“But you heard the defendant kept a 9mm handgun in his truck console. His truck was parked in the garage. That console was up before law enforcement arrived and the gun was missing,” Joseph said. “You heard that Ashley was shot twice in her head with 9mm bullets.”

Defense attorney Patrick Mulligan argued during his closing that the state’s evidence is circumstantial, and that the only thing prosecutors proved was that Caleb Flynn was having an affair.

“Connecting a couple of meaningless dots doesn’t solve the case,” Mulligan told jurors.

Mulligan said Caleb Flynn voluntarily spoke with detectives three times when he “didn’t have to,” consented to a search of his home and phone and voluntarily gave his fingerprints.

“He wanted to figure out who shot Ashley,” Mulligan said.

On rebuttal, Miami County prosecuting attorney Paul Watkins urged jurors to use “common sense” and argued that the “evidence is clear” that Caleb Flynn is guilty.

The evidence in the case did not begin with the two gunshots, but months earlier, he argued, citing text messages between the defendant and his mistress, Alleigha Botner.

“The defendant, he had Alleigha, and he wanted out of his marriage,” Watkins said. “The evidence shows that his feelings toward Ashley went far beyond simply wanting a divorce. He hated her.”

Watkins said the language in the more than 100,000 messages Caleb Flynn and his mistress had sent each other “escalated” in months before the shooting while recounting some of the texts, including one from the defendant that said, “I want my girls full time in a life with you, but I can’t have both. So I weigh the options, and I choose you.”

“Not just hours before Ashley’s execution, the defendant wrote this: ‘Actions will come tomorrow. I’ll never not be scared to do this, as I never want to hurt my daughters. That will always be there. But this month away from you has terrified me beyond belief,'” Watkins said, continuing to read the message. “‘I know I can’t live without you, and so again, if this gives me a 1% chance to spend my life with you, it’s the 100% right decision. I choose you. I’m free.'”

“We are not here only because of someone’s words,” Watkins told jurors. “We are here because the defendant put actions to those words. The defendant made decisions.”

Twenty days before Ashley Flynn was killed, Watkins said Caleb Flynn removed security cameras that had been in his home for years, including one that would have captured an intruder coming in from the garage. The day of the shooting, Watkins said the evidence shows that the defendant was also deleting apps off his phone and trying to delete his messages.

“In the hours after Ashley was murdered, the defendant was not mourning the death of his wife. He was whispering to his mistress, ‘It didn’t happen the way we thought it would,'” Watkins said. “I am confident after you deliberate, your verdict will tell the world this case did not end the way the defendant thought it would. The defendant wanted a new life. He wanted Ashley out of their life, and he didn’t want to face the consequences of making the choice to pursue divorce.”

Caleb Flynn could be seen crying throughout the closing arguments. He did not testify during the trial and the defense called no witnesses.

He denied killing his spouse in an interview with police days after the deadly shooting, according to video shown during the trial.

His former mistress testified for the state during the trial, reading from some of the more than 100,000 messages they exchanged over her two days of testimony.

“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Caleb Flynn said in one message from May 2025, Botner testified.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration can continue deporting migrants to third countries without prior notice after the Supreme Court on Tuesday paused a lower court order blocking the controversial policy.

In granting the government’s request for a stay, the high court on Tuesday cleared federal officials to enforce rapid third-country removals for now while also agreeing to take up the case for oral argument in December.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

Earlier this month, a three-judge panel for the First Circuit ruled that immigrants were not receiving adequate notice before being deported to nations where they have no ties or connections.

“An individual’s right to contest removal to a country based on a fear of persecution in that country means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination,” wrote Circuit Judge Seth Aframe.

About 25,000 people have been deported to so-called third countries during the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, according to the immigrant rights organizations Human Rights First and Refugees International.

According to immigration lawyers and advocates, third-country removals are not new, but they are rare. In recent months, the Trump administration has ramped up third-country deportations after creating a web of formal deals with nearly three dozen countries to deport asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants with criminal records with little to no warning.

ABC News previously interviewed a group of Latin American men who were deported to the Central African Republic and were not informed of their destination until several hours into the flight.

“I feel kidnapped,” one of the men, Aristides Fernandez Garcia, said. “They have violated all the rights that exist in life, because we are human beings.”

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(NEW YORK) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday called for an outside investigation into Cornell University’s campus culture and its response to allegations by an unidentified female former student that she was raped by several men at a fraternity there in 2024.

The governor said in part that she is seeking to determine whether “Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice.”

“The allegations in this case are nothing short of horrifying. For any student to come forward after an experience like this takes extraordinary courage,” Hochul said in her statement.

“I support the district attorney’s decision to reopen the criminal investigation. But there are also serious questions about Cornell’s campus culture and its systems for prevention, reporting, and response,” Hochul’s statement continued. “That is why I am calling for outside counsel to conduct a transparent, independent review of the university’s response to determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice.”

“No student should ever be left wondering whether the institutions meant to protect them will listen and act,” the statement also said.

“Cornell shares Governor Hochul’s commitment to addressing campus culture issues, which affect universities across the nation and New York. We are committed to continuing to work with state officials to advance student safety and wellbeing,” a Cornell spokesperson said in a statement provided to ABC News.

Prosecutors in central New York this week announced that they are reopening the investigation of the alleged sexual assault after a former Cornell student filed a civil lawsuit alleging that she was drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven former and current members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell, sparking outrage about the incident. 

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a statement that his office is considering whether to bring criminal charges related to the incident, though he said the allegations in the civil complaint are “dramatically different” than the woman’s statement to police two years ago.

In an interview with ABC News, Van Houten acknowledged that he relied on the investigation conducted by Cornell Police and said his office didn’t “independently investigate” the allegations.

Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo said on Monday that he would issue a directive for the city to stop issuing permits for student events at Cornell “until such time that the University conducts an accounting of its protocols to prevent and prosecute crimes of sexual violence and publicly releases new standards and practices to keep our community safe.” 

“Despite the severity of these crimes, Cornell University administrators and police failed to contact or coordinate any response with the Ithaca Police Department. Furthermore, the University failed to hold the perpetrators to account,” Cantelmo’s statement said. “This is a miscarriage of justice and continues to pose a significant threat to students and residents who may be victimized at unsafe and under-monitored on- or off-campus student events.”

Ithaca’s Common Council would have to adopt the resolution for it to take effect.

The Ithaca Police Department said in a statement Monday that the alleged incident wasn’t reported to them at the time and that they “learned of these allegations recently through the media.”

“We understand these allegations are being taken very seriously by Cornell University and the Tomkins County District Attorney’s Office,” the statement further said. “We encourage members of our community to report allegations to the Ithaca Police Department.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Elder Chavez Carranza believed his last year of high school would consist of preparations for his graduation, prom and planning for his future.

Instead, the 18-year-old has spent more than 200 days in an immigration detention center in Louisiana, hundreds of miles from his home in Albertville, Alabama.

Chavez Carranza who is from Copan, Honduras, entered the U.S. when he was 14 and was later granted Special Immigrant Juvenile classification when he was a minor, a designation for certain immigrant children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected that provides humanitarian protection, his lawyer said.

According to immigration lawyers, the primary benefit of SIJS is that it provides eligible youth under 21 a pathway to obtain a green card. Historically, immigration authorities exercised prosecutorial discretion to avoid arresting or deporting individuals with pending or approved SIJS applications.

The 18-year-old said he was on his way to buy food when a police officer stopped him and began asking about his identification and immigration papers. After explaining to the officer that he did not have documents with him, he said the officer contacted immigration authorities.

“I was going to buy a torta when the officer stopped me. He first asked me for my ID and whether I had papers. I told him, ‘no.’ Then he called ICE. They asked me what kind of papers I had, and I told them I had status. But they didn’t even give me time to show them my papers. They just took me away,” Chavez Carranza told ABC News from detention.

Dalaney Mecham, Chavez Carranza’s immigration attorney, said he had already been granted SIJ classification by USCIS but that a separate deferred-action application, which could allow him to remain in the U.S while pursuing the next steps in his immigration case, has not been resolved.

“The federal government has already decided that he deserves protection; Congress decided that children like him deserve protection; and USCIS has already looked at his application and approved it,” Mecham said. “The only thing standing between him and that protection while he waits for his lawful process to continue is the very same government that created this pathway.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News that “Chavez-Carranza will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings.”

“He will receive full due process,” DHS added. “Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.”

For the past nine months, Chavez Carranza has been at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, separated from his family, friends and school.

His sister, Maryuri Chavez Carranza, who is his legal guardian, says he calls her every day.

“He tells me, ‘I really miss my teachers. I miss my friends. I miss everything about school,'” Maryuri told ABC News.

Immigration advocate Angela Del Valle says she became involved in Chavez Carranza’s case after her husband, Carlos, was detained at the same facility and met the 18-year-old there.

Del Valle says she began communicating with his sister and helping the family navigate the detention process. She now speaks with Chavez Carranza regularly and is among the advocates pushing for his release.

“Above all, we want him to know that he’s not forgotten,” Del Valle said. “We also want the community there at Winn to know that he’s cared for, that he’s not forgotten.”

Advocates and lawmakers have raised concerns about the conditions of the facility where Chavez Carranza is detained. In less than two months, two detainees have died at Winn. DHS has said in statements that the deaths are under investigation and has defended its treatment of detainees in detention centers.

The 18-year -old is one of thousands of people who have been in prolonged detention after being detained by federal immigration authorities, ABC News has reported.

Chavez Carranza said that when he first arrived at Winn, he did not feel comfortable. Over time, he said he began forming friendships with other detainees, including Carlos, who he said was one of the first people he met.

“I do feel protected with them,” he said. “They are older people, and they always look out for me.”

In detention, the 18-year-old works at the facility unloading trucks. He said that for now, he is focused on finding the strength to get through each day in detention.

“What I ask for most right now, while I’m here, is for God to give me strength so I can keep enduring this confinement. It’s very difficult here,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Another top Trump loyalist tasked to help lead a controversial conspiracy probe targeting President Trump’s political foes has resigned from the Justice Department, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News. 

The resignation of Kurt Olsen, a 2020 election denier who was assigned to the so-called “grand conspiracy” probe in Southern Florida earlier this year, comes just weeks after Trump ally Joe diGenova similarly announced his departure after suggesting to the New York Post that he was being pressured by DOJ leadership to bring charges without supporting evidence. 

Olsen had no prior prosecutorial experience and was deeply involved in litigation surrounding President Trump’s efforts to challenge his 2020 election loss. 

Olsen could not immediately be reached for comment. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment to ABC News. 

Other line prosecutors on the investigation are also said to have departed the U.S. attorney’s office in South Florida in recent days, sources said, though one source said that those officials had only been temporarily assigned to the office on a detail basis and that their terms had expired.

Additional attorneys were recently been added to assist in the conspiracy probe in recent weeks, that source said. 

The investigation, as detailed by Justice Department officials and other allies of the White House, purports to be examining intelligence officials and others who investigated President Trump and his inner circle dating back to his 2016 presidential campaign, up to the criminal probes he faced after leaving office in 2021. Trump has denied all charges.

The novel theory underpinning the probe has been a source of skepticism by current and former federal prosecutors, who have questioned the premise of charging Trump’s foes under a civil rights statute known as “deprivation of rights under color of law,” sources have said.

Several subjects of the investigation, including former CIA Director John Brennan, have been subpoenaed in recent weeks to testify before a grand jury in South Florida, according to attorneys.

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