A former music pastor and American Idol contestant was arrested Thursday on charges that he shot his wife and to death and staged the scene to look like a botched home invasion.
Caleb Flynn 39, called 911 early Monday morning and reported a burglary in progress with a resident shot, the Dayton Daily News reported. When officers arrived, they found Ashley Flynn, 37, dead from a pair of gunshot wounds. They also found signs of apparent forced entry.
But on Thursday, as the couple’s church announced a celebration of life for the beloved teacher and volleyball coach, police arrested Caleb Flynn, charging him with murder, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence.
“The family and community deserve a thorough, professional and compassionate investigation into this very sensitive matter,” Tipp City Police Chief Greg Adkins said in a statement released Thursday evening. “As a result of the investigation, probable cause existed to charge Caleb Flynn with the murder of his wife. Due to the ongoing nature of this case, specific investigative details will not be released at this time.”
A criminal complaint filed Friday morning ahead of Flynn’s arraignment did provide some of those details. It said that investigators were led astray “by the staging of the crime scene.”
The affidavit said that officers found a door to the garage open and Ashley Flynn dead in bed in the master bedroom. She had been shot in the head. They found two casings on the floor at the foot of the bed.
In the garage, officers found the center console in a pickup truck open, and Caleb Flynn told them that’s where he kept his gun. The open door to the garage had a large refrigerator in front of it which “would’ve had to be pushed open to open the door,” according to the affidavit.
Additionally, the affidavit said, the couple’s two young daughters were home and apparently did not wake up.
Both Flynns were former staff members of the Christian Life Center, where Caleb Flynn had been a music pastor and worship leader. Ashley Flynn coached volleyball at Tippecanoe Middle School and was also a substitute teach for Tipp City Schools, where she had previously taught elementary school. She also taught bible lessons at LifeWise Academy.
Caleb Flynn was an American Idol contestant in 2013, when he said during an interview that he loves his wife “more than anything” because “she is very, very pretty.” He got a “golden ticket to Hollywood from the Chicago auditions but did not make it to the televised rounds of the show.
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[Featured image: Ashley and Caleb Flynn/Facebook]
