Hidden True Crime - Caleb Flynn Is GUILTY—But These Questions Won’t Go Away

Episode Date: October 3, 2026

Why did Caleb Flynn’s defense point the finger at his mistress—and where is the missing gun? Hidden True Crime breaks down the final courtroom showdown in the Caleb Flynn murder trial, from the defense’s accusations to the prosecution’s rebuttal and the jury’s guilty verdict in the killing of his wife, Ashley Flynn. The former American Idol contestant’s affair, chilling text messages, Apple Watch activity and alleged staged break-in took center stage as both sides made their final arguments. We examine the competing claims, the evidence prosecutors used to dismantle Flynn’s intruder story, and the questions the verdict still leaves unanswered. Join Lauren Matthias for closing arguments, the verdict, and a closer look at the case behind the headlines. Sponsor: Brodo: Head to https://Brodo.com/HTC for 20% off your first subscription order and use code HTC for an additional $10 off. About Hidden True Crime What started as a simple conversation at their dinner table became a captivating podcast. Join the dynamic duo of Dr. John Matthias, a criminal psychologist, and Lauren Matthias, an investigative journalist, as they delve into the psychological facets of unthinkable crimes every week. Their unique perspectives and in-depth analysis offer a fresh take on true crime storytelling. Thank you for your support through sponsorships, subscribing, listening, and becoming a Patreon member at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/HiddenTrueCrime⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. We couldn't get ahead of the media's propaganda and lies. He didn't do it. It was all circumstantial junk. And her lawyer didn't do it. He's innocent.

Less than two weeks into the Caleb Flynn trial, and I honestly did not expect us to be saying this so soon, but the trial is over. And the defense didn't call a single witness. Think about how fast, honestly, this case has moved. Ashley Flynn was murdered in February, like February of 2026. Murder cases, they routinely often take a year, sometimes several years, right, to reach a jury. But here we are only months after Ashley's death, the wife of Caleb Flynn, and after just seven days of testimony, both the prosecution and the defense rested, gave their arguments, and the jury has delivered a verdict for Caleb Flynn. So let's get into what happened on Tuesday, the final day of his trial before the jury deliberated. Prosecutor Matthew Joseph went first for the state, and he opened where the prosecution started.

this entire case with Caleb Flynn's own words, words about his wife, words sent to his mistress, words written in the days and even hours before Ashley Flynn was shot twice in the head inside her own home, in her own bed. The state argued those messages weren't just ugly or embarrassing evidence of an affair. They showed motive, intent, and when paired with everything that happened And on February 16th, what prosecutors believe was a plan. Joseph briefly walked the jury through the nine charges against Caleb. Aggravated murder, three counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, and three counts of tampering with evidence along with firearm specifications.

The biggest distinction here is the aggravated murder charge, because that requires the state to prove prior calculation and design essentially that killing Ashley wasn't some instantaneous decision made in the heat of the moment. There has to be some level of planning beforehand. And Joseph told the jury to look at the bigger picture when deciding that, Caleb and Ashley's marriage, his preparation, his opportunity, his behavior before the murder, and maybe most importantly, again, his own words. The three tampering charges relate to three different pieces of evidence. First, the missing gun, which prosecutors say Caleb disposed of after killing action. Ashley. Second, the side garage door, which they say he damaged to manufacture evidence of a

brigand. And third, the snoop emails that disappeared after investigators had already sent a preservation request, a preservation of evidence. And then Joseph foiled the prosecution's entire theory down to one sentence. It means that when the defendant decided to go get his gun out of his truck and shoot his wife Ashley twice in the head, he committed aggravated murder, murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of felony assault. As you consider each of those charges, remember that the evidence in this case is not to be considered in isolation. Consider the evidence together.

And when you do, the pieces connect. They corroborate one another. And they tell you what happened inside the Flynn residence on February 16, 2026. From there, the state started putting all of its evidence back together. So the main theme of the prosecution's closing argument was to not look at the evidence in isolation from one another because a missing gun by itself doesn't prove murder. Neither does a fingerprint. Neither does a deleted app.

Neither does Apple Watch movement prove a murder, nor does a salacious affair or a damaged door. But Joseph argued that when you lay all of those pieces of evidence, one on top of another, they begin telling the same story. And according to the state, the prosecution, that story is nothing like the one Caleb told police that night. Because Caleb claimed an unknown intruder entered his home in the middle of the night, shot Ashley, his wife, and disappeared before anyone could identify them. And prosecutors reminded the jury that Caleb's account changed as he continued talking to investigators. And more importantly, they argued the physical evidence just did not support Caleb's claims. But I mean, start with the gun.

The murder weapon has never been found. Joseph did acknowledge that, but he reminded jurors that Caleb kept a 9mm handgun in the center console of his truck, which was parked inside the garage that night. When police arrived, that console was open and Caleb's gun was gone. Ashley had been shot twice in the head with 9mm bullets, and Caleb's DNA was found on the release button of that console. Then there was the alleged point of entry. The prosecution spent a huge amount of of this trial trying to prove that the side garage door wasn't evidence of a burglary. It was evidence of staging. In fact, B.C.I. Agent David Hammond, who had investigated hundreds of burglaries,

told the jurors that damage did not look like a legitimate forced entry. His conclusion was that this was a homicide stage to look like a burglary. And he wasn't alone. Joseph rattled off investigator after investigator who examined that door, representing more than a hundred years of combined law enforcement experience and hundreds of forced entry scenes. And according to the state, not one of them believed that that damage looked like someone had actually kicked or broken their way into the house. There were tool marks on the inside of the frame.

And when officers foresaw all of that damage, the door was already unlocked. Caleb's DNA was also found on the exterior door knob that had been broken off that door. His fingerprints were on his truck. on the hood of Ashley's van near the alleged break-in area and on the refrigerator nearby. His blood was found on the master bedroom light switch. Even the police dog became part of the argument. The dog was supposed to track this mysterious intruder away from the property, right? Instead, three separate times.

This dog wanted to go right back into the garage. And then came the digital evidence. Caleb told investigators he had been sleeping. His devices, prosecutors argued, told a very different story. His Apple Watch recorded in movement. There were AirPods and activity on those AirPods. There was iPhone activity. Apps and information had been deleted.

And his phone was unlocked with face ID before the 911 call. As Joseph put it, the defendant said he was sleeping. His devices say he was awake and moving. And then the state got to Mota. The jury has now seen years of messages documenting Caleb's relationship with Aaliyah Botner, who was a 20-year-old intern when their relationship began. They've seen the hatred that Caleb expressed toward his wife Ashley, the fantasies about his wife Ashley dying, his desire to be free of her, his insistence that he wanted a future with Aaliyah instead. but Joseph focused particularly on what Caleb was saying in those final hours before Ashley's death, which was, quote, I choose you, I'm free.

And then the messages the prosecution has returned to again and again, quote, actions will come tomorrow, February 16th day I'll never forget, end quote. Hours later, Ashley Flynn was dead in her own home and the defense has argued throughout this trial that investigators discovered the affair decided Caleb had a motive and then worked backward, forcing the rest of the evidence to fit the husband did a theory. Joseph pushed back on that, though, that the affair he said explains the why. The rest of the evidence is what shows what Caleb did. And the state believes there was another reason that Caleb needed Ashley dead rather than just divorcing her. He wanted to be the victim. Because under the

prosecution's theory, divorce meant Caleb was the married worship leader who left his wife and the mother of his children for a much younger mistress. Ashley's murder gave him, though, an entirely different story. Now he was the grieving husband whose wife had been brutally murdered by a stranger. He could keep his daughters, potentially remain connected to the lucrative family business that Ashley's family offered him, collect life insurance benefits, and preserve his reputation. at church. No messy divorce, no public affair blowing up his life. Just Caleb, the devastated widower. Joseph ended by taking the defense's own words from opening statements and turning them back on to them. The defense had told jurors that Ashley deserved an investigation willing

to follow the evidence wherever it led. Defense counsel told you in their opening statement that Ashley deserved an investigation willing to follow the evidence wherever it may have led. So follow it. Follow the evidence from the defendant's missing 9mm handgun to the 9mm bullets that killed Ashley. Follow it to the side barrage door where the physical evidence contradicted the defendant's story of breaking. Follow the evidence to the defendant's devices,

which showed that while he was sleeping, while he said he was sleeping, he was awake and moving. Follow it as the messages he tried to believe to his words about Ashley to the changes he said were coming to what he said would happen tomorrow follow his changing story

follow the physical evidence the digital evidence and the defendant's own words the only evidence of an intruder is the defendant's own words and this words do not stand alone against one piece of evidence they stand against all of it.

The evidence does not lead to some unknown intruder vanished into the night. It leads straight to the defendant. The evidence shows that Ashley was executed by her husband, the father of her two young daughters, the defendant Caleb Clay. State asked you to return the only verdict supported by evidence and the verdict that speaks the truth

about what happened inside Ashley's home. Guilty on all counts. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Joseph. And then it was the defense's turn, with Attorney Mulligan delivering closing arguments for Caleb. And right out of the gate, Mulligan came out swinging. He told jurors that they are the protection ordinary people have

when the government points a finger at someone with weak evidence and declares them guilty. And as for the closing argument the state had just given, according to Mulligan, defense attorney Mulligan, they provided you nothing other than telling you the law and screaming at you that he's guilty. His argument was essentially this. Strip away the enormous amount of evidence about Caleb's affair, strip away the ugly messages, and ask what the state can actually prove about Ashley Flynn's murder. Because there is a difference, he said, between believing Caleb was a terrible husband and believing beyond a reasonable doubt that he murdered his wife. Mulligan compared the jury to an umpire behind home plate.

Their job is to call the pitch based on what was actually thrown, not throw the pitch themselves. In other words, if the state left holes in its case, jurors cannot fill those holes with assumptions just because something seems likely. And then he asked them to put the evidence against the reasonable doubt standard in a very practical way. would you be willing to rely on this evidence when making the most important decision of your life? Would you even bet a single paycheck on this? Mulligan said there was exactly one thing the prosecution had proven beyond any reasonable doubt after eight days of testimony, and that is Caleb Flynn had an affair. And that, he conceded, they proved spectacularly.

Everything else, though, not even close, according to the defense. and Mulligan wasted very little time before turning on one of the state's most important witnesses, Aaliyah Botner. I have to tell you, Dr. John genuinely loves Broto. This is one of the sponsors where when the product shows up at our house, I know exactly who is going to claim it, Dr. John. Broto makes their broth from scratch, no concentrates, preservatives, or shortcuts. They roast their bones first, use whole-cut organic vegetables, and let everything simmer for hours. And each cup has about 10 grams of whole food protein plus collagen building amino acids,

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So once again, that's Broto.com backslash HTC for 20% off your first subscription order and an additional $10 off if you use my promo code HTC. Broto, BROD dot com slash HTC code HTC. What is the one thing that they prove absolutely positively? beyond a reasonable doubt.

Easy question. After eight days of nonsense, don't have an affair. It is way too much work. That's what they proved beyond a reasonable doubt. So, none of the rest of the case has been shown beyond a reasonable doubt.

You get to evaluate the credibility of witnesses. The judge is going to provide you instructions. And basically the bottom line is you can believe or disbelief or any part of any witness's testimony. So let's do a little test. Should we believe Alia? If you believe that she was a virgin and she did Caleb, I have some swamped. I would like to sell you.

He openly mocked portions of her testimony, particularly what happened to her electronics. Aaliyah claimed her iPhone accidentally ended up in the ocean during her Florida trip, while her church-owned laptop disappeared somewhere during that same trip and was never recovered. Mulligan sarcastically called it the swimming laptop. You lose your laptop and your iPhone on the same trip, he said, and then lie to the FBI about the affair. He also reminded jurors that when Alia eventually returned to speak with investigators, she had the temporary prepaid phone in her purse but didn't turn.

turn it over. Her explanation was that investigators never asked for the phone. what was her explanation? The right was they didn't ask for it. Boy, isn't that cute? She's there supposedly to help and she's lying her ass off. Mulligan wasn't buying that for a second. He said, quote, She's there supposedly to help and she's lying her ass off.

And quote, from there, Mulligan attacked the aggravated murder charge specifically. Remember, aggravated murder requires prior calculation and design some process of planning before the killing. The defense argued the state simply hadn't shown that. Yes, Caleb was having in the fair. Yes, he made some horrific statements about his wife Ashley, but Mulligan argued that neither one proves Caleb developed and carried out a plan to murder her. And then he widened the argument to the investigation itself. Mulligan told jurors not to be intimidated by the fact that Caleb had been charged with aggravated

murder, invoking the old legal saying that a prosecutor could indict a hem sandwich. In indictment, he argued, it's an accusation, right? Not proof. And in his framing, the jury is the barrier between the power of the government and a conviction unsupported by evidence. So what? He asked, do we actually know? The murder weapon was never found.

There is no gunshot residue evidence showing Caleb fired a gun that night. And Mulligan hammered law enforcement for that because, as we heard earlier in this trial, police had Caleb in front of them shortly after Ashley's death and never performed that testing. His clothing wasn't tested for gunshot residue either. Areas of the house weren't tested for it. and after taking Caleb's fingerprints, an officer actually instructed him to wash his hands. There were no eyewitnesses, and according to Mulligan, there is no evidence showing Caleb left

the property after arriving home at 6.59 p.m. on February 15th. There's no proof Caleb fired a gun that day. Why? Why is there no proof that he didn't fire a gun? Well, there's no gunshot risk to do because the police told him, wash his hands. His clothes weren't tested for it. The carpet in the house wasn't tested. None of these things were done. Zero.

They want to talk about steps. Okay. Show me that there's a little gunshot residue anywhere other than in the master bedroom. Shoot. They didn't even test it in there. They didn't test it on the way out the door. They didn't do anything.

We have no eyewitnesses. What did the initial body cam show? Well, he was a mess. He threw up. He was so upset. The question for you guys is, could a guy that upset outsmart the police the state gave you

a reasonable amount of evidence to show that once Caleb got 932 coming in his own house at 6.59 p.m. on 2.1526 he never left until the next day. Jintin couldn't figure it out. That creates a pretty

obvious problem for the state's theory about the missing gun because if Caleb killed Ashley with his own nine millimeter and then disposed of it, where did he take it and when? The state spent a lot of time on the tracking dog repeatedly returning to the garage, but Muggan flipped that evidence around too. He questioned how useful the canine search really was after numerous officers and other people had already moved through the house, garage, and yard. He also criticized the handler for being unable to give the jury meaningful statistics about the dog's accuracy. Then he turned to the DNA evidence. Yes, Caleb's DNA was found on the release button of the truck console where he kept his gun.

But Mulligan pointed out something the defense believes matters a lot more than prosecution lets on. Foreign DNA was found there too. It's interesting. And his question was basically, why didn't that foreign DNA change anything? if investigators found unidentified DNA on the compartment containing the supposedly missing murder weapon, why wasn't that lead pursued more aggressively? Mooligan argued it was another example of investigators deciding Caleb was responsible early and

continuing forward with that theory rather than seriously testing alternatives. He made the same argument about the search for the missing gun. The drone search, he said, covered a relatively limited area and happened well after the 911 call. If someone else had left that house on foot, Mulligan argued, they could have been miles away by then. And throughout all of this, he reminded jurors how cooperative Caleb had been. Caleb voluntarily sat for multiple interviews. He consented to searches of his home and phone. He voluntarily provided fingerprints.

He even agreed to take a polygraph. The defense also revisited something investigators found suspicious very early on. Caleb seemed to know Ashley had been shot twice. Mulligan basically ridiculed the idea that this was some kind of smoking gun. Caleb said he heard two shots. Ashley had two gunshot wounds. Case solved. Boom, boom.

His point was that recognizing two sounds as two gunshots hardly proves Caleb was the person who fired him. And that was his quote, boom, boom, just so you know, two shots. The police want you to believe if he knows this fact, he's guilty of shooting Ashley. Case solved. Boom. About his educational level, but he can count a two. That's how he knew there were two shots. That's what solves the case.

I would suggest this isn't the fourth grade. This is only one example of the shoddy investigation, and the refusal to admit they are wrong. Mulligan then focused on something much more interesting. The placement of those shots. Ashley was shot twice in the head with the wounds extremely close together, and the coroner testified that the paths of those bullets were essentially parallel. Mulligan argued that kind of shooting requires control a steady hand, concentration, and in his words, real steady nerves.

The defense wants the jury to ask whether that physical evidence really fits the prosecution's portrayal of Caleb committing an emotionally charged murder of his wife. And from there, Mulligan returned to what he called a shoddy investigation. Float cameras were not examined. Areas behind another relevant property weren't thoroughly searched. A rear camera wasn't reviewed. Certain people were not interviewed. Leeds were not fully chased down.

And after seven or eight different law enforcement agencies became involved, the murder weapon was still nowhere to be found. He also pointed out something incredibly basic. that investigators apparently never established whether Caleb's 9mm was even loaded. They found shotgun ammunition in the house, but according to Mulligan, nobody asked Caleb whether there was 9mm ammunition there, whether the missing handgun had been loaded, or whether there had been rounds in its magazine. And then came to another major defense accusation. Caleb was arrested before investigators had the evidence to prove their theory. Mulligan reminded jurors that after

Caleb's February 19th interview, police let him leave. And at that point, According to the defense, investigators didn't have completed laboratory results, an eyewitness, or the murder weapon. Mulligan argued that prosecutors nevertheless ordered Caleb's arrest and essentially decided they would fill in the blanks afterward. His characterization was brutal. We'll figure it out later and later never came. And then Mulligan turned back to the affair. And this is where the defense offered a completely different interpretation of those 107,000-plus messages. He did not attempt to defend Caleb's behavior. He called the messages ugly.

He acknowledged the affair. But he argued that cheating on Ashley and saying horrible things about her does not make Caleb her murderer. According to Mulligan, Caleb's vicious comments about Ashley served another purpose. They kept Alia emotionally invested. And whenever Caleb said something cruel about his wife, Alia, Alia felt reassured that Caleb really loved her. And Mulligan described Alia almost like in a day.

for Caleb, something he wanted and repeatedly went back to while still returning home to his wife and children. All of his ugly comments are designed to keep her on the hook. How do we know that? We know that because she says when he says something crappy about Ashley, the sidepiece talks about how that affirms her. that makes you feel of her

he's holding her in place he's living with the woman who the evidence shows loves him and was actually good to him no real reason give that up but he wants to maintain the side piece

he is silly enough to go along with that nonsense but she gets reaffirmed by all of this. Now he spends a huge amount of time keeping the side of piece on the hook.

And I would suggest Aaliyah is like a drug. She's like alcohol. To an alcoholic. But I would suggest you can go out and get high. You can go out and get drunk.

every night or every weekend, but you always come home. But you don't want to give up the alcohol and you don't want to give up the drug. And Mulligan's version of this relationship, Caleb believed he could have both. And despite everything that Caleb told O'Leah, the defense argued his actions showed

that his daughters remained his priority again and again. Alia gave him deadlines to leave, Ashley, and again and again, Caleb failed to do it. Then Mulligan flipped the prosecution's motive theory completely around. He said, you don't kill the mother of the kids when you're prioritizing the girls, but who needs Ashley gone? Alia does.

His argument was that Alia was the one suffering under the existing arrangement. She wanted to become the next Mrs. Flynn. She wanted Caleb to leave Ashley, and she was the one pushing the divorce forward, including researching divorce information, and discussing it with Caleb. She wants to be married to a guy making a quarter million dollars a year. She doesn't want his kids. She wants her own with him.

Because prior to 215, she wants him to give the kids up. That's no big deal if you have to give them up half the time. I'm more important. That's what she's saying in her text. This shifts to motive. They actually put on so much stupid evidence in this case on the affair that they shipped the motive. They under... They basically washed out their own motive.

I was actually a little surprise. You don't kill the mother of the kids when you're prioritizing the girls, but who needs to actually go on? Alia does. She wants to be the next Mrs. Flynn. Who provides the divorce info? And despite more than 107,000 messages between Caleb and Alia,

Bulligan emphasized what investigators never found. Not one message planning Ashley's murder. Nothing discussing a method. Nothing about a weapon. Nothing about how or when to kill her. The prosecution sees Caleb's hateful statements about Ashley as evidence of murderous intent. The defense sees them as Caleb feeding Aliyah exactly what she wanted to hear so that he could keep the affair going. And Mulligan argued there was another problem with the state's portrayal of Caleb as a man desperate to escape his marriage, his private conversations with Ashley herself.

He pointed jurors to defense exhibit C and messages Ashley sent Caleb on February 13th, just three days before she was killed. Ashley asked him three questions. Did we decide which restaurant were going to tonight? what would you like me to wear and hot tub after Caleb responded that he was excited about the restaurant, told her to surprise him about what she wore, and answered yes to the hot tub. There were also exchanges of love you and love you back. Mulligan then took his argument about Alia a step further.

He pointed out that the laptop she lost wasn't even hers. It belonged to the church. And between that missing laptop and the iPhone, that ended up in the ocean, Mulligan argued that potentially important evidence from Aaliyos Florida trip just simply disappeared. His question was, who did she see while she was there? According to Mulligan, getting rid of those devices effectively prevented investigators from

answering that question. And if traveling to Florida was beyond the scope of what TIP City Police could reasonably investigate fine, but the FBI was involved in this case, why not have them look? Why not examine Aaliyah's finances? Why not determine whether there were unusual transactions? Why not dig deeper into a witness who admittedly lied to the FBI and possessed a burner phone that she never turned over? Mulligan's answer was the same one he had been giving throughout closing because Alia didn't fit the theory investigators had already settled on. Don't screw up the initial theory, he said, and then he made it probably the most important distinction of the defense's entire closing.

The issue here isn't whether he was a good husband. was he an asshole or any other label you want to put on him? Bad husband? That's not the issue. End quote. Because Caleb can be a cheater. He can be manipulative. He can say disgusting things about his wife while carrying on an affair behind her back.

Absent real evidence, Mulligan argued, none of that makes him a murderer. Then he moved through the three tampering with evidence charges. The first involves the missing gun, the state's theory is that Caleb murdered Ashley with his 9mm and then disposed of it. Mulligan's response was, prove it. The gun has never been found. There is no evidence showing where Caleb supposedly took it, and the defense argues the evidence actually establishes that Caleb never left the property that night. So if he disposed of the murder weapon, when did he do it? And where

did he put it? And how has nobody found it? Then there was the garage door. The prosecution says Caleb damaged it himself to stage a burglary, but Mulligan argued there is no evidence actually. actually placing Caleb at that door when the damage occurred. And as for his fingerprints and DNA being found around the house and garage, of course they were, he said. I would hope to think that there's fingerprints in his own house. I'm thinking my fingerprints should be in my house. Investigators seized more than 80 tools from the Flynn home and the defense emphasized that none could be definitively identified as the tool to cause the damage. Even the hammer, prosecutor suggested, was consistent with some of the marks, was just that consistent.

Mulligan argued there are millions of similar hammers. And then came the third tampering charge, the deleted Snoop emails. Mulligan argued that those emails had nothing to do with Ashley's murder in the first place. Caleb was using Snoop to see where Ashley was communicating with another man, which Mulligan found darkly ironic, considering Caleb himself was having an affair. Yeah, it's quite the amount of projection there. Most importantly, or more importantly, the defense challenged whether the state could even prove Caleb deliberately deleted the relevant electronic evidence. BCI testimony established that some browsing history could have been manually deleted, but it also could have resulted from private browsing mode.

Investigators couldn't say which. And Mulligan reminded jurors that Alia had Caleb's password. So he asked, how do we know that she didn't delete something? And that brought Mulligan back to the central theme he had been building throughout his closing. This case, in the defense's view, is wholly lacking in concrete evidence. Connecting a handful of suspicious dots is not the same thing as proving murder. And he acknowledged something uncomfortable about that. A not guilty verdict wouldn't necessarily give anyone a satisfying answer about what happened

to Ashley. It would mean accepting the possibility that after all of these agencies, searches, interviews, forensic testing, and digital analysis, law enforcement still failed to identify who killed her. That's unsettling. But Mulligan told jurors their job isn't to deliver an emotionally satisfying ending. Their job is to make what he described as a cold calculation. Did the state prove Caleb Flynn committed these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt? Suspicion isn't enough.

Neither is coincidence. The prosecution has repeatedly emphasized the timing of Caleb's messages, the affair, his statements about being free, his promise that actions were coming on February 16th, and how extraordinary it would be for Ashley to then be murdered hours later by someone completely unrelated, Mulligan's answer, far too coincidental does not equal beyond a reasonable doubt. He asked jurors to go back to the definition they had been given. Would you rely on coincidence when making the most important decision of your own life? According to the defense,

you shouldn't. Mulligan argued investigators made their decision about Caleb Early, and when that forensic testing failed to produce the evidence they expected, they did not reconsider. They stayed with the same theory. Now, I guess that this jury may want to maintain its humanity in this case. But the decision, to make a decision that there's no evidence, is cold. It's disappointed. And it's unsettling. Because that means law enforcement and all the lab testing failed to generate evidence

to identify the case. But this isn't about the intent of humanity. This is a cold calculation on whether or not there is evidence beyond the reason of doubt. So we have a certain amount

of armchair quarterbacking as well. Oh, well, this is far too coincidental. Far too coincidental does not mean beyond a reasonable doubt. So go back to the definition of beyond a reasonable doubt. Would you rely on

coincidence in the most important of your own affairs? The answer to that question, should we know? coincidence is kind of like winning the lot in fact negative the one hip-tip on the hit

not really anything did they investigate the side piece to rely to them and didn't turn over her burner home no the interesting thing is she still has it they still haven't asked for evidence in this case

does arise the level of beyond the reason to the doubt in any way she'd reform. That this is a matter of proven versus not proven based on what we talked about in jury selection. And that simply is why we don't have to put on a case. And he again pointed toward the leads that he believed they didn't adequately pursue. What about the tip investigators received? What about Alia, the woman who initially lied to the FBI. about the affair, lost two electronic devices during the same Florida trip, and showed up to the FBI interview with a burner phone sitting inside her purse. Mulligan told the jury that

she still has that phone, and investigators still haven't asked for it. Finally, he addressed something that had been hanging over the courtroom since the defense rested its case without calling a single witness. Why didn't Caleb's attorneys put on a case? Because Mulligan told the jury, they didn't have to. The burden never belonged to Caleb Flynn. He doesn't have to prove an intruder killed Ashley. He doesn't have to identify another suspect. He doesn't have to explain where the gun went. He doesn't have to prove his innocence. The burden belongs entirely to the state. Mulligan said the exhibits he needed had already come into evidence through the prosecution's own witnesses, and that brought him back to the distinction

he had been emphasizing from the beginning. This trial isn't supposed to be about deciding. between guilty and innocent. It's about proven versus not proven. And after eight days of testimony, the defense's position was that the state had certainly proven an affair. It had proven lies, ugly messages, and behavior that gave jurors plenty of reasons to dislike Caleb Flynn. But murder, in Mulligan's words, not proven. The evidence points to alternate theories that they rejected to investigate, but I'm not required to provided that. This simply is proven versus not proven. And respectfully, I would suggest that this is a matter of not proven, and therefore I worthy of the verdict did not go. And I brought for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Mulligan. At this time, would the state like to offer a rebuttal? And with that, the defense rested its argument. And then the judge turned back to the prosecution for rebuttal. And this time, their argument was much more pointed. Joseph immediately returned to Caleb's own words. The messages the state says reveals his state of mind before Ashley's murder. They remind jurors of some of the most damning ones. When she is gone, my goodness, it all changes.

I want my girls full time and a life with you. But I can't have both, so I've weighed the options and I choose you. The state also highlighted everything Caleb believed he stood to lose by simply leaving his marriage. His daughters, his quarter million dollar salary, his home, potentially his position at church and his reputation. And then just hours before Ashley was killed, Caleb told Alia, actions will come tomorrow. He said losing her terrified him and that if following through gave him even a 1% chance of spending his life with Alia, it was the 100% right decision.

I choose you. February 16th day I'll never forget. Four hours later, Ashley was dead. Joseph asked jurors to use their common sense because the state's argument is that this case didn't begin with gunshots at 2.30 in the morning. It began months earlier. Let's start at the beginning to work our way through this carefully

because the evidence in this case did not begin with the gunshot. It began months earlier. Ashley was alive. She was full of light and joy. The defendant, he had a lady, and he wanted out of his marriage. The evidence shows that his feelings toward Ashley went far beyond simply wanting a divorce. He hated her. She was his prison.

The defendant called her the spawn of safety. The communications between the defendant and the leader go back here, They document a developing romantic and sexual relationship, emotional dependency, financial exchanges, secrecy, and repeated discussions about the defendant leaving Ashley. As time went on, however, Ashley increasingly became the obstacle around which those conversations revolved. The defendant was obsessed with Alia. He created fake social media accounts to interact with her. He stalked her with snooper voice. They exchanged, on average, almost 300 text messages, a day.

Just days after Ashley's death, her husband was not searching Ashley's Instagram. He had a block. He was instead searching Alias. They share matching tattoos. Alias is on her arm. the defendants is in his armament. While late 2025, the language in their messages had escalated.

During the conflict surrounding the defendant and Ashley's 15-year anniversary cruise, Alia expressed jealousy about the defendant continuing to remain married while he expressed increasing anger and hostility towards Ashley. Then came February 14th and 15th, 2020. The defendant was no longer simply talking about someday leaving his marriage. The pressure he felt was too much.

He was describing what he intended to do, who he intended to speak with, the order in which he intended to speak with them, where he intended to go, and what would happen afterwards. He told Alia that he was not backing out. When asked whether he was second-guessing himself, he answered no. And then said, I don't think there will ever be a, quote, good timing of this. I just have to do it.

He lied. And said he went to see Todd and Jill to talk to them about the divorce. He couldn't have talked to Todd. He was in Canada. defendant's location data proves he was never close to the Smith residents on February 15th. He repeatedly identified February 16th as the day things would change. He said, it's happening, Alia. February 16th, they'll never forget.

He told her, actions will come tomorrow. Tomorrow came. Approximately four hours later, Ashley was brutally executed. shot twice in the back of her head. That is why the timing matters. The evidence did not begin on February 16th. It had been building for months. The evidence begins with the life that the defendant was trying to leave.

His relationship with Alia, his hatred toward his wife. He started the plane. He began thinking of ways to murder Ashley and get away with it. He removed his security cameras. The cameras were registered to his email address. They had been up at the home for years. Then Joseph moved to what the state believes was another sign of planning. The security cameras.

The Flynn home had cameras for years. Yet roughly 20 days before Ashley's murder, they were taken offline. That made little sense, the state argued, for a man supposedly so concerned about security that he parked inside the garage, moved a refrigerator in front of a garage door, and performed nightly checks before bed. Yet the camera positioned in the exact area that could have captured someone traveling between the garage and the primary bedroom. Gone weeks before Ashley was killed.

Then came February 16th. Caleb was deleting apps and according to the state attempting to delete messages. Joseph reminded jurors of something Caleb's own attorneys conceded from the beginning. Caleb lies. He said it had been a normal night. He said his marriage was fine, and most importantly, he said he had been asleep. Caleb claimed he her gunshots, got up, found Ashley, and called 911, but he didn't meaningfully attempt aid or hold her. And when he called 911, he immediately supplied a theory that somebody broke into my house and shot my wife. The state told jurors to compare that story with what Caleb somehow already knew. He told the dispatcher that Ashley

had been shot twice in the head. But hearing two shots doesn't tell you both bullets struck Ashley, much less that both hit her in the head. Dr. Castro testified that even he didn't recognize the two separate entrance wounds until Ashley's hair was shaved because they overlapped. But Caleb knew. He also told the dispatcher the side garage door was wide open, despite later telling investigators he hadn't gone into the garage before police arrived. So how did he know? The state's answer, because he staged it. People can lie. Joseph told jurors, the evidence does not change, and that led straight into the digital timeline. Look at what his independent device is recorded. What should you see in that sequence? The first digital thing you should have seen is the phone call, where it's calling

911. The actual sequence, that's the last thing you see. The defendant is moving around different. times throughout the night. The AirPods show activity at approximately 218, the Apple Watch begins recording sustained movement. Over roughly 10 minutes, the watch records 105 steps, continuing until approximately 228 a.m. Then the watch stops recording boom. His watch was removed two minutes before he called 911. Who removes a watch as they run to their spouse's or as they reach for their phone with call 911 after finding their spouse with trauma to their head.

The watch wasn't knocked off his wrist. He was carefully placed on the kitchen counter. The crime scene photos. I'm willing to guess that none of you thought this would be one of the most important photos in this entire investigation. Where's this photo taken from? Remember, right from the primary

bedroom door looking out to the garage. What's right there on the left? Place nicely on the counter. That's the defendant's watch. The watch was removed from the defendant's wrist at 228. This is the same time the defendant said he heard gunshots when you take his story back. This place is the defendant in the most critical part of the home

at the most critical time of this entire investigation. If he is there to place the watch on the counter, why didn't he stop the intruder? He is just six feet or so from the bedroom door where his wife was executed. Take a minute. Put yourself standing right there

where that watches. This is right at the time when everything is happening. By the defendant's own story, someone is coming in and out and executing action. What would you see if you were standing there at 2.28 a.m. on February 16? You'd see it all. The defendant saw nothing, and that's because the intruder is simply a story. If he was in his girl's room or sleeping on the couch, whichever story of his you want to go is now, how did his watch make it right there?

It's because he was active when Ashley was shot, active in the most important part. of the home. No one entered that home. The defendant executed Ashley. The AirPods are also active during this time period. At approximately 2.30, the defendant's phone comes off the charger. Shortly thereafter,

the phone is unlocked using defendant's face ID. The 911 call is un-initiated and connects at approximately 231. Look at the data. The defendant says he was asleep. His devices show he was awake.

And then the physical evidence joined the digital evidence. For Caleb's story to work, a stranger had to approach the home, unnoticed, force entry through a garage door, get into Caleb's truck, somehow locate his loaded handgun, cross the house, enter the bedroom, shoot Ashley twice, and escape. All without waking Ashley beforehand, alerting Caleb or apparently setting off the dogs. And these weren't quiet dogs, right? Witnesses said they barked at people. they knew while those people were still outside. Yet somehow a stranger supposedly moved through their home, entered the bedroom where the dog slept with Ashley, shot her twice, and then disappeared. Then there was the door itself.

Investigators testified that the damage didn't resemble a legitimately forced entry. The door was unlocked. The tool marks indicated some of the damage could only have been created while portions of it were already open. and the refrigerator supposedly shoved by the force of the break-in, items remained balanced on top, nothing inside appeared thrown forward, and even the baking soda remained standing. While the defense argued the hammer recovered from the garage

could have been any of millions of hammers, the state pointed out that its dimensions and class characteristics were consistent with the marks, which led to a simple question. What kind of intruder damages a door after it's already open? Under the defense's theory, this person apparently brought tools to break into the Flynn home, but no weapon? What kind of intruder damages a door after they're already inside? That unknown intruder would need an entire tool belt to carry all the types of tools used on that door. They would have to carry all those tools but not bring their own firearm.

This was not a burglary. Nothing was missing. not even Ashley's purse, which was sitting right beside her bedside table, right where the individual had to be when they executed. You saw Detective Lieutenant Moore attempt to open the door without the doorknought. It was impossible. How would removing the doorknought help an intruder gain entry? Instead, they somehow found Caleb's loaded gun inside his truck, killed Ashley with it and then took it with them. And despite supposedly being a burglar, they stole a,

nothing else, not even Ashley's purse sitting beside the bed. So where is the actual evidence of this person? No fingerprints, no DNA, no camera footage showing someone approaching or fleeing. Multiple law enforcement agencies searched for evidence of an intruder, according to the state, they found none. Where is the evidence that an unknown person approached the house? That they entered from the outside. That they moved throughout the house, that they accessed the truck, that they took the firearm, that the gun was even in the truck that night, that an unknown person left the residence without being identified. The police, the deputies, BCI, the FBI, the ATF, they all looked at. They investigated the intruder explanation. And they didn't find

an intruder. The neighbor's cameras were operated, but they did not establish the approach or departure of an unknown person. They did, however, establish the approach of the responding officers. The defense wants your analysis to begin with the missing gun, but that starts this story in the middle. The defense wants jurors to start with the missing gun, Joseph argued, but you can't start the story in the middle. Before an intruder can steal Caleb's gun, that intruder first has to exist. Meanwhile, Caleb's own DNA was found on the exterior knob of the side garage. door, the same door he claimed that the family essentially never used, and the same door he directed investigators toward as the intruder's point of entry. So if Caleb never used that door, Joseph asked,

why was his DNA on the outside knob? And then there was another piece of evidence. Caleb and Ashley's blood were both detected in the trap beneath the primary bedroom sink, just feet from where Ashley was killed. How did it get there? Joseph asked, did the defendant clean up? Then the state confronted the biggest hole in its own case head on, the gun. Yes, it's missing. And Joseph admitted they cannot tell the jury where it went. But the absence of the weapon doesn't create an intruder. A missing gun is simply a missing gun.

Caleb had access to the Springfield 9mm that he said was stored in his truck, and that firearm could not be excluded based on the class characteristics of the bullets recovered from Ashley. The person who fired the gun executed Ashley. So don't ask yourself, where did the gun go? Ask who was behind the gun. The defendant had access to the firearm, the Springfield 9mm he identified, cannot be eliminated based on class characteristics established by the evidence in this case. The gun is missing and we cannot say you are going. The absence of the gun does not erase the evidence that does remain.

As for the lack of gunshot residue testing, the state argued that the judge, G.S.R is extremely fragile and easily transferred or removed through ordinary activity. And because Caleb admittedly entered the bedroom while gunpowder was still in the air, he told police he could smell it, even finding GSR on him wouldn't necessarily prove he fired the weapon. Joseph also reminded jurors that Caleb wasn't instructed to wash his hands until nearly nine hours later after he had already been moving around, using his phone and interacting with police. The state also pushed back on the defense's description of the DNA mixture, found on the truck console release as foreign DNA potentially pointing to someone else accessing

Caleb's gun. Caleb was actually the major contributor. The remaining DNA simply wasn't sufficient in quality to reliably compare against anyone. In other words, there was no identifiable mystery profile pointing toward an intruder. And then Joseph returned to aggravated murder and prior calculation and design. The defense says there is virtually no evidence that Caleb planned Ashley's death. The state says, look at how she died. Ashley was lying on her side in bed, curled in what appeared to be a sleeping position. There was no evidence she fought or confronted anyone. Someone walked up behind her and fired two shots into the back of her head.

The state argued that showed deliberation, and that's before considering the messages about wanting Ashley dead, trying to think of ways to kill her without going to jail. The camera's coming down, deleted information, and Caleb repeatedly, identifying February 16th as the day everything would change. I submit to you that Ashland's position in bed, she's laying on her side in the fetal position, a sleep-like position, her arms under a pillow, she never encountered a intruder. The fact that someone walked up behind her and executed her with two shots

to the back of her head is prior calculation and is on it enough, in and of itself. That we don't even have to address the nine months of playing from the buffet. if someone can say they're going to kill their wife and she's executed on the same day that that individual says they're going to divorce her and the evidence places you right by her when she is shot ladies and gentlemen if that's not enough there's going to be an awful lot of killers getting off Joseph also briefly answered some of Mulligan's other criticisms the drone search wasn't some tiny effort it was flown in a grid pattern to its operational limits

Mulligan's claim that Caleb agreed to take a polygraph wasn't supported by any immiscible evidence and should not be considered. And as for the missing gun, Agent Hammond testified that conclusively ruling out that possibility that it remained hidden somewhere inside the Flynn home would practically require deconstructing the house. I submit to you all, if I told you today, go hide a gun in your house. You've got nine months to plan it. Think of where you hide it. Dogs can't smell it if it's wrapped up. If it's in a wall or isn't. somewhere else where no son can get out. They're not going to get it. I submit to you, you all could do it. You could find a place in your home. The snoopy emails were deleted because the defendant didn't want us to find his affair. And then the state addressed the defense's attempt to point

toward Alia. Caleb spoke extensively with police after Ashley's murder and admitted plenty of things that made him look bad, but he didn't tell them about Alia. The state says that's why he deleted the snoop information. He didn't want investigators discovering his affair. And now, after accusing investigators of unfairly focusing on Caleb instead of other possibilities, his own defense was pointing at the mistress Caleb initially tried to hide. Joseph then picked up on Mulligan's comparison of coincidence to winning the lottery. Fine.

If Ashley just happened to be murdered by a random stranger on the exact day Caleb had been telling his mistress everything was finally going to change, then Caleb didn't just win the lottery. He won without even buying a ticket. An alternative theory can exist in someone's imagination, Joseph argued, but it still has to survive contact with the evidence. You can chase a possibility anywhere, but you cannot make a possibility carry evidence. The defense can suggest another field that should have been searched, another person, investigators should have interviewed or another lead they should have followed, but without evidence, connecting those things to Ashley's murder, those possibilities are possibilities. They're not reasonable doubt.

Joseph also returned briefly to Caleb's body camera footage. While describing his firearms, Caleb talked about his rifle and shotgun and then according to the state, made a motion with his hand as though pulling a trigger twice. Joseph called it subconscious muscle memory. He also argued Caleb could speak specifically about the rifles in his closet, yet became increasingly vague about the handgun he supposedly carried with him every day. And then there was Caleb's illness. He claimed he was so sick that Ashley asked him to sleep elsewhere, but Joseph asked jurors where that terrible cough was during the 911 call or body camera footage. His side of the bed, the state argued, didn't appear disturbed either. His descriptions about his guns are also telling.

He knows all about the rifles in his closet, but the one that he carries with him every day that lives in his truck, the one he should know the most about. He's very vague and becomes more and more vague as time goes on. Why? Because it incriminates. Remember the body camera footage in the 911 call? Where's his cough?

He didn't cough one. in his office so bad that Ashley nicely asked him to leave the bedroom and sleep on the couch. Also take note of the condition of that bed for Ashley's land. The bed that he wants you to believe, he was asked to leave. His side of the bed was not disturbed. He was never in that bed that night. Then Joseph confronted the defense's biggest alternative suspect head-on. Aaliyah Botner.

Yes, Alia lied. Yes, she deleted messages. Yes, jurors heard plenty of behavior. They may find troubling. But where was she when Ashley was murdered? Not at 932 Cunningham court. Her digital evidence placed her in Dayton from shortly after midnight until almost 10 the next morning. And her activity data didn't even show her taking steps until after 9.

9 a.m. Joseph asked jurors two separate two very different questions. Was Alia's behavior acceptable? And is there evidence that she murdered Ashley? Those are not the same thing. The state also rejected the defense's portrayal of Caleb as the man comfortably stringing Alia along while she waited for him. By January, Alia had cut Caleb off for weeks and arranged a date with another man. The state argued that Caleb was the desperate one, pursuing her, monitoring her, and terrified of losing her. And that made one message he sent at 9.42 p.m. on February 15th, particularly important. If you want me to change my mind, you have to tell me quick, he said. Why the urgency if Caleb was simply talking about filing for divorce?

A divorce can be stopped. A decision to leave can be reconsidered tomorrow. Murder cannot. And from there, Joseph put it plainly. who was inside 932 Cunningham Court that night. Caleb. Caleb, who was awake and moving when he claimed a stranger entered the house and killed Ashley. Caleb was. Whose DNA and fingerprints were found in critical areas, Caleb's, who had access to the missing gun, Caleb, and who desperately needed the story of an unknown intruder to be true.

The state says, Caleb did. Pointing at Alia doesn't erase Caleb's messages about wanting Ashley dead. It doesn't erase actions will come. tomorrow. Tax actions will come tomorrow. That has been the message of this trial. It doesn't erase the Apple Watch movement. The watch coming off at 228, the face ID unlock. Caleb's knowledge of details the state says he shouldn't have known or the changing versions of his story. Joseph argued that Caleb spent months trying to control information, deleting messages, removing apps and discussing ways to communicate without leaving a trail. But there was something he couldn't fully control.

his digital exhaust. He could delete group meat, but he couldn't make every copy of those messages disappear. Investigators recovered the threats, the hatred, the affair, the obsession with Aaliyah, and the promise that actions will come tomorrow. People lie, evidence doesn't. Even the canine evidence, the state argued, pointed back toward the house. The tracking dog repeatedly pulled toward the garage rather than establishing any sort of trail leading away from the house. and investigators found no intruder's footprints in the yard. This wasn't a burglary, Joseph argued. It was a poorly staged breaking, covering a premeditated killing.

And then there was Caleb's behavior afterward. Next, consider what happened after the shooting. This is the first moment that defendant completely lost control. He called 911 and immediately supplied the intruder explanation. He said Ashley had been shot twice in her head, that the garage door was open, that he had been asleep. He wasn't worried about trouble. trying to save his wife. He didn't hold her tight, attempt to render aid. He was worried about putting a shirt on before medics arrived.

He simply paced in the bedroom. He didn't even check on his two young daughters until the 911 dispatcher, asked him to for the third time. He doesn't grab one of his guns from the closet to protect himself for his children. Why? Because there was no intruder. He under it. He was the one they needed protection from. Then the state pulled everything together one final time, Caleb's words, his obsession with Alia, his hatred toward Ashley, his insistence that February 16th would change everything. The deleted information, the missing handgun, the stage door, the DNA and fingerprints, the Apple Watch recording 105 steps and coming off at 228 a.m.

The face ID unlocked, the 911 call, and Kian, Caleb's injured hands. The defense may say there was no GSR tying him to the shooting, but Joseph asked Jurs to look at the photographs. People don't typically start bleeding in the middle of the night while they're asleep. The state argued, but they might injure themselves while using tools to stage a damaged door. And then Joseph flipped the defense's argument about what was missing. Yes, the gun was missing, but Caleb's messages are not missing. His threats toward Ashley aren't missing. The device records aren't missing. The physical evidence isn't missing. The 911 call and his contradictions aren't missing. So what is missing? Well, according to the state, any evidence establishing an intruder

is missing. Don't ask whether you can imagine some unknown person doing this. Ask whether the evidence of that person is or if it even exists. And don't isolate each piece and ask whether it proves murder by itself. Look at everything together. The evidence never pointed to an intruder. It pointed to the defendant. Caleb said actions would come tomorrow. Tomorrow came, Ashley, was dead, and under the state's theory, Caleb initially got exactly what he wanted. He was no longer the cheating husband leaving his wife or a mistress. He was now the victim. He could potentially keep his daughters full time, preserve his financial position and church standing, collect on Ashley's life insurance policy, and remain connected to the family business.

But then law enforcement, they did what they always do. They started digging. And Joseph returned to something Caleb told Alia after Ashley was killed. In the hours after Ashley was murdered, the defendant was not mourning the death of his wife. He was whispering to his mistress. Didn't happen the way we thought it would. It didn't. That certainly doesn't sound like a victim. Does that sound like someone talking about an intruder?

Or does it sound like someone who is in control? I'm confident after you deliberate your verdict will tell the world. This case did not end. the way the defendant thought it would either. The defendant wanted the new life. He wanted Ashley out of his life, and he didn't want to face the consequences of making the choice to pursue a divorce. He had a lawful way to leave, but he was too greedy. Ashley paid the ultimate price for that choice. And then came probably the most powerful line of the state's entire closing. The defendant, wanted a tomorrow. Ashley never got one. Caleb made his choice, Joseph said. Ashley lost her life.

Eva and Alyssa lost their mother. Todd and Jill lost their daughter. Kayla lost her older sister. But there was one thing Caleb couldn't take with him or delete. The evidence. And now the choice no longer belonged to Caleb Flynn. It belonged to the jury. The state asked them to follow that evidence and give Ashley the one thing she could no longer give herself. A can't And with that, the state asked once again for guilty verdicts on every count. Return guilty verdicts on all charges. The only verdict that holds the defendant accountable for what the evidence proves he did. The bottom line is, he did. Thank you, Mr. Watkins. Closing arguments at that point were officially over,

but we didn't really have to wait that long for a verdict. As a verdict to count one, aggravated murder. We, the jury in this case, being duly impanled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of aggravated murder, as charged in count one of the indictment, pursuant to ORC Section 2903-01A, 2929.02A, an unclassified felony. As to the gun specification, we, the jury further find that Caleb C. Flynn did have a firearm on or about his purpose, or under his control while committing the offense and displayed the firearm, brandished the firearm, indicated that it possessed the firearm, or used it to facilitate the offense in violation of 2941.145A.

All 12 jurors signed in ink and dated today's date. Verdict, count two, murder, ORC section 2,03.02A, 2903.02D and 2929.02B. We, the jury in this case, being duly impanled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of murder, as charged in count two of the indictment, pursuant to ORC section 2909.02A, 2903.02D, and 292929.02B,

an unclassified felony. Furthermore, we, the jury further firing, Caleb C. Flynn did have a firearm, honor about his person were under his control while committing the offense and displayed the firearm, brandished it, the firearm, indicated he possessed the firearm or used it to facilitate the offense

in violation of 2941.145A. All jurors signed in ink and was dated today's date. Verdict on count three, murder, felony murder, felonese assault, serious physical harm. We, the jury in this case, being duly impaneled and sworn find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of murder, as charged in count three of the indictment.

ORC section 2903.02B, 2903.02D, and 292929.02b. Furthermore, on the gun specification associated with that count three, we the jury further find Caleb C. Flynn did have a firearm, honor about his person or under his control while committing the offense and displayed the firearm, brandished the firearm,

indicated that he possessed the firearm, or used it to facilitate the offense in violation of ORC section 2941.145A. All 12 jurors signed and ink dated today's date. Verdict on count four, murder, felony murder, felonies assault, physical harm by means of a deadly weapon, we, the jury in this case, being duly impanled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn guilty of murder as charged in count four of the indictment,

pursuant to ORC section 2903.02B and 2903.02D and 2929.02b, an unclassified felony. Furthermore, on the gun specification associated with that count, we, the jury further find Caleb C. Flynn did have a firearm. on or about his person or under his control while committing the offense and displayed the firearm, brandished the firearm, indicated that he possessed the firearm or used it to facilitate the offense in violation of 2941.145A. All 12 doors signed in ink in today's date. As to count five, verdict, serious physical harm, we, the jury in this case being duly appellate and sworn find the defendant Caleb C. Flynn guilty of Flonius assault as charged in count five of the indictment, a felony at the second degree.

As to the gun specification with count five, we the jury further find that Caleb C. Flynn did have a firearm on or about his person or under his control while committing the offense, displayed the firearm, branched the firearm, indicated that he possessed the firearm or used it to facilitate the offense in violation of ORC, section 29. 41.145A. All 12 jurors signed and ink. Count six, verdict, felonis assault, physical harm by means of a deadly weapon. We, the jury in this case, being duly impanled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of Flonius assault as charged in count six of the indictment. Pursuant to ORC section, 2903.11A2 and 290311 D1N.A2. a felony of the second degree.

As to the gun specification with Felonius assault, the court and Count 6, the jury finds, further finds, Caleb C. Flynn, did have a firearm on or about his person or under his control, while committing the offense and displayed the firearm, brandished it, indicated that he possessed the firearm or used it to facilitate the offense in violation of 2941.145A. All 12 jurors signed in ink. As to count seven, verdict, tampering with evidence, we the jury in this case being duly impanled and sworn find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of tampering with evidence as charged in count seven of the indictment. Pursuant to Code Section 2921.12A1 and 2921.12b, a felony of the third degree. As to the gun specification with count seven, we the jury further find Caleb C. Flynn. did have a firearm on or about his person or under his control while committing the offense in violation of ORC section 2941.1.1A. All 12th jurors signed and ink. Verdict for count eight tampering with evidence. We the jury in this case being duly impaned

and sworn find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn guilty of tampering with evidence as charged in count eight of the indictment. To ORC section 2921.1.1. And B, a felony of the third degree. All 12 jurors signed, all in ink. Count nine, tampering with evidence. We, the jury in this case, being duly and panelled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of tampering with evidence as charged in count nine of the indictment.

Pursuant to ORC section 29, 21.1 and B, felony of the third degree. all 12 drawers signed in ink in today's date. Would either counsel like to review the jury forms, furtive forms? No, Your Honor. Mr. Mulligan? I don't think. Would either counsel like to poll the jury? No, you know.

On the jury, on behalf of the public and the parties, thank you. Court expresses sincere appreciation for your service in performing this important public function. The judicial system, as we know, in the United States, States is the finest in the world. It is so very important in preserving the rights of all citizens that you have willingly agreed to serve as yours in this case.

By your being here and participating, you are helping to guarantee the continued existence of the law and the social order in our country, and never forget that no civilized country in history has ever been able to exist without law and order.

As indicated earlier, now that your verdict is returned and your jury service is completed, you may now discuss this case with anyone, but you are not required to do so. Whether you discuss this case with counsel or anyone else after you are discharged is a matter of your own choice. In any event, you should be careful what you say. You should make no statement oral or in writing unless you are sure it is both complete and accurate. You should make no statement that you would not be willing to make under oath.

in the presence of the court, the other jurors, the parties, and the respective counsel. It is improper for a lawyer or anyone else to harass you, entice you, or exert improper influence on you for the purpose of getting you to talk about this case. Members of the jury, you are now discharged from your duties. Thank you. Ms. Osendorf, if you would walk them out. Well, the jury has spoken. Caleb Flynn is guilty.

But even with that verdict, there are still so many questions I wish we had answers to. Where is the gun? Did Alia meet with anyone while she was in Florida? Did she really just happen to lose both of her devices? And maybe the biggest question for me, what, if anything, did Caleb and Ashley's daughter see or hear the night their mother was murdered? Because remember, Ashley's mother testified that the oldest daughter was afraid to tell the truth, afraid to tell the truth about what? We never found out. No one ever really got into it. And that's

one of those details I don't think I'm ever going to stop wondering about. There are pieces of this story we may never know, and a guilty verdict doesn't magically fill in every blank. We still don't know exactly how everything happened, where that gun went or whether there are parts of the story that never made it into that courtroom. But the jury didn't have to answer every lingering question. their job was to decide whether the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Caleb Flynn murdered his wife Ashley and they decided that it did. Whatever mystery remains, 12 jurors heard the evidence deliberated and reached their answer. Caleb Flynn is guilty of murdering his wife. Justice has been served. Thank you for watching. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for listening. And thank you for

supporting our podcast.