MIAMI COUNTY — We heard from Caleb Flynn and his mistress, in their own words, in messages they exchanged before the murder of Ashley Flynn.
The testimony lasted for hours during Caleb Flynn’s murder trial in Miami County.
Flynn is accused of shooting and killing his wife in their Tipp City home in February.
He told police a burglar broke in and murdered his wife while he and their young daughters slept.
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News Center 7’s John Bedell has been following this case since the start.
He listened as Flynn’s lover read hundreds of messages between the two in the months leading up to his wife’s death.
Her testimony lasted a little under 7 hours in total, over two days, and most of that was Alleigha Botner exchanging messages with Caleb Flynn.
In many of these exchanges, they refer to Ashley in ways we can’t repeat online.
“I hate this stupid *****. I hate her guts,” Botner said.
“Book 16 of 34,” said Miami County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Watkins.
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Binders full of printed copies of the more than 107,000 messages Botner exchanged with Caleb Flynn during their affair.
As Prosecutor Paul Watkins called out the number of messages, “50,137.”
Botner read each one aloud with the same tone in her voice.
“You know I hate her and her family,” she said.
“Who’s he talking about there?” Watkins asked.
“Ashley and her family,” Botner said.
Then the exchange changed.
“Next message?” Watkins said.
“I’m sorry,” Botner said.
“64,281,” Watkins said.
“Sorry. I just wish I didn’t say this,” Botner said.
“What does the message say?” Watkins then asked.
“I didn’t mean it. It says − it says, ‘I want to kill her, Caleb,’” Botner said.
“Who said that?” Watkins asked.
“Me,” she said.
“Next message,” Watkins said.
“I said: ‘It’s so bad,’” she continued.
“Next message,” Watkins said.
“He said, ‘That makes two of us,’” she explained.
Botner read hundreds of messages that displayed a disdain for Ashley Flynn and her family, and at times, the communication became violent.
“Caleb said, ‘Please hire someone to take ****** (Ashley) out. I need you in my life. I need you,’” Botner said in a message.
“Next message,” Watkins said.
“I said, ‘So tempting. I can’t live without you, and I’ve had this thought so often lately, how do we figure this out,’” Botner read aloud.
Caleb Flynn and Alleigha Botner messaged about their illicit relationship.
At one point, prosecutors had Botner reading messages from January and February of this year, the weeks before Ashley’s murder.
It was then that Caleb expressed his desire to be with Alleigha as he and his lover discussed his plans to divorce Ashley on February 16.
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“I said, ‘Get your freedom; it’s long awaited. You’ve wasted 15 years of your life,’” Botner said as she read aloud text messages.
Botner has not been charged with a crime.
She’s had her lawyer in the courtroom for her entire testimony.
News Center 7’s John Bedell asked him Thursday: “I have to ask you this because a lot of people are asking me, has Alleigha Botner been offered any sort of immunity in exchange for her testimony?”
“No,” Botner’s lawyer said.
During their cross-examination of Botner, the defense pointed out that Botner did not call law enforcement until they called her about the investigation into Ashley’s death and how she admitted in testimony she was not truthful with the FBI in her first of two interviews with federal agents.
Botner said that was in the interest of protecting her reputation because of the affair.
We also heard prosecutors took the jury on a timeline of messages and then in-person conversations between Alleigha Botner and Caleb Flynn, up until the hours leading up to Ashley’s murder and in the hours that followed it.
Prosecutors started laying out a narrower timeframe where they think Ashley was killed, and they appear to be doing that with the messages.
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The coroner’s office testified earlier in the trial that they don’t have a time of death, but with these messages, which we heard about the last two days, and the 911 call which we’ve had for months, we started to get a shorter window of time where Ashley was murdered.
“I just want to be free of her, have my girls and have a chance to start a life with you,” Botner said as she continued to read messages.
Botner read aloud more messages that included discussions of Caleb’s plans to leave his wife for his lover by divorcing Ashley Flynn.
“You’ve finally grown the ***** to do what you should have done years ago,” Botner said.
As the affair progressed, so did, Botner testified, the disdain Caleb felt for his wife.
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“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That’s how dark and hateful I feel,” Botner read.
Caleb told Botner he planned to tell Ashley and her family about the divorce on February 16, the day of her murder.
Botner said the last time Caleb responded to her messages was at 12:45 a.m. on the 16th.
“‘February 16, a day I’ll never forget,’” Botner read. “I said, ‘You’re about to be free.’”
“He said, ‘I choose you, Alleigha, you’re more than enough. Good night.’”
“I said, ‘Good night, praying now.’”
“He said, ‘Thank you, praying for you as well. Good night.’”
Police responded to the Flynn home at 2:30 that morning after Caleb called 911.
Botner testified she woke up the morning of the 16th and messaged Caleb after she learned about Ashley’s murder.
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“Caleb, I just saw the news. Someone told me to pray for Mrs. Flynn. In all caps, what is going on right now? Were you behind this?” Botner said in a text to Caleb.
Then spoke to him in person at Ashley’s parents’ house, hours after her murder.
“When I walked in, he didn’t see me at first; he came over and hugged me, and then the first thing he said to me was, ‘It didn’t happen the way we thought it would, did it?’” Botner recalled during her testimony.
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The defense pointed out Botner was not truthful with the FBI in the first of her two interviews with agents after Ashley’s murder and they also mentioned how law enforcement followed up with Botner after those interviews.
“Did law enforcement ever search your apartment?” asked Emily Smith, Caleb’s defense lawyer.
“No,” she said.
“Did they ever search your vehicle?” Smith asked.
“No,” Botner said.
“Did they ever collect your DNA?” Smith asked.
“No,” she said.
“Did they ever collect your fingerprints?” Smith then asked.
“No,” Botner said.
“Up to today, have you had any charges related to Ashley’s murder?” Smith asked.
“No,” Botner said.
We’ve heard inconsistencies in Caleb Flynn’s story from a couple of witnesses.
Botner testified that Caleb told her he was sleeping on the couch because he never slept with Ashley.
Ashley’s mom and sister testified Tuesday that he told them he was on the couch because of a bad cough.
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Botner testified that Caleb told her he was on the couch when he heard a gunshot.
Ashley’s sister testified Tuesday that Caleb told her he had moved from the couch and was in his daughters’ room when he heard the shot.
Botner confirmed what Bedell asked her lawyer earlier in the day about being offered anything in exchange for her testimony when the defense asked her the same question.
We’ve seen Ashley’s family on camera as they’ve listened to this testimony in the gallery − her mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law.
One of the things we have wondered is what it’s been like for Ashley’s family to sit there and to hear these hundreds of messages about the affair that include these nasty, vile, and hateful things Botner and Flynn said about Ashley and, in some cases, even them.
At points, they’re saying things we can’t repeat online, and it’s been heavy to listen to. We can’t imagine what it’s like for them to have to endure this.
John Bedell will be in Miami County on Friday for Day 7 of Caleb Flynn’s murder trial.