‘American Idol’ alum Caleb Flynn ‘made a choice’ to kill wife, prosecutors argue in close of murder trial

“American Idol” alum and ex-church pastor Caleb Flynn “made a choice” to murder his wife so he could start a new life with his mistress, prosecutors said in closing arguments Tuesday.

“He made a choice. Ashley lost her life,” Ohio Prosecutor Paul Watkins told jurors, according to the Dayton Daily News.

Watkins urged jurors to piece together a mountain of circumstantial evidence tying the 40-year-old husband and father of two to a phony break-in at their Tipp City home as a cover for killing his wife, Ashley Flynn, on Feb. 16 — after hinting about his diabolical plan to his 24-year-old mistress, Alleigha Botner.

“The evidence never pointed to an intruder. The evidence pointed to the defendant,” Watkins implored.

Prosecutors pointed to Caleb Flynn’s affair and a trove of disturbing text messages about wanting his wife dead, along with the mysterious disappearance of a handgun he normally kept stashed in his truck.

Flynn’s lawyers countered that the state had proven he was an adulterous husband who hated his wife — but that didn’t make him a murderer.

“This is a murder case, and it’s really nothing more,”  said defense attorney Patrick Mulligan, stressing that investigators never recovered the murder weapon and lacked forensic evidence, eyewitness testimony or other direct proof that he was the one who killed his wife.