Overview
- The killing took place on Feb. 16, 2026, when prosecutors say Ashley Flynn was shot in the head inside her Tipp City home while her two daughters slept.
- Alleigha Botner told jurors on Sept. 23 that she had a yearlong sexual relationship with Caleb Flynn, read thousands of their messages in court, and said she now believes he committed the murder.
- Prosecutors presented roughly 100,000 to 107,000 exchanged messages that they say show Flynn expressing a wish for his wife to be gone and planning steps that fit their theory of staging the scene as a burglary.
- The defense concedes the inflammatory texts but stresses there is no direct forensic link tying Flynn to the shooting and notes investigators have not found the alleged murder weapon despite extensive searches.
- The trial will turn on jurors’ judgments about Botner’s credibility and deleted communications, and on whether the large body of circumstantial digital evidence overcomes the absence of the gun and other direct physical proof.