Former American Idol Contestant Convicted of Murdering His Wife

Former season 12 American Idol contestant and Ohio pastor Caleb Flynn has been convicted of murdering his wife, CNN reports. He was found guilty of all nine charges on September 29, including aggravated murder, murder, felony murder, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence. Flynn staged a scene, claiming a faceless intruder broke into their house and murdered his wife — he was having an affair with a 24-year-old woman at his church and wanted a way to still keep his relationship, his job at his wife’s family business, and his role as a pastor at the local church. “The evidence does not lead to some unknown intruder who vanished into the night. It leads straight to the defendant,” Miami County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matt Joseph said in their closing argument. Flynn faces life in prison without parole, and his sentencing hearing was scheduled for next week, on October 5.

“I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail,” he wrote in a text message to his mistress. In his American Idol audition in 2013, he thanked his wife for encouraging him to apply and praised her looks, saying she would look just like Carrie Underwood if she dyed her hair blonde.