Husband Told Mistress He’d Ask Wife for Divorce on Feb 16- But Kills Wife Instead

Limerence is being infatuated and obsessed with someone, where reciprocation is uncertain. You ponder, fantasize, and interpret every interaction. It’s not a medical diagnosis or an excuse. It can determine how you feel, but you’re still in control of your actions. Some people on TikTok have used limerence to explain the bizarre text messages between Caleb Flynn and his mistress, Alleigha Botner. But I don’t think anything can explain the god awful AI song played in the courtroom. Caleb is on trial for the murder of his wife, Ashley. And while her loved ones sit there, a song he created for his mistress echoes through the courtroom. “We were friends on the surface, but deep down inside you were always my love~” He tells her: “It’s your song and these are my words to you.” All while, according to the messages, the two of them talked in depth about how much they hate Calebs wife, the mother of their children, and how much they want her dead. Full show notes available at RottenMangoPodcast.com

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• 1:34Speaker 00

  There is a two-minute clip of Caleb Flynn from 13 years ago that has gone viral again. It's an interview of him trying out as a contestant for American Idol Season 12. He's sitting in a black leather jacket. His hairline is noticeably lower, so less forehead, real estate. He's sitting there explaining to the world how much he loves to sing, how much he loves his wife. He's the wife guy. If we ever remember anything, is we don't like the wife guys. The wife guys are never wife guys. He even jokes that his favorite former contestant on American Idol was Carrie Underwood, and that if his wife Ashley dyed her hair blonde, she would look just like Carrie Underwood. He also mentions how much he loves his wife, how pretty she is. He barely makes it any rounds on American Idol,

• 2:16Speaker 00

  but the netizen comments read, yeah, he's got a whole new set of judges now. Others read, from American Idol to American inmate. But it does, I think, paint a pretty thorough picture of who Caleb is. People, Caleb does a really good job at hiding his narcissism, I will say. Even during the trial, it's really annoying. It's very annoying. He's always fucking wailing and crying and sobbing. And it's like, why are you crying? You're the one that caused all of this, right? But it is a little bit different from a lot of the other narcissists that you see as defendants, who don't cry, who are seemingly upset that this is happening to them.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  Oh, he almost like, he looks like he's remorseful and...

• 2:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, or like some sort of victim. I think he's very into this victim role. He leans into it heavily. He's producing tears. I don't think they're tears meant for others. I think they're meant for himself, but he is crying. He doesn't talk in a way that's super narcissistic, at least to the general public. Like, when he is at church and he's doing these little worship leader sessions, it's not really red flags all around. I'm not like, whoa, okay, this is such a manipulative guy who's using religion to back up all these horrendous things that he's doing. He just sounds like, kinda cheesy, kinda cornball. His text messages, I think, show the real him, but aside from that, he's really good at duping people.

• 3:39Speaker 00

  But the whole singing thing, it does seem like he was obsessed with the idea of being loved by people. He constantly wants to be a singer, and he's not that great at singing, so it doesn't seem like it's for the love of singing or for the love of making music.

• 3:53Speaker 01

  Is the American Idol singing clip out there too, or no?

• 3:56Speaker 00

  No, but he does have a song. His voice is okay. He has an R&B song that he had under his stage name Caleb Carl, which is arguably one of the worst stage names to ever exist. No offense if that's your real name, Caleb Carl, any Caleb Carls out there. But the song is called Never Been in Love Before. It's from 2006. I think it is worse than his AI songs, which is saying a lot, because the AI songs were atrocious. The lyrics are the equivalent of reading those, like, medication pamphlets at the doctor's office, talking about the newest medication to help with whatever affliction that you are now convinced that you definitely have. It's just so mid. The song is titled Never Been in Love, and the lyrics go, "Never been in true love before. I'll never change my mind or wanna go back into time. You're the only love I need.

• 4:40Speaker 00

  There's no other one for me. Never been in love before. Never been in love like this. You're the only one I wanna be with. I just want you to know, you got my heart and soul. I just want you to know, I can't say no." Basically, it's like every annoying text message he ever sent to his mistress, written in lyrical form from 20 years ago, where just the last word in every verse rhymes, and that's about it.

• 5:24Speaker 00

  The psychologist who coined the term limerence says, "Limerence can live a long life sustained by crumbs. Overfeeding is perhaps the best way to end limerence. It bears a definite resemblance to the condition of the laboratory rats and pigeons who continue to press the bar or peck at the disc, even when the possibility of food reward is gradually diminished. So that, on the average, only one in hundreds or even thousands of responses actually pays off." She describes it as, "It is limerence, not love, that increases when lovers are able to meet only infrequently or when there is anger between them." I do have to wonder if people labeling Caleb and Aaliyah's relationship as being in limerence state as being way too generous, because I don't think that there's any sort of excuse that can be used for their messages. I do get why people might feel that way.

• 6:08Speaker 00

  The way they talk to each other does feel a bit not normal. At one point, Caleb asks Aaliyah to break up with him. And he says, "Will you please just do it and leave me? I don't know how I'm gonna live with this anticipation, knowing it's coming. It's worse. I hate my life. I hate douche. I hate Will. I hate run with Christ. I'm miserable, and I have nothing to look forward to." She says, "You'd rather me just do it now? You really think the anticipation is worse than actually losing me? Nothing is better. Nothing is easier. It's all pain for the rest of my life." In another melodramatic text message, he tells his mistress, "I just wanna call it quits." "What do you mean?" "On life." "Please don't say that. It terrifies me. But I get it, and I've said the same. I know you wouldn't, but the feeling is too familiar. But I thought you might call it quits with douche. I want her gone so bad." Yeah.

• 6:53Speaker 00

  It's like Caleb cannot have a single emotion without somehow channeling it back into a threat against Ashley Flynn's life. He manages to bring everything back to Ashley, and how Ashley ruined his life by cheating on him, which, again, there is zero evidence. She did not cheat on him. Caleb texts Aaliyah that the reason he doesn't like her following guys on Instagram is because of Ashley. He says, "I'm nervous to even text this. I don't want it to be taken the wrong way, but I know I keep saying that I have a lot of things going through my mind as well. One of them is, I had to even bring up the witch. But the day that I took the job at Free Chapel, she resented me and hated me. She hated that I did extra worship things. When she cheated and I caught her, she made a comment when she was trying to apologize that she was just so mad, and that was the reason she did it all. Anyways, fuck her, and I hate her, but as I told you, I learned I have a lot of deep insecurities now."

• 7:38Speaker 00

  He says that when they fight, when she blocks him or follows other guys after they fight, it just taps into the deep-seated insecurities that Ashley caused when she cheated on him in his imagination. Obviously. Another interesting conversation is, Aaliyah is reassuring Caleb that the girls are gonna have a hard time adjusting, but they should be fine. After all, Aaliyah's parents were also divorced three times. And Aaliyah says that she turned out okay, which is debatable, considering she's a mistress testifying in a murder trial, with some netizens even casting suspicion on her for being involved in said murder. But like, maybe okay is very subjective? But I think the worst part in these text messages,

• 8:19Speaker 00

  and Ashley's family feels that way, I believe, is a lot of weaponizing religion. And Ashley's family makes it a point to say that they know that the one thing that Ashley would hate is if people took this case and turned away from religion because of it. Because Ashley was such a strong follower of God, and she had so much faith, and that people taking Aaliyah and Caleb, who were big members of the church, who were false followers, who do not have faith, who do not believe in God, and their actions as representative of Christians and Christianity, they think would be very bad. But the religious text messages are pretty deplorable, I say as someone who's not even religious in any sense of the word anymore. But yeah, it's bad.

• 9:02Speaker 00

  So at one point, they talk about David from the Bible. I'm like, what did David do? I went to church. I don't recall what David did. David slept with a married woman in the Bible, got the married woman pregnant, and then was planning to kill her husband in war. So...

• 9:18Speaker 01

  What, they bring up David in what context?

• 9:20Speaker 00

  Aaliyah says, "You took a weekend and told me that God told you yes, and that you're gonna do it just like David in the Bible." Whatever that means.

• 9:29Speaker 01

  Wait, hold on. She's saying that you told me you had a...

• 9:33Speaker 00

  Conversation with God.

• 9:34Speaker 01

  With God, and God is telling you...

• 9:36Speaker 00

  Like, yes, divorce. She just said, "He told you yes." So we don't really know what yes is to. Aaliyah is also the one that she is getting on stage at church in front of Ashley, the Flynn children, Ashley's parents, Ashley's sister, and Ashley's nieces, saying, "May the Lord bless these families in this church. May you keep them through this week, through their lives. Lord, bless and keep each family in this church. In your name we pray." She's blessing and praying for the families that she's breaking up. Yeah, there is a lot of talk about religion in these text messages, and it's not in the way that you would imagine. I was thinking more along the lines of like, do you think hell is really bad? Or like, do you think we'll survive hell? Like, what if there's no Wi-Fi in hell? Or like, oh, I feel so ashamed to get up on stage at church every week, cuz I'm going to hell.

• 10:21Speaker 00

  No, none of those. You know, all of their messages are woe is them, and they are woe. It's a lot of self-pitying remarks about being Jesus's number-one follower, and then getting nothing in return. At one point, Caleb texts Aaliyah, "I hate my life. I know the Lord can handle my emotions, but I'm so angry. I've served him my whole life, and the only thing outside of him and my girls that I love most, I can't have."

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Do they ever talk about their sins?

• 10:42Speaker 00

  No.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Religious context? So they're not sinners, and no...

• 10:45Speaker 00

  No. They just talk about like, what is this? How did God give us this life-shattering earth? Wrecking love and then not allow us to have it. And they also talk a lot about the enemy. And I'm like, ooh, this is starting to feel a little culty. Who's the fucking enemy? Are you talking about the devil? Or are you talking about you guys yourselves? Because that's all I see. Just melodramatic bullshit, rapid fire. That's what their messages are. Caleb is texting Aaliyah things about God like morning. Don't worry about asking how I am. Okay. I have absolutely no one and zero meaning in my life anymore. So all of this is good. You know, good practice for my current future. Seriously, don't ask me. I'll just suffer alone. I hate douche and I will always love you. I hope the Lord heals your heart and gives you the life you deserve. Have a great day.

• 11:31Speaker 00

  At some point Caleb expresses how frustrated he is. He keeps letting Aaliyah down and he says, I went on morning walks every single morning and myself, you know, praying and screaming out to the Lord, praying I'd be mauled by a bear. There are probably more effective ways to ensure getting mauled by a bear. Find a bear and provoke the bear. If you really want to get mauled by a bear, but I don't think he wants to get mauled by a bear. He's not putting his soul into it, you know? Not everything has some sort of spiritual deep meaning, but Caleb says a lot of his fights with Aaliyah, their jealousy. This isn't from, I don't know, like the barren wastelands of their morality, but it's from the enemy. Caleb says, I hundred percent believe the enemy will do everything he can to distort and poison our minds. He has already done it at times. He wants more than anything to cause resentment, doubt and hatred,

• 12:16Speaker 00

  to poison our souls, to hinder us. But all I can do is assure you that I'm not lying to you. I'm not sleeping in that bed. I don't want to, nor will I ever. I don't know who Caleb thinks his ops are. I don't think either of them, nobody's talking about most of the time. Caleb brings up the enemy once more. Regardless of how unhappy I was, which she did cause a lot of insecurities and mess in my head. The enemy feasted on my thoughts and you kept asking me why I was still hurt or why it still messes with me until you go through something like that and even try to understand me and all of what it did to my brain. It's unfair to just get mad at me. Okay, they're so religious that Aaliyah will not write the word fuck. She writes capital F. In one text message, Aaliyah tells Caleb that she's miserable, hiding her love for him. And she says, do you know how badly I want to say capital F

• 13:01Speaker 00

  to any of the rules? And any barriers and just love you with my entire heart for the rest of my life? In that same message where she doesn't spell out the word fuck, she also writes, I want to kill her Caleb. So you can't write the word fuck, but you can say that you want to commit murder on an innocent person? Someone throw the Old Testament at their head.

• 13:22Speaker 01

  So she does say things like she wanted her dead too.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  Yeah. They just seem to be using Jesus's name in vain at this point. Aaliyah says, as Jesus is my witness right now, I swear on absolutely everything that I love you. But if you do not leave her next week, I don't want this anymore for the rest of my life. Jesus is not the witness. You are the witness at his murder trial. He tries to beg for her back and she tells him, your deadline is over and I haven't heard any updates from you about anything this weekend. The lack of intentionality and pursuit from you has blown my mind. This isn't who I fell in love with in the beginning. It's not who I prayed for. You don't want me enough and I just have to accept that it's time for me to put my big girl pants on, be strong and officially move on from you and us. Then Caleb transitions from being mad at the Lord to using the Lord's name in vain to like delusional talks about the enemy. Then he's like, you know what?

• 14:09Speaker 00

  Why tell her I can't divorce? Because I want full custody of my kids when I can tell her that Sky Daddy told me I can't. So, and by the way, I say Sky Daddy because I don't know what kind of God he's worshiping. I don't think it's the one that good people of faith, Christians follow. He's not a man of faith, so I don't know who his Sky Daddy is. Okay, but he's like, I gotta, I gotta call God and see what he says first. At one point Caleb texts Aaliyah, there is no happy medium because again, these insecurities will always be around. He says, we need a yes from Jesus and we have not gotten that yet.

• 14:45Speaker 00

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• 18:01Speaker 00

  At some point Caleb tells Aaliyah that he's going to fast so that the big G can give him a path to the big D divorce. Perhaps I have a juju B sized brain, but I would imagine that God is not going to give you a light at the end of the tunnel if you're cheating on your wife and the mother of your children and calling her a douche while talking about how you want to kill her and want her dead so that you can be with your younger mistress. I hardly think that's like high up on God's massive to do list with interfering with the fates of every human. But they think they're special and they think that fasting is going to give them a message. So Caleb tells Aaliyah that he's on a secret fast. He's fasting so that he can figure out the answer. He can figure out the way. He says he's fasting for the week, asking for wisdom. No one knows I'm fasting and I'm not gonna fast all food.

• 18:45Speaker 00

  I don't want it to obvious to her or anyone. This is just for me and believing the Lord for a breakthrough and deliverance. Just me and Jesus, it's my fight, Aaliyah. I need the Lord to deliver me and I need you. I'm sorry. She says, Caleb, I'm scared that this fast is going to get too hard or that reality is going to hit you and then you're gonna give up on fighting for us. I just feel like that's happened too often where it gets too hard or out of reach and you give up or distance or hurt me. She says, let's say you still hear that the Lord wants you to leave her and you've told me so many times he has told you that and given you peace and that you were going to leave her, but then you're fasting about how I'm afraid you're gonna chicken out and not divorce her. Caleb reassures her, I would not go into a forty day fast if I didn't think that you were worth it as well. And it's all the things that will come with it. I cannot communicate this enough. You are worth it. You are worth the fight.

• 19:30Speaker 00

  Caleb texts Aaliyah things like, I'm praying a ton today. I'm seeking Jesus. I will never understand how and why we feel for each other the way we did, but what we did, and it wasn't as beautiful. It's a love like no other. It's a love like no one has seen. And I'm not willing to let go of that so casually or to be okay with the way things are now. So I'm praying. He's so far up his own bottom. I think he can see his intestines. This has to be like a clinically diagnosable level of delusion. Aaliyah, the mistress of the year, she's eating it up, texting him back things like, I need to hear what you think the timeline will be. I need to know more details. It's simple Caleb. Before today, fast is over. You will leave her. I'm yours again forever. Eventually, Aaliyah starts fasting too. And she messages Caleb, leave her and then you can have me. I'm not going to continue doing this. Are you still leaving her or not?

• 20:15Speaker 00

  I need to know as I start fasting and praying. Which is kind of the whole point of fasting and praying is that you're getting answers through fasting and praying and not by asking the person over and over again to give you the answers. But she says, it's a simple yes or no. And then I'll leave you alone for a very long time. Caleb doesn't respond quickly enough. Aaliyah texts him, you know what? Never mind. So I guess the fast is off now, right? I have all that I need to know. Your uncertainty and not being able to answer this tells me everything I need to know. You were going to hurt me again and this is your last chance. Then another message, you still can't answer if you're leaving her Caleb? You didn't even see how you hurt me and you don't care. Then another message, Caleb, I can't keep waiting on you to leave her and I can't go through Christmas shit again. I can't do it again. Can't even bear it. So you need to make up your mind on leaving her. I need to change my life around forever. We would have had our forever next week.

• 21:01Speaker 00

  Caleb, who is just like they're in this never ending exhaustive loop that is reminiscent of the ninth circle of hell. He responds, "Yep, and then you saw Will and other guys." Then during the summers when Ashley would teach Bible study camps should be gone because you know, usually there's like a secondary location where they have the Bible study and everybody goes in the dorm there. Aaliyah says that she and Caleb would do marriage weeks. That's what they call it. Where they would pretend to be married. And it was just so wonderful. And this is what a lot of netizens think is so crazy because that's what a lot of people do when they're in affairs. They think the affair is how a marriage should be, but it's like, well, no, because once you get married, especially if you have children and you have a mortgage,

• 21:45Speaker 00

  things are never going to be that easy. And just because you cosplay being married with someone for a week does not mean that suddenly they are a better marriage partner. It's just so ridiculous how the brain is not braining at all. But after that, he goes back to Ashley and she says things like, you know, I told him this would be his last chance if he didn't leave. That I'm going to move on with my life and live a life of purity and that I was going to be completely done. This point Aaliyah is just like saying words. She's saying words. The threat is living a life of purity. I'm not even a woman of faith and I feel like I am unintentionally, without effort, living a far purer life than that. They're just like sinning till the cows come home. Okay. Probably with Bible verses in their Instagram bios.

• 22:29Speaker 00

  And I think the reason that a lot of netizens and probably myself being pretty harsh to Aaliyah is there are lots of suspicious things that don't make sense to lots of netizens such as, and by suspicious, I mean just suspicious in our opinion of like, damn, in one trip you lose your phone to the ocean and your work laptop.

• 22:48Speaker 01

  I mean, but overall, she's a shit person.

• 22:50Speaker 00

  Exactly. And I think the main thing is for Aaliyah, it seems that Caleb being married was the incentive and not a deterrent. It was not like, damn, he's married, but somehow I fell in love, which is already bad in and of itself. But it seemed like she loved the idea of breaking up the family. And I do think that the age difference is a huge gap. And without seeing these text messages, I would have been inclined to give Aaliyah a lot more grace, but I mean, she was twenty two. Like I, I knew a lot better when I was probably seventeen, sixteen. Twenty two, yes, it's young in comparison, but twenty two, you still have a moral compass. Aaliyah is in court saying things like, he would just say he hated her, that he wanted her dead. He would say so many awful things, I think.

• 23:34Speaker 00

  Along the lines of hating her or wanting her dead. It was kind of the same thing. The prosecutor asks her, what other names would he use to refer to her as? Call her the B word? And I hate when witnesses do this. I'm like, you were texting it, so you might as well just say it in court. The what? I'm sorry? The B word? What word is that? Like, don't get all shy now. Like, tell us the word. And then she's like, "A bitch." Okay, what else would he call her? Call her a whore, slut, spawn of Satan? What names would you refer Ashley as? I used most of those same names.

• 24:10Speaker 00

  In one text message, Caleb asks Aaliyah, "Please hire someone to take douche out. I need you in my life. I need you." Aaliyah responds, "So tempting. I can't live without you. And I've had this thought so often lately. How do we figure this out? I genuinely can't picture my future any other way." Aaliyah testifies about Caleb's messages about wanting Ashley gone. She says, "It seemed like it would just get worse as he kept saying it."

• 24:31Speaker 00

  She says, "At one night, he was up really late thinking about, he told me that he was thinking about ways to kill her."

• 24:37Speaker 00

  And again, she never thought to call the police or leave.

• 24:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, or, you know.

• 24:41Speaker 00

  Alert Ashley. Then near the end of their relationship, there's a text message from Aaliyah to Caleb where she reminds him, "Don't forget to get a burner phone tomorrow, first thing." So now she's telling him to get a burner phone and she warns him to be careful and to hide the phone really well because quote, "Could be suspicious if someone sees that you have another phone." And he responds, "For sure. I'll keep it very well hidden. Think I should pay cash for it? So it's not on my bank account?" She says, "Good idea. Very good idea." And the very next day, Ashley Flynn is murdered.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  Wait, what is going on right now? So they're already texting this whole time? He didn't need a phone for that. So why did she ask him to get another phone for?

• 25:26Speaker 00

  This is where netizens have very mixed feelings. Aaliyah says that he reached out to her the day before and said that he's finally divorcing Ashley. He's telling Ashley's parents and that he's going to go through with it. Now, Aaliyah is saying he needs to get a burner phone because during divorces, contentious divorces, they could check your phone and if they figure out that he's having an affair, then that would impact his ability to get full custody of his daughters. So she's claiming that all of her text messages were as innocent as a philandering little mistress can be, which is, I thought he was getting a divorce. I wanted him to have a burner phone so that his phone records, if the divorce attorneys wanted them to be in discover, like, you know, they wouldn't be able to discover that he had an affair.

• 26:10Speaker 00

  But netizens are saying divorce feels like a code word.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  That doesn't make sense, though. You know what I mean? Let's like,

• 26:17Speaker 00

  All the text messages are already there.

• 26:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, if we follow the logic, what does getting a secret phone going to do at that point on when the divorce papers are already filed? What does that mean? Like, you see what I'm saying? She's like, get a secret phone that nobody knows it exists. So when the divorce happened, if they want to look into it, they can find this secret phones message that you've never used before. Do you know what I'm saying? There's nothing on there.

• 26:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:40Speaker 01

  The only reason to get another phone right now is for continued conversation that nobody will discover.

• 26:47Speaker 01

  Not the past conversation.

• 26:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:48Speaker 01

  So what, what are you doing with that phone?

• 26:50Speaker 00

  I guess she wants to continue the conversations.

• 26:53Speaker 01

  But that, that doesn't matter anymore. You, you don't.

• 26:56Speaker 00

  I mean, I agree with the logic.

• 26:57Speaker 01

  Her logic doesn't make sense.

• 26:59Speaker 00

  But she's saying that she was just worried about the divorce. And she does send him like chat GPT answers that divorce attorneys can subpoena to get some phone records from the other party, but.

• 27:11Speaker 01

  But again, a phone that nobody can find out about in the future does not play into whatever divorce they're, you know.

• 27:18Speaker 00

  Yeah. I guess her argument would be maybe an ongoing affair amidst a divorce is worse than a past affair that caused the divorce, but I don't see.

• 27:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, this is so.

• 27:31Speaker 00

  Bizarre.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:32Speaker 00

  Weird. It's weird. Yeah. But someone else doesn't think it's weird, which is Aaliyah's mom. Aaliyah's mom actually calls the police and she says, "Somebody's at my door and they're not leaving. There's a lot going on right now and they're just banging and banging on my door. No, it could be news reporters or something. I don't know, but they're banging on my door. And you know, like the Flynn case, my daughter, she's one of the worship leaders at our church. And so there's a bunch of accusations going on internet around and she's just been staying with me for safety and just fear of being home and stuff and whoever it is, they won't leave the door. Yeah, my daughter, because this whole Flynn case, okay, my daughter, she's a worship leader at the church. There's a bunch of gossip on the internet accusing my daughter of being involved with the husband and stuff, just lies. Side note, the two individuals banging on the door who will not leave

• 28:16Speaker 00

  are FBI agents who want to talk to Aaliyah Botner. And the police have to inform her, like, hey, so they're not just like random people. They're FBI agents. One FBI agent straight up testifies that Aaliyah was not truthful during their very first interview, which was February twentieth, twenty twenty six. She entirely denies having any sort of relationship with Caleb, which the FBI agent by this point knows that's a damn lie. Six days later, they bring her in February twenty sixth, twenty twenty six, and this time she brings in attorney and perhaps her attorney informs her, "Hey, don't lie, okay?" And she tells the truth. She says that she was involved in a relationship with Caleb. She's much more truthful, but I don't know the extent of her honesty.

• 28:58Speaker 00

  Investigators also found text messages between Ashley, the wife, and Aaliyah, the mistress, on Ashley's phone, where it clearly shows a contentious relationship because Ashley found out on the cruise that he was texting Aaliyah and was like, hey, we need to talk. But Aaliyah is telling investigators that she and Ashley were entirely courtship. During the trial, Aaliyah is asked, "Why did you lie to the FBI during that first interview? I was selflessly afraid that my reputation was going to be ruined and that I was going to lose my job. And now that there was a murder attached, I didn't want to be attached to that in any way. So I was unfortunately just trying to save myself from my reputation being ruined and just from losing my job." She's also asked by prosecutors about her encouraging Caleb on deleting text messages from their devices, which is something she did.

• 29:38Speaker 00

  And she says, "Yeah, I, I told him multiple times how to delete text messages." And she said she even did it the night before Ashley was murdered, telling him how to delete text messages. But she's saying that she was doing that in preparation of him filing for a divorce.

• 29:53Speaker 01

  Not very bright, huh? She doesn't know, you cannot just delete text messages?

• 29:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, no, not bright at all.

• 30:01Speaker 00

  Also, she's just very, um, well, I think she has no shame, but also she just doesn't have much action firing off in that noggin of hers. Her very first interview with the FBI, she lies and says that she never had any sort of relationship with Caleb and that she could never, ever think that Caleb would do anything to Ashley. Then in the second interview, she has an attorney and she's like, you know what? I was having an affair with Caleb and on top of it, I think he killed her. But in between, so those six days between the two interviews with FBI, she never willingly went to the police to indicate, hey, actually now that I've been thinking about it, I think he was involved. Nothing. After Ashley is killed, she also makes a series of bizarre searches such as stories of wives being murdered and no suspect being found.

• 30:46Speaker 00

  Three days after Ashley's murder, she, you know, the good old God fearing Aaliyah is searching up homicides in America that still remain unsolved, more recent homicides in America that still remain unsolved, as well as she Googles her own name, Aaliyah Botner, and then Ashley's name, Ashley Flynn.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  That's some weird searches. What is that even going to tell you?

• 31:04Speaker 00

  Now, I will say she does have an alibi for that night in terms of her phone never, she was house-sitting, the main pastor's house. So she's house-sitting, Ring Doorbell camera from the house across from the pastor's house shows her pulling up into the garage, parking her car, getting out and going into the residence. And then it doesn't show her leaving until the next morning. But that doesn't mean that she could have left on foot, that she could have done other things. She's just not caught on camera leaving. And again, that could have meant that she very much is just house-sitting. Her data on her phone indicates that she was likely in the house, or at least her phone was in the house the whole night. So there's a lot of those. And also it just, there's not a lot of feasible ways netizens can speculate on how she would get from that house to the Flynn residence and then dispose of the gun and then come

• 31:49Speaker 00

  back. It just seems not plausible. So I think a lot of netizens, if they do believe that Aaliyah was involved to some extent, most of them believe that she knew what his plans were, rather than she carried it out, or she was there, or she helped. More so, they speculate that she could have known and could have encouraged the follow-through of the plans. But that again, is still just speculation. She has not been charged or convicted of any such crime.

• 32:16Speaker 01

  But I mean, they've been saying wanting to kill her for two years. Kill her, do this, do that. I can't wait for you to do this and do that for two years.

• 32:24Speaker 00

  I also just don't know how the, remember the case of Michelle who encouraged her boyfriend to self-exit? And those were through text messages. I just don't see how this is also not similar in the sense of you're encouraging someone's death.

• 32:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:41Speaker 00

  And ultimately, when someone does kill that person, does that not, it's just interesting how the law is applied in certain situations. And some people say that her phone being at the pastor's house means nothing because she has a burner phone and the police never took her burner phone. And she admits that she has a burner phone, so. And even the night before Ashley is killed, Aaliyah tells Caleb that there's still time to change his mind. And he says, only chance I change my mind is if you directly tell me not to do it. Aaliyah responds, well, that won't be happening. I'm completely choosing selflessness in this situation. She means selflessness, not selfishness.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  What?

• 33:20Speaker 00

  He's like, tell me not to do it. And she's like, no, I can't because I'm so selfless. She says, as long as you've never been more sure of anything in your life, I think we've got everything covered. And again, she says that she thought that he was just talking about a regular divorce, not murder. He texts her the night before, it's kind of crazy, I'm not scared, I'm not scared tomorrow. I mean, I'm not looking forward to it and it's about to be a crap fest here moving forward, but I'm not scared of it. I'm terrified, your heart has moved on. I'm terrified, you don't want this. And it's even crazier because the night before all of this, like Caleb is plotting his wife's murder and he's so upset because Aaliyah informs him that she might be going on a date with another guy, which I don't even think that there's another date.

• 34:03Speaker 00

  I mean, this seems like something Aaliyah does, which is, oh, you don't love me enough to leave your wife and ruin your family, so I'm gonna go meet some young guys and go on a date, even though I'm not gonna enjoy it, but I have to do this for myself, I have to move on because you're never gonna divorce your wife for me. Yeah, so she was doing the same thing again.

• 34:22Speaker 01

  Okay, so to clarify, they're saying that that night, the night of the murder, the conversation was, he's going to divorce the wife tomorrow.

• 34:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, and this time he informed her that he has meetings set up, so he has a timeframe that he's gonna go see Ashley's parents. And then he's actually gonna talk to the pastor of the church as well as other people. And she confirmed that I think they were gonna all talk or something.

• 34:44Speaker 01

  But then she wants to go on a date?

• 34:46Speaker 00

  Yes, so she was saying like, even if you leave your wife, just know that you're doing this for you, so that you can be free. And there's still a chance for us, but I still agree to this date later in March. Girl is weird, yeah, the girl is weird.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 35:01Speaker 00

  And then Caleb tells her not to text first tomorrow, so, because it's gonna be a mess tomorrow. February 16th, 2026, Aaliyah texts Caleb, hey, I know you said not to text first, but real quick, when you get the burner, you'll have to text this number. I can only receive iMessages with my old number. Let me know when you receive this, I won't text on here anymore. Then another message later, she says, Caleb, I just saw the news, someone told me to pray for Mrs. Flynn, what is going on right now? Were you behind this? What is going on? Is this real? The prosecutors ask, what did you think by this time? What did you do at this time? She says, my heart started pounding and in my mind, it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he's divorcing her, she's dead all of a sudden. I think I called my boss and I asked him if he's heard about it. He said he was at the Smiths, Ashley's parents' house, along with the other staff, and that I should come over there.

• 35:44Speaker 01

  Oh, that's the part that they're all in the same house with the hug?

• 35:49Speaker 00

  And she's asked, like, why did you go over there? Because like, you knew what you were doing when you went over there. That's, like, you're the homewrecker and now Ashley Flynn, the wife, is dead? And you're gonna go to her parents' house at such a vulnerable time for her family? Aaliyah's great response is, because I didn't wanna look suspicious and because my boss asked me to come over, I didn't want anything to just, I just wanted to act as normal as possible, act like an affair didn't happen, act like, you know, we're living life as if it didn't happen and that's what I would have done if the affair didn't happen. At the time, were you suspicious of Caleb? I was. And you still went to the Smiths' house. I wanted to believe he didn't do it, but yes, I did go. And then for days after, you didn't tell anybody your suspicions? No.

• 36:32Speaker 01

  Are they continue talking?

• 36:33Speaker 00

  No.

• 36:34Speaker 01

  That was the last message she ever sent.

• 36:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, it appears so. And just to bring it home, the defense focuses on their line of questioning for Aaliyah, saying, did law enforcement ever search your apartment? No. Did they search your vehicle? No. Did they ever collect your DNA? No. Did they ever collect your fingerprints? No. Up to today, have you had any charges related to Ashley's murder? No. And have you been promised anything by the prosecutor? Never. In exchange for your testimony today? No. Not only that, it is believed that Caleb, um, gave his kids a lot of over-the-counter cough medicine, such as NyQuil, to put them to sleep that night. Grandma Jill, Ashley's mom, when she came to pick up the kids that night after finding out her daughter was killed, she said that the girls were zonked, like, they were so

• 37:21Speaker 00

  out of it.

• 37:22Speaker 01

  That's why they're sleeping through the noise.

• 37:25Speaker 00

  And then at one point, right before the girls were gonna meet up with child services, Jill remembers that Caleb had taken them on a walk and then they came back and they were just acting weird and nervous. So she asked one of the daughters, like, what's happening? And they had a conversation, they cannot be disclosed in court, but eventually that led to Grandma Jill going up to Caleb and saying, she's afraid to tell the truth, tell her to tell the truth. And Caleb was just like, of course you're supposed to tell the truth, but it just indicates that, you know, just indicates something weird, whether he told them not to tell about the NyQuil or potential NyQuil that he could have given them, or what have you.

• 38:06Speaker 00

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• 42:26Speaker 00

  Caleb is found guilty. During sentencing, he stands and sobs while giving his statement. First and foremost, my daughters, I don't know if they'll be able to hear this, but I want to say regardless, I love you with absolutely everything inside of me. He says, I have so many thoughts and dreams of raising you and seeing you all grow up to be mighty women of God, but unfortunately I can't, I can't. I want to be there for your most important moments and for that, I'm sorry. There's so much I wish I could be there for and so my heart breaks knowing I can't, but please know, I dearly love you both. I miss you more than you ever know. He gives, says a lengthy thank you to his parents who are supporting him throughout all of this. He thanks his brother. And then he addresses Ashley's family and says, Todd, Jill and Kayla, Ashley's sister, and our extended family, I made vows to Ashley on our wedding day.

• 43:10Speaker 00

  I failed those vows and through my decisions, I have caused you guys incredible amounts of pain. I cannot apologize enough. You heard awful and hurtful things I said. I'm so incredibly sorry, as horrible as those things were. I want you to know, whether you believe it or not, I did not mean them. I do not hate you. I love you. I take complete accountability and responsibility for my words and my decisions. And again, I'm so, so sorry. What I am ashamed of most and I regret most of all is the awful things I said about Ashley. I loved her and I love her. She was my wife. She was beautiful and amazing in countless ways. Lastly, I've unfortunately lied about a lot of things over the last couple of years. But as I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge, I am not quiet when I say I did not kill my wife. I will continue to fight for my innocence as long as the Lord allows me to, as I did

• 43:55Speaker 00

  not kill my wife. Jesus, I love you. I acknowledge you as my Lord and Savior of my life. I trust you. The family gave statements and then read out statements prepared by Ashley's daughters. Ava's reads, in short, dear daddy, I don't even know where to start. How could you do such a thing? I looked up to you. I loved you with all my heart and then you lied to everyone. Mommy was the perfect person, the absolute perfect person. What did she ever do to make you hate her so much? She loved you and she cared for you. She took care of you. She loved you with all her heart. She was my best friend. And then you chose to kill the only mother I ever had. How would you cheat on her and go to that awful girl named Aleah? I never liked her. She was just a girl who put on a microphone to her mouth and she spoke words with a tune.

• 44:40Speaker 00

  Mommy may not have been a professional singer, but she had the voice of an angel and she was an angel. I've seen images, pictures and videos of you everywhere on YouTube. My heart aches to see you hurt, but then I think it was your choice. It was your choice to have an affair. It was your choice to go off with that dirty girl. It was your choice to leave the perfect woman, Ashley. It was your choice to lie to everyone. It was your choice to kill the only mother I have ever had. Then the letter from his other daughter, Alyssa, reads, dear Caleb, this is your daughter, Alyssa. I loved you deeply with all my heart and it's sad that you can't love anyone but yourself. You've already caused so much pain to your family and the world. The least you could do is tell everyone you did it and receive your outcome. By the way, Ashley Flynn was the best thing that ever happened to you. You had the best life ever and you decided to throw it away for a girl who was half your age.

• 45:25Speaker 00

  You made me feel like an idiot thinking that I could trust you, but God had been working through me and I've changed. Also, our family has never been stronger and through all of what you put me through, God is going to work something out for good. And by the way, I don't plan on coming to see you. Alyssa. Caleb Flynn has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And that is where I leave you with this case. People still have some unanswered questions. Some netizens are curious to see if Alyssa will ever be investigated and cleared or charged. And some others are just confused at how this happened.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  How was his, um, I mean, his?

• 46:05Speaker 00

  Performance? Yeah, he was sobbing.

• 46:06Speaker 01

  When he was saying that, um, I did not this and that.

• 46:09Speaker 00

  Sobbing. It was actually pretty good, to the point where I saw TikTok comments going, now I'm confused.

• 46:16Speaker 01

  Really?

• 46:16Speaker 00

  Yeah. But I, I mean, like if you watch the whole trial, you're like, it's not confusing, but if you only saw that, maybe.

• 46:24Speaker 01

  Right. And do you think that played a role in he's, him getting life without parole? Like the fact that he's saying, standing there saying, I did not do this.

• 46:34Speaker 00

  I think so.

• 46:35Speaker 01

  After the whole trial, you know?

• 46:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  Versus a lot of time, people are like, okay.

• 46:39Speaker 00

  I admit, evermore.

• 46:40Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly. I'll be a better man.

• 46:42Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah, usually the judges don't like that, which is like a double-edged sword for people who are actually innocent. But it's just, I mean, I think everything, the text message has also played a big role. I also think the daughter's victim impact statements. And even, um, Ashley's sister, which she forgives Caleb because that is of her faith. She doesn't like him. She forgives him because for her not to forgive, she believes would keep bitterness in her heart. However, she did ask the judge for life without parole because they're just scared. Everyone's scared, you know? And also for the girls that they're raising.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  How was the parents? Did they give a statement?

• 47:21Speaker 00

  No, they did not, but they remained strong throughout the entire trial. And it's just, they just seem like such good people. Caleb's parents are adamant that he's innocent, so yeah. But netizens, I mean, after the conclusion of the trial, throughout the trial, there was a lot more conversation about what ifs and how someone could do such a thing. But at the end, I think people were getting closure in their own way of a case that they're not related to, which some people are just commenting things like, all that forehead and it never crossed his mind that he was disgustingly twisted. Another person commented during the sentencing, why the long head, Caleb?

• 48:01Speaker 01

  And then what's the update on the mistress?

• 48:03Speaker 00

  She's working for some other church, like religious company, but she's, she moved to, I think, North Carolina.

• 48:09Speaker 01

  Oh, that's crazy.

• 48:11Speaker 00

  There's no open investigation to her that we know of. There's no, I mean, the case is pretty much concluded. I don't see anyone involved. I don't see like the victim's family members demanding an investigation into her as of now.

• 48:23Speaker 01

  I mean, to be, to still be working in the church is pretty crazy.

• 48:28Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 48:30Speaker 00

  What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Stay safe and I will see you in the next one. Bye.

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