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Amy Robach
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Bowen Yang
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Amy Robach
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TJ Holmes
Hey there, folks. It is Saturday, February 21, and it wasn't too terribly long ago he was auditioning on American Idiot Idol in front of the likes of Keith Urban and Mariah Carey. This morning, he sits in jail accused of shooting and killing his wife. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. The headlines are everywhere about a American Idol contestant being charged with the killing of his wife. I think Robes, some of the details in his background make some of this a little more shocking at this point.
Amy Robach
Yes, he was a music pastor. He spoke as a contestant on American Idol of his love of the Lord and his love of his wife Ashley. So, yes, if anyone was familiar with him now, he made it to Hollywood. He had the golden ticket to Hollywood week. And that's an exciting week. But most of the people get cut and he was among the folks who got cut. So it wasn't as if we followed his story to the end. But certainly there's.
TJ Holmes
He wasn't a finalist. Yes. We need to be clear. He was not that guy waiting for his name to be called.
Amy Robach
Right? Correct. Correct.
TJ Holmes
He wasn't that. But he made an impression on this season.
Amy Robach
He certainly did. And this was somebody. If you watched season 12 of American Idol, you will remember Caleb Flynn. And he was this sweet kid from Ohio who had a wife who he loved, who loved the Lord and loved music. And it just seemed like this wholesome, churchgoing Midwestern young man.
TJ Holmes
Yeah. Somebody almost so innocent you just wanted to root for. See.
Amy Robach
Exactly.
TJ Holmes
Seem like a good kid. Well, that good kid is 39 years old now and is sitting in jail. We are talking about former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn is the name. He has now been charged in the shooting death of his wife Ashley, who's 37 years old. Police say he called 911 to report that someone had broken into their home and tried then to pin the murder on that intruder. Flynn is accused of staging the crime scene and is facing charges as such. Robes, this happened earlier in the week. The death was February 16, but he was just arrested, charged, made a a court appearance yesterday, has pleaded not guilty. But Robes a part of this story and a big part of it is that 911 call. It is an extended 911 call. We will play it for you here in just a moment. A portion of it. But Robe the 911 call and we've watched a lot of true crime and quite frankly, it comes up A lot hearing people in these 911 calls who end up being the actual perpetrator.
Amy Robach
Correct. So now that we know he's been arrested and charged and of course he has pleaded not guilty, so we'll point out that he is innocent until proven guilty. But when you hear the 911 call, you start to listen to it through that lens, knowing he's now been arrested and charged with his wife's murder. But his voice goes up at least three octaves to the point where the 911 operator refers to him as ma' am several times. So look, now you could possibly hear this as somebody who is pretending, who is feigning. Maybe he is upset. Obviously this is a traumatic event. Even if he did cause it, he is sobbing is his, like I said, his voice is like this and he's panicked and he's just saying all these things and he seems like he's befuddled and doesn't know what to do. But yeah, it's just fascinating. It's an 8 minute long 911 call.
TJ Holmes
But I mean you never know how someone will react in those moments.
Bowen Yang
Right.
TJ Holmes
If you're, if you take him at his word and somebody broke in and his wife has been shot and killed and she's bleeding in front of him, who knows how 1. So we would react. So we always want to leave room for that possibility. We have just seen so many of these cases now we have the police themselves saying that what we're about to play for you and this 911 call is essentially fake and he is putting on and putting on a performance. And when you hear the police tell you that, then you start listening to it.
Bowen Yang
You do.
TJ Holmes
It gets in your mind as a little performative.
Amy Robach
Yes. And then also he's accused of staging this crime scene to make it look as if an intruder broke in. There were signs of forced entry. And you can hear him on the 911 call when police arrive. The first thing he's saying is, see, there was an open door. There was an open door from the garage and I was with the kids and I was sleeping in the kids room and woke up and you can hear him already setting up a defense or setting up the scene to, you know, I just thought that was interesting. He was immediately talking about the open door with, in the garage. And also just look, we again, we watched so many of these true crime stories. We've covered enough of real crime to know that it's highly unusual for someone to break into a home, come in, just shoot one person, leave Three other people alive. Take nothing or. And then just leave. It makes zero sense.
TJ Holmes
And the other thing we always hear as well, Robes. Nobody breaks into a home and takes out who is not the biggest threat. You don't go in and go after the woman. Right. She's not. We hear that so many times. That's so much about police work and them seeing this scene and fairly quickly thought it did not look right. This was again on February 16th. So that was Monday, if I have that correct. Robes. But it took them until Thursday, late Thursday. And then Friday he had his court appearance. The church charges. Here we are talking about four counts, two counts of tampering with evidence and then two counts of felonious assault having to do with shooting and killing his wife with a 9 millimeter handgun. This is part. Just play about 45 seconds to a minute of it. Part of the 911 call. This is Caleb Flynn, 39 years old, former American Idol contestant, calling 911 this week on Monday reporting that his wife had been shot by an intruder.
Bowen Yang
Miami County 911. Oh, my God. Somebody. Somebody broke into my home. Somebody broke in my home and I got my wife. Are they still in there?
TJ Holmes
I don't know. I don't know. Hey, what's the address? Please, please, please, please. What are you seeing? My wife is. She's got two shots to her hands. Oh, my God.
Bowen Yang
Oh, my God.
TJ Holmes
Oh, my God. I need you to take a deep breath, okay?
Amy Robach
Do you still see anybody in the house?
TJ Holmes
No. The door to the garage is wide open. Please hurry. Please.
Bowen Yang
Oh, my God.
TJ Holmes
Oh, my God. And there you have it. And it goes on. How long did you say? Fully eight minutes. Eight minutes with this back and forth. Now, of course it's a lot of information that the 911 operator is trying to get and direct police so that they're going to a what they think is a dangerous scene. Somebody with a gun. This 911 dispatch was asking a lot of questions. Who's where, what room, doing what they're supposed to do.
Amy Robach
Yes. And I thought it was interesting. The 911 operator kept asking about the children. And he was just glossing over it, saying they're fine. He's like, but if there's an intruder in your house. Have you checked on the children? No, I haven't. That makes no sense. You know that if an intruder was in your house and you saw your wife was shot in the head twice, which is what I believe he said and was white as a ghost. I believe he told the 911 operator as well. You. Then the next thing you do is run to your children. You rush to them to make sure they're okay. And then you barricade yourself in the room with your children. And yes, you feel terrible for your wife, but that is what you would do.
TJ Holmes
Again, we always try to leave room robes for. I've never been in that position. Who knows how people react? But as a parent, that your first thought is protection of the babies.
Amy Robach
If there's an intruder, you just do.
TJ Holmes
And for him to say, well, and you listen to more of it than I did. I don't know where the kids are.
Amy Robach
No, he just said, they're in their room, they're fine. He was like, but have you checked on them? And he said, no. And that makes zero sense. Of course you would check on your kids. If you find your wife shot and there is an intruder and there is a door open, there could be a man in your home. You would grab a knife. You would be going from room to room. You would get the kids behind you. You would wake them up. You would say, you have to be on guard. There's someone in the home. I mean, I just. I'm sorry, you're right. You don't know what you would do. But I would think that is what I would do.
TJ Holmes
But that's also Robes. To your point here, your thinking is the same thinking that police have and going, wait a minute, this doesn't sound right. So it's not just you. It's police investigative and almost commonsensical robes that the reaction didn't seem to fit. So the police criminal complaint is out there now. And this is the word, this is how they put it in the criminal complaint is that he had purpose to mislead a public official with purpose to corrupt the outcome of any such proceeding or investigation. Officers were led astray by the staging of the crime scene. Now, Robes, they didn't go as far as saying exactly, at least in the criminal complaint, what he had done, but they are laying out and he is facing these two counts. And what in the world. It seems like we've seen a lot of these stories lately where people try to cover up their tracks in some way with some kind of elaborate ruse about this fake intruder. And this guy came into the house. And this is another one of these scenarios that seem to never work.
Amy Robach
It doesn't. I don't know if people are watching crime shows and somehow think that they're smart enough to get away with it or I don't know if this was A premeditated act. If this was some, you know, crime of passion or some angry argument that erupted into the unthinkable and then he tried to cover his tracks after the fact, I mean, it's hard to know. But yes, we've covered enough trials where we see people come up with just about anything under the sun, and it never works. Because if it doesn't make sense, if it doesn't make common sense, the jury's never going to buy it.
TJ Holmes
You know, you said some, and we've. I think the opposite. If you watch a true crime show, you know you're not going to get away with murder. So you said, has he been watching and thinking maybe he can't? No, he must have never watched a true crime show. Probes.
Amy Robach
This doesn't always get caught.
TJ Holmes
And we have to keep saying he has pled not guilty and this is an innocent man. As we speak. Speak. We are telling you what police are right now saying. And they're saying this is not an innocent man. And they're saying there is not a burglar out there. And they're saying that 911 call is total BS. But from the other side, Caleb Flynn is speaking through his attorney, at least. Curious what you make of this statement here. There's a. There's a lot to. A short statement, but a lot to. I hate to say it.
Amy Robach
Yes, this is the statement from Flynn's lawyer. Looks that Flynn looks forward to defending this case. We are both disappointed and concerned about the short timeline and seeming to rush to judgment in this case when the government runs out of leads or can't develop leads and looks at a surviving spouse. In cases such as these, the change chance, the chance of a wrongful conviction increases. So they're just basically saying, well, you just assumed it's the spouse because that's what police do. They have tunnel vision. They don't consider other suspects. They just look squarely at the spouse and look. That is true. You are the first person, the last person to see someone alive. We've talked about this in other cases. In the Guthrie case as well. That is good police work. You have to rule people out, exclude them.
TJ Holmes
Yes.
Amy Robach
And yes, continue to cast a wide net. And I'm sure the police considered the intruder theory, but obviously they. And it seems like, look, they didn't arrest him on the spot. They took. What. What did you say? Three days, four days.
TJ Holmes
But the suggestion here is that they ran out of leads and then had to come this way.
Amy Robach
That doesn't. That doesn't seem what that isn't. That doesn't reflect what we typically see in investigations. If they don't have a suspect, they don't arrest anyone.
TJ Holmes
Let's just go with this guy is
Amy Robach
what they're seems like the obvious choice. Let's just take him.
TJ Holmes
But folks, stay here. The other part of this story, yes, you have headlines related to American Idol, but during that course of him being on the show, he had to do, of course, several segments and several interviews. And in those interviews, he spoke highly about two people in particular that have guided him through his life and through his musical journey. Jesus and his now deceased wife. Stay here.
Bowen Yang
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TJ Holmes
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Amy Robach
I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist. I insisted first. Don't be silly. You don't be silly.
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Amy Robach
Rock, paper scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.
TJ Holmes
No, the Wells Fargo active cash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash terms apply. All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ with the developing story. Just yesterday in court. Former American idol contestant Caleb Flynn, who competed on season 12, made it to Hollywood out of the Chicago area. He is from Tipton. No, excuse me, Tip City is it called?
Amy Robach
It's called. You know what, it's in Ohio.
TJ Holmes
It's right outside of Dayton, but it's called Tip City, Ohio. It's right outside of. Outside of Dayton. But he drove to Chicago to do his audition. So he made it to Hollywood at that what they call the golden ticket or whatever that gets you to Hollywood. He was one of those guys. Now Robes is a part of that. His whole family went with him to this thing. It was a big event. Including with him was his wife Ashley who of course was killed this week. Shot and killed. He has been charged in her death. Robes, during his segment in which they introduced these contestants to the. To the viewers, he had a lot to say. And this is the where you get an idea of his personality. His background seemed like innocent young kids. Right time of their lives. He spoke very highly Robes about the Lord and, and about his wife Ashley.
Amy Robach
Yes. He said music is all I know. It's what I do. It's what I love to do. I love to sing. And then in terms of why he came to audition to American Idol, he said, well, maybe my wife kind of nudged me a little bit. And when asked about who inspires him to perform, he said, I guess I would say the Lord. I'm a music pastor, so it's my job every week to go up there and to sing and connect what I do on stage with the congregation. But then he added, I absolutely love my wife more than anything. She's very, very pretty. I love her.
TJ Holmes
No, he, I mean, taking the recent events this week out of the picture and just looking at that just in its former context, seem like sweet kids.
Amy Robach
It seemed like sweet kids who. Yes. Met at a young age, got married young, and they're just in love and each other's person. Yes. And he even talked about how Carrie Underwood was his favorite former American Idol. And he added, I promise you, if my wife died her hair blonde, she'd look just like her. And that was a little creepy. But, yes, I mean, maybe he has a type and he fell in love with Ashley and also just kept a little flame burning for Carrie Underwood as well. But, and in terms of who Ashley is, Ashley is, you mentioned she's 37 years old. She's a middle school girls volleyball coach and, and a substitute teacher. Just, you know, you're, you're. And I saw the outside of their house with the crime scene tape. Now, it's a sweet middle America suburban home. You've got a young couple, I guess they're in their late 30s with two kids. And yes, it looks idyllic. It looks like they have a sweet, happy, safe, comfortable life.
TJ Holmes
And if we do the Math, that season was 2013ish. So if we go back 13 years, they would have been 26, 24 in that area. They were very, very young and getting starting in their life and their love and their careers. And this is the guy who grew up in the church. His parents ran a church in the area there in Ohio. He is a church kid and robes. Who knows what has taken place. And he might be completely innocent of this. Might be. But at this point and right now, authorities don't think he is.
Amy Robach
Oof. It's tough. They were married, it says here, for more than 15 years. They met at Lee University in Tennessee. So these were college sweethearts and they had two daughters. They have two daughters and those poor little girls. Right now, mom is dead and dad is behind bars charged with her murder. And I feel like we've done so many of these stories recently. It's just so incredibly sad.
TJ Holmes
Yeah. We at the victims in these stories. Right. It goes way beyond the person who may be deceased but there are two other victims who have lost their mom and quite frankly might lose their dad for the rest of the of their lives depending on how this goes. Keep saying ropes. He's innocent. Innocent man. He's an innocent man right now. But Caleb Flynn is in jail right now facing a two million dollar bond. Ropes. He has a court appearance well next week, is it right?
Amy Robach
Another court appearance. Yes. And he his big plea to the judge to get out or to have bond set at a reasonable limit so that he could get out. He said his two daughters, he said I need to be their dad right now. But I'm sure the family of Ashley Flynn probably thinks otherwise.
TJ Holmes
We'll keep an eye on this one, folks. We always appreciate you spending some time with us as always, top right corner of your Apple podcast app where you see our show page. There's a button there that says follow. Click that and you can make sure you subscribe and always get our updates coming to you. And of course, as we always say, there have been aplenty as of late. But we appreciate you as always hanging with us. I'm TJ Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robach.
Bowen Yang
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Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Episode: Former American Idol Contestant Charged With Murdering His Wife
Date: February 21, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts
In this gripping episode, hosts Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes break down the headline-making case of Caleb Flynn, a former American Idol contestant and music pastor, who has been charged with murdering his wife, Ashley. The hosts discuss Flynn's background, details of the crime, the police investigation, and dissect the much-talked-about 911 call. Drawing on their extensive true crime coverage, Amy and T.J. scrutinize the circumstances, speculate on possible motives, and emphasize the tragedy's impact on the family—especially Flynn’s two young daughters.
Key Quote:
“You don't know what you would do. But I would think that is what I would do.” – Amy Robach on natural parental instincts in emergencies (10:14)
911 Call Excerpt:
On the wholesome image vs. the alleged crime:
“Somebody almost so innocent you just wanted to root for. Seem like a good kid. Well, that good kid is 39 years old now and is sitting in jail.” – TJ Holmes (04:10)
On the 911 call as a performance:
“When you hear the police tell you that, then you start listening to it. It gets in your mind as a little performative.” – TJ Holmes (06:37)
Amy challenging Flynn’s conduct:
“No, he just said, they're in their room, they're fine. But have you checked on them? And he said, no. That makes zero sense.” – Amy Robach (10:14)
On the defense's critique of the investigation:
“They're just basically saying, well, you just assumed it's the spouse because that's what police do. They have tunnel vision. They don't consider other suspects.” – Amy Robach (12:54)
On the enduring sadness:
“And I feel like we've done so many of these stories recently. It's just so incredibly sad.” – Amy Robach (21:10)
The episode is marked by the hosts’ signature blend of journalistic detachment and empathetic curiosity. Amy brings a critical, almost prosecutorial engagement with the facts, especially regarding parental instincts and inconsistencies, while T.J. offers more circumspection and cautions against jumping to conclusions before guilt is proven. The tone is conversational but incisive, with both hosts drawing on experience covering similar cases.
This episode delivers a compelling true crime narrative by drawing connections between pop culture, small-town community, and the tragic realities of domestic violence. Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes leave listeners with lingering questions about motive, deception, and the broader ripple effects on all involved, particularly highlighting the often-overlooked suffering of the children left behind.