Pastor’s Mistress UNDER FIRE in Wife’s Murder Trial

[MUSIC] Stunning testimony today in the trial of Caleb Flint. His mistress takes the stand. The woman he allegedly exchanged more than 100,000 messages with and had an affair that lasted up until the death of his wife. >> How often would he make statements about wanting Ashley to die? [MUSIC] That's probably at least once in a while. >> He tried what he said when he was stating things about wanting Ashley to die. >> Yes, he said that he wishes he could kill her and not go to jail or get arrested against after what he said, that he would do it. You will hear some of the nasty things they said about Ashley Flynn and what Caleb Flint told his mistress allegedly just hours before his wife was shot to death. We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. [MUSIC] This testimony was about as intense as I can remember. Alia Botner, the mistress, the person who we have heard so much about in this trial took the stand. And she is talking about the affair that she had with Caleb Flint and a fair that went on for more than a year leading up to when Caleb Flint allegedly murdered his wife. She told the jury that she hates Caleb Flint. And not only that, she point blank said she believes that Caleb Flint murdered his wife. How would you describe your feelings for the defendant today? >> I hate him. >> Have you ever felt differently about him? >> Yes. >> When? And how did you feel? >> We were in our relationship and I thought I felt this in love. >> Why the change from love to hate? >> Because I believe that you had this right. >> Prosecutors say, Alia Botner, who worked at the church with Caleb Flint. She was just 21 when they met, she says, he was 37 at the time. And they exchanged for more than a year, more than 100,000 messages, which averaged out to like 300 a day. This was all leading up to when Ashley Flynn lost her life on February 16th of this year. And this mistress, Alia Botner gave jurors an inside look at what this relationship was. This affair and what Caleb Flint had to say about his marriage. You remember Caleb's in-laws talking about how the marriage seemed fine. Ashley's mom said there might have been something off, but she could never put a finger on it. Well, Caleb Flint to his mistress was not hiding apparently how he felt about Ashley Flynn and her family. Because Alia Botner says that Caleb Flint told her that he hated Ashley. He wanted her dead. He also hated her extended family, including his in-laws who testified yesterday about how much they loved and trusted Caleb Flint. So I'm as a member of the family gave him a job that made $200,000 a year. Now prosecutors have pointed to messages in which Caleb Flynn allegedly told Alia Botner that he would kill his wife. But this relationship, it was about much more than just text messages. That is a huge part of it, the digital evidence in this case. Alia Botner testified that she and Caleb Flynn became romantically involved and they even got matching tattoos. So let's get into this testimony and it was intense and Caleb Flynn for as much as we have seen him in tears during emotional testimony in this case. He was as stone faced as I've seen him during Alia Botner's testimony. He kind of stared straight ahead, looked down a little bit. When she entered the room, he just looked straight ahead, no eye contact. Now these two, Alia Botner and Caleb Flynn, they were sending hundreds of text messages every day. And when Botner got on the stand, of course, the question is how did he even get to this point? How did it begin? And she said it started professional. They both worked at the church. They were on this worship team that would produce the music it seems for this church. They would sing together in the church band, but then things turned personal when she became single in January of 2024. And then they start getting together a little bit more in March of 2024, and Caleb starts talking about his wife. When did your relationship become physical beyond hugs? Yeah, so towards the end of that month, Caleb expressed really a feeling for me. And he said that the reason why he thinks it's okay to have those feelings is because his wife cheated on him. Two years before 2024, he told me that she cheated on him, and he told me that he only sees her as a roommate. That the only time that I would talk is from picking the girls up from school, dropping them off. He told me that he hates her. He told me the only reason why he still looked her is because of the girls. And then he lost his chance to divorce her because it's already been two years since it's happened, and who's being held up. And this was a jaw dropper because this was not just an affair in terms of intimacy, and that's a big part of it. They got matching tattoos. What did the two of you do together and pick one at tattoo parlor? We got matching tattoos. What's the meaning behind the tattoo? When we first came March of 2024, when we first came on, we were texting every day that month. One of the first things that we bonded over was Harry Potter, so we got a light evil. Where's your tattoo located? On my arm. Did you show the blazing time when you drew your tattoo? A really tough part of the testimony to hear, and it's all very difficult and very disturbing, especially when you think of why we're here and why we're talking about this because of what happened to Ashley Flynn. Boughtner testified about names that Caleb used for Ashley, and these were not nice names. I want you to remember, these are people who are devout Christians, and Boughtner would say they would call Ashley Flynn, quote, the spawn of Satan. And Boughtner says that Caleb would talk about things that he wanted to happen to Ashley Flynn. What names would he use to refer to Ashley? When we first met, he said that she wasn't worthy of being called her first name, so he said that we're going to refer to her and stitch back. What other names would he use to refer to her? The what, I'm sorry? The B work. What word is that? What else? The color of a ****. Slut. Spawn of Satan. How often would he make statements about wanting Ashley to die? That's probably at least once a month. He described what he said when he was stating things about wanting Ashley to die. Yes, he said that he wishes he, if he could kill her and not go to jail, or get arrested if he gets out to what he said, that he would do it. When's the first time you were called by making a statement like that? I think it was the end of last year, after the fact that they were on their cruise. When was the cruise? August, I lost you. How did defendant statements about wanting Ashley to die continue over time? They definitely continued. And it seemed like when he would say it, it just got worse than when he would say it. If I could kill her and not go to jail, I would. Bonner says those statements didn't stay the same. The statement's actually escalated. It wasn't just, "Oh, I would kill her." She says that he would talk about ways that he would kill Ashley Flynn. The state continued to ask questions about the messages themselves because, apparently, and this is a big part of this story. The secrecy surrounding all of this, Bonner says they would not just use regular text messaging. Why would you switch messaging applications? I can't clearly remember why we switched from WhatsApp to scrutiny, but I do remember why we used WhatsApp. I think that was when she found our messages, and we kind of, I think, would just break down and we went to two different platforms that seemed more protected. I think he had a pickable group chat on there, so it was more justified if he was on-grouping. How many messages were exchanged in that year between? you in the defendant. Proximum. Around 100 percent. Very say, that's almost 300 messages a day on average. Yes. How much time would you guess you invested into exchanging messages of the defendant on an everyday basis? That's constantly fixing. And it wasn't just tax messages. A very damning moment for the defense was when the state played an audio message for the jury. Botner says that Caleb sent her this message when he was at an Ohio State football game and it was about a cruise that he had gone on to celebrate his 15th wedding anniversary with Ashley Flynn. And Botner wasn't happy that Caleb went on this cruise because he was telling her that he loved her and that he hated his marriage. It was wrong for hurting you. And I'm really crying in front of thousands of people that I don't care. I'm sorry for hurting you. I know I yet again have made things worse. It only comes out of just sheer absolute massive love for you. But until I can be released from her, I know that you do not have to do anything. And so, I'm sorry. I'm going to text this to you and then I promise I'll delete everything. We may take a lot to go through just because it's a service here. But I do love you. And, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. So, hope you have a great service. And I love you. I love you very, very, very much. I want to see it. So, I'm sorry that my absolute desire and my compassion for you causes me just to lose it. Did there come a time when you had been a defendant discussed deleting messages and other data? Yes. When did those discussions begin? We were deleting messages from the very beginning of our relationship. When did you advise the defendant on how to delete data from his devices? I was told to tell you, one of them made me live before Ashley was murdered. You have a discussion about the iPad after Ashley discovered that picture of the ring on your finger? Yes, he did a factory reset on the iPad. I remember him telling me two or three times that he looked through her phone to see if she had any screenshots of the messages that she had found on the iPad. And what did he tell you? He was told to tell me that she was dead. giving him dates, telling him if he didn't leave Ashley, she was moving on for good. And when Caleb didn't reportedly meet those deadlines, she stopped talking to him. But he reached out, and this is what she says he sent her. And so I told him, if you don't, we provide a specific date, then I can't do this anymore. I can't be a primary man anymore. And he would get to that date, and it would happen. Because he said he has all hurt his girls. Did he ever meet any of those deadlines? After January 11, 2026, how long did you go without communicating with the defendant? until February 14th. How often did he reach out to you with no response from you during that time? Two or three times. What would he say when he would contact you? He sent me a song that he wrote for me with all the lyrics. said love had a limit said love is not that clean, it was just you were always my love of life once in a lifetime. >> Here it says, it says, "You know what I'm saying." Life is now engaged since the moment I lost you. This is after we ended. Then she told the jury about Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2026. This is the Saturday before Ashley was killed just two days before she was killed in the early morning hours of February 16th. Botaner says she was at church. She says that Caleb Flynn pulled her aside. He told her that he was finally free of Ashley and that he was actually leaving her this time. He already told Ashley he wanted a divorce, but Botaner told him she didn't believe him. Then the state asked her about the plan because Botaner told the jury. Caleb walked her through exactly what he said. He was going to do on February 16th. He told me he was going to divorce actually on February 16th. And he was walking through the steps of what he was going to do in the morning. And he told me that he actually was going to do it this time. His actions were proof. Who is he going to talk to in the morning? He was going to talk to Tom Gill, tell him what's happening. He was going to talk to his girls. He was going to call Dave from the DM effect, which was my last sound. He was going to call him and ask him for a job. He was going to contact Botaner to be booked that day. And he was going to send him about all the stuff. When did he tell you he was going to talk to the Smith? First thing in the morning of February 16th. Guys, real quick, we have a ton of material on this case. We've covered it from the very beginning. Head over to longcrimeplus.com. There you can see some of the evidence that's been presented at this trial. The Bodycam video, the 911 call and use promo code OTC fall. That will get you 50% off your first three months at longcrimeplus.com. You can go through the case file section and see everything we have on Caleb Flint. And then the state asked her about the last messages they exchanged. The night before Ashley was killed. What statements did the defendant make about protecting you? I asked him through this divorce. Does that all cost just by asking to protect me? Because I didn't always my job. And I didn't want the affair to be found out. So he said that he would protect me at all costs through this. What statements did he make about February 16th, 2026? He said it will be a day I never forget. Did he say it's happening? He said it's happening the divorce. Did he say action will come tomorrow? Yes. What time did your communications with the defendant end on the night of February 15th, 2026? It was 12 something a year. What was the last thing he said to you that night? I think it was something like good night tomorrow's a big day. Do you remember him saying I choose you? Yes. And about to be free? Yes. How could you be free of Ashley if the defendant and he were going to co-parent their two young daughters during and after the divorce? I think you just met them in the relationship. Then February 16th, this is the day that police say Ashley Flynn was murdered. Botaner told the jury that she woke up expecting that she would hear from Caleb Flynn. But instead she got a message on Instagram from someone else. When did you learn about a crime in the Flynn message? I received a random direct message on Instagram from a random congregate. It goes to CLC. And what did you learn from that message? He said that you hear about Mrs. Flynn. How did you respond? I said, "What are you talking about?" And he sent me the news article about her death. What did you do at that time? My heart started pounding. In my mind, it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he's divorcing her, she's just dead all of a sudden. And so I think I called my boss. Did you send any messages to the defendant? I did. What did you say to those messages? I said something like, "What's going on? Were you involved?" Is this real? Did he respond to those messages? No. Why did you delete that message you sent to the defendant on the morning of February 16th? Because since there was a murder involved, I think that they would probably be searching his phone and. If they saw any messages between us anywhere, they would be found out. The state then turned to those messages. The actual records pulled from Group Me, which is an app that they communicated on, and for the next stretch, Botner read them out, one by one. Hundreds of messages between her and Caleb Flynn, messages that the jury would now hear for themselves. 1349. He's Caleb's the only same day I need her to die to cheat again to leave. What day was that? That was the same day. February 11th, 2025? Yes, sorry. 1350. Caleb said on the same day I need you. Caleb said on February 16th, 2025, sorry I'm sure I hate douche. I want to be with my girls, but I don't want to be anywhere near her because one I hate her and two I know it hurts you. That's one that's one year to the date before the murder. Yes. I said on February 19th, 2025, what do you want me to do? And how did Caleb respond in 5837? That's difficult. Marry me. How did you respond in 5838? I said, ah, you know, all caps. And what did he say in 5839? He said, "Kale douche." Caleb said, "I make you hurt more than I make you happy and can you honestly say this is what you want and what you see for your life to have to sneak around, to not be able to love publicly and to hurt all times knowing my situation. I want you, Alia, as my wife and the mother of my kids, but what do I do? How do I escape this?" I said, "I don't know, Caleb. You have to find a way." 12,973. He said, "I want her dead and gone." 19,700? I said, "What can I do?" 19,700 and one. And he said, "Kale her." Joining us now, Anginette Levy, host of Crime Fix, here on Lawn Crime, Anginette, what was it like to be in the courtroom during that testimony? It was riveting, Chris. Alia Botner came in. You could tell she was likely very nervous. The judge had to tell her to speak up. She was speaking softly. I'm sure this is mortifying for her. The jury was wrapped. I mean, they were just engrossed in her testimony, taking notes at times. Many times they were just sitting and listening to her. And especially during the reading of those text messages, there was an audible gas from Jill Smith at one point in time. I don't know if the Smiths fully realize the depth of what they were going to hear. I'm almost wondering if some of what Todd and Jill Smith were hearing, I'm wondering if it was the first time they heard it. The things like Caleb Flynn referring to Ashley as some very vulgar terms, also a spawn of Satan, things of that nature, accusing her of cheating on him to Alia Botner. So there was a lot going on there and actually saying that he hated not only Ashley but he loathed her family, a family who took him in and treated him as a brother and a son and gave him a $200,000 a year job. I had a hard time looking. There was like a moment where the camera caught Todd Smith and you just like kind of saw like especially after you hear his story yesterday and he was just someone who I think if I was a juror would just be this figure you kind of gravitate towards and just kind of seeing him take it all in because it was like each and every text, the word, it was a D word they used to like casually just describe Ashley Flynn and then it was just so routine how he talked about how much he hated her. It was like, I was blown away at just like how casual it was and yet like you look at Caleb Flynn and the only time he started to crack a little bit was at the end with the video where he was talking to his girls about getting pajamas, which was like seconds after he called his wife the D word, but like he was stone faced. Looked uncomfortable you understand that but like really just stone faced throughout the entire thing. Well, I'm sure that his attorneys prepared him for this and told him not to offer any reaction whatsoever. You have to think they've told him to knock it off with the crying, which some people think is not genuine and think is contrived for certain points. He talked in some of those text messages to Alia about crying at times, so maybe he's just an emotional guy, but you have to think that he knew these were coming, he knew they were coming in through Alia, we all knew these were coming and so they, I'm sure the defense team told him you better just sit there and take it. He was playing at times during some of those text messages, Chris, it either appeared to be a tissue or a piece of paper and he just seemed to kind of be fidgeting with that and kind of playing with that in his hands almost to distract himself. That's how I read it. So it was a lot, we got a lot from Alia Botner today. I mean, I'm just going through my notes trying to figure out like the best way to sum up like in a short period of time, like everything we heard and she's not done yet, like she's going to be on the stand again tomorrow. When you look at this relationship and we're still in direct, Chris. And right, exactly. Well, that's the thing is I was thinking like we'd be padding it out today and then they'd be, you know, the defense would pick up in the morning, but like we're still going with these messages, what stood out to you about just how Caleb Flynn, in the way that she's telling the story is like he's the one who came on to her. She was single, she breaks up with whoever she was with in like January of 24, and then the relationship starts like what stood out to you about just kind of the timeline that she was giving of this relationship? Well, she's much younger than he is, first of all. She was, I think she said 20 years old when she first met Caleb Flynn. And she told him basically, she tried to break it off. She said, you know, I'm not going to just stay, I'm not going to stay with a married man. You know, you either have to leave her or, you know, be with me. She essentially gave him an ultimatum and then she decided she just didn't want to be with him anymore. So that seemed to be almost like a trigger for him to potentially set things into motion at least with what he said was a plan for a divorce that was going to occur on February 16th of 2026. So we have what she, she begins this affair with him in 20, she meets him in 2024, I think is what the timeline was and then all through 2025, we have these hot and heavy, awful, vulgar texts talking about Ashley and how awful Ashley is. I'm thinking we may get some more, some testimony about how Ashley actually did not cheat on Caleb. So I'm thinking maybe that will be coming. The defense team even said that she was a phenomenal woman in their opening statement and that Caleb, these texts and things that he said make him incredibly easy to dislike. So it seems to me that she's telling him in late 2025 or at least in January sometime in that time period, it's over and I don't want to be with you and she wanted to go on a date with another guy and she goes on this vacation and then February 14th Valentine's Day. She hears from him and he's talking all about all of this stuff about a divorce and then she's going on chat GPT to search things about child custody and whether infidelity impacts custody and and it seems he wanted to take the girls, he wanted custody of the children. Yeah, and you bring up a good point with the defense because in opening statements they were like, hey, look, you're going to hear some stuff and you may not like this guy. And I think for just the reaction I'm seeing online that they were right about that. But then when it comes to how does this testimony factor into the argument that he murdered Ashley Flynn and it's like you have these messages from February 14th on to the 16th which is when she loses her life where he's sending things like I choose you and it just seems like it's getting to this point and you wonder going forward because it's incredibly damning to hear but then could the defense argue that he was talking about divorce, he wasn't talking about murder. They could argue that but, you know, what a Kawinke day because they say, you know, that's it. Oh, for sure. Yeah, I'm not saying I got it. Yeah. I, you know, but I, I'm going to, you know, divorce my wife on February 16th, 2026 and then poof, she turns up murdered in my bed. I, I don't know how the defense is going to tackle that. We will have to wait and see. They've already said this was a tunnel vision investigation. They didn't use those words but that's essentially what they're saying. They found the affair. They found their motive and it was case closed. So they still have that thing hanging out there in the ether that tip about the hit on Caleb and then you know Aliyah, you know, possibly being upset about the breakup. So I think we're going to have to learn a lot about where the defense is going when they cross-examine her. Are they going to go after her as vigorously and vociferously as we believe they will? Or is there another plan? Because I think there is a lot there for them to go after her with, but could that backfire? Or is the defense just doing the best with what they have? It could be a case of that. One part engineer that stood out to me was the Ringdorbell footage of where Aliyah Botner was around the time that authorities say that Ashley Flynn was killed and even though that part of it may not be the salacious text message or everything, like how important might that be to the prosecution's case to show that they knew where Aliyah Botner was around the time that they believe Caleb Flynn murdered his wife. Well, the prosecution is obviously going to say, look, she pulled into that garage of that home at a little after midnight on February 16th and her car didn't leave until 9.57 am. That's when she pulled out to go to the Smiths after she found out from a congregant via Instagram messenger that there had been a murder and that she went to the Smiths' home because the pastor who she worked for told her, "I'm at the Smiths' home. You should come over." So, I mean, I guess the defense could suggest that, well, just because her car was there, doesn't mean she was. There's another entrance out of the house, but did they look at her cell phone to see where her cell phone data places her on that night? Did her cell phone move or was it strictly there in the home? I mean, there have been a lot of cases where we've seen somebody on the move during a homicide because of their cell phone data. So, I think the prosecution's putting these ring doorbell cameras out to show she didn't go anywhere. She didn't call an Uber or grab a bike. Who knows? Bicycle and go over there and commit this homicide, or is there going to be something so wild as a suggestion that she was putting a hit on hit out on Caleb and Ashley was killed instead. Who knows where we're going with this? There could be a number of avenues that the defense explores. My mind kind of goes wild with the places they could take this case. And there's no doubt. I mean, this was damning today to say the least. What was the moment like for you? Because I know for me this was kind of like a jaw dropper, was the matching tattoos, Harry Potter lightning bolts, which is, you know, we knew that it was going to be like these text messages were going to be a lot and they were, but I cannot say I was anticipating matching tattoos. But I was not anticipating that either. Am I shocked? No. Because we have seen other photos of Caleb Flynn with some tattoos. I believe one on his forearm or something to that effect. But will we see a photograph now of Caleb Flynn of his underarm, his armpit, where the Harry Potter lightning bolt tattoo, the matching one for Alia, is located. And she said something like, now it makes sense why he put it there. Well, why? Why? Why does that make sense? Because it was hidden? I don't know. The Harry Potter lightning bolt tattoo, that was quite a stunner. So are we going to hear more about things that these two did, aside from the text messages, the matching tattoos, things like that, to kind of show their love for one another, proclaim this union they believe they had with one another. And then just lastly, Anginette, because I mean, this witness is so important to the prosecution's case. And she's expected to be very important to the defense's case as well. Prosecutor Watkins, what do you make of just the way he is handling this witness? He's a very monotone person, but he's also like very concise, it seems, with the way that he is approaching this. And it feels like he's doing a good job from just like my standpoint, like what stands out to you? Well, I think that he, I think this presentation in general, the state's case, has been streamlined, which I think is good. They've been able to get through a lot of these witnesses, I think fairly quickly. We haven't heard a lot of minutiae and where they're, it seems like they're not trying to overtry their case, which sometimes you see in a lot of high-profile homicide cases, they get lost in the weeds. And I feel like they're doing their best to focus on what's important. And after the, you know, the stuff with the door earlier in the day where it was, a lot of it was inconclusive and not that jazzy, I mean, they probably needed something to go more to motive. But, but they really need probably some physical evidence to tie Caleb Flynn to this crime. These text messages certainly show a motive and a discussion and a date about something big happening about the marriage ending, but is it going to be enough for the jury to say, yeah, he indeed pulled the trigger? You know, I so, it is a lot. It's powerful evidence. Don't get me wrong. But we still need some, I think, harder, more concrete evidence. And maybe that will come in the form of Caleb Flynn's statements about what he was doing at the time that this happened. And then the Apple Watch data and the deleting of the apps and things like that. And we'll see what happens. Alia Botner will go back on the stand and answer questions from prosecutors tomorrow morning, Anjane at Levy, host of crime fixed here on Law and Crime, incredible day in the courtroom. Thanks for being with us. Now we'll do it for on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.