Bombshell witness at American Idol murder trial. Lindsay Clancy back in court. Plus, Cornell lawsuit.
Dateline NBC
This episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly covers several high-profile legal developments and criminal investigations. It details the guilty verdict
Key takeaways
- Caleb Flynn was found guilty of aggravated murder after his lover, Aaliyah Botner, testified about their affair.
- The defense for Richard Allen is appealing his conviction, alleging coerced confessions while in solitary confinement.
Main topics
- Caleb Flynn murder trial
- Richard Allen appeal
Notable quotes
I hate him.
Conclusion
The episode provides a deep dive into the complexities of high-stakes
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Stay informed with the NBC News app. Speaker 6 (0:32) Major developments out of the White House. Speaker 4 (0:34) Read, watch, and listen throughout your day. And now, unlock even more with an NBC News subscription. Get deeper reporting and exclusive articles. Plus, more insight, analysis, and content only for subscribers. When you really look inside these numbers... It's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust. Speaker 1 (0:54) Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more. Speaker 1 (1:01) Good morning, everyone. You're listening to the Dateline Morning Meeting. Speaker 4 (1:05) Is today definitely the closings? Yes. Speaker 1 (1:08) Our producers are swapping tips and story ideas. Is Speaker 4 (1:12) this best friend still around? Is the mom still alive? Even the dentist, he's a pretty prominent person in the community. How Speaker 7 (1:17) does this suburban mom meet this killer? Speaker 1 (1:22) Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's October 1st, and here's what's on our docket. A dramatic new chapter in the case of the two young girls found murdered beneath an abandoned bridge near Delphi, Indiana. Lawyers for the man convicted of killing them are demanding a new trial. Speaker 6 (1:40) This behavior stops here. This should never happen to another Hoosier again. In Speaker 1 (1:45) Dateline Roundup, an update on what's next in the Lindsay Clancy case. And questions hang over Cornell University as prosecutors reopen their investigation into a student's allegations of sexual assault. The Speaker 7 (1:58) DA said that he'll present the case to a grand jury within 45 days and that the Jane Doe is expected to testify. Speaker 1 (2:05) Plus, man's best friend. How can dogs help police solve crimes? A veteran canine handler gives us the lowdown. Speaker 5 (2:12) They are picking up so many different odors, and not just odors, but emotions. Speaker 1 (2:17) Before all that, we are in Troy, Ohio, where a verdict has been reached in the murder trial of a former American Idol contestant. But not before jurors heard one bombshell witness, his former lover. Speaker 1 (2:32) For the past three weeks, jurors have listened to the case of Caleb Flynn, a man who first made a name for himself when he competed on Idol 13 years ago. Now, prosecutors have accused him of murdering his wife, Ashley, as she lay sleeping in their bed, and then staging the scene to make it look like a home invasion. His alleged motive? He wanted to start his life over with his 24-year-old lover, Aaliyah Botner. Caleb denied that and pleaded not guilty. But in over six hours of emotional testimony, jurors got to hear from Aaliyah herself as she detailed the affair and Caleb's spiral into talk of murder. How Speaker 2 (3:08) would you describe your feelings for the defendant today? Speaker 4 (3:11) I hate him. Speaker 2 (3:13) Why the change from love to hate? Speaker 4 (3:17) Because I believe that he and I could just lie. Speaker 1 (3:20) On Tuesday morning, the prosecution and defense made their case to the jury one last time in closing arguments. By the end of the day, a verdict. Here to fill us in on the final days of the trial is Dateline Field producer Justin Ratchford. Welcome Speaker 8 (3:35) back, Justin. Speaker 3 (3:35) Hi, Andrea. Thanks for having me. Speaker 8 (3:37) So we first heard about Aaliyah in the prosecution's opening statement. She is central to their case, of course, when it comes to motive. And her testimony was highly anticipated. What was the atmosphere like in court, Justin, when she took the stand? I'm Speaker 3 (3:52) sure you could hear a pin drop in there. Right. So everyone at that time had already heard about allegations of the affair. So from the moment that Aaliyah sat down, there was a real sense of uneasiness and I guess morbid curiosity of what would be revealed. Speaker 8 (4:06) What did she tell the court about how she and Caleb first met? Where did this all start? Speaker 3 (4:11) This started in the church. Aaliyah said that she was a 20-year-old intern when she and Caleb first met at their Ohio Church Christian Life Center in 2022. Aaliyah said that at first the relationship was purely professional. But things changed in March 2024. Eventually, that relationship became romantic and sexual. Speaker 8 (4:28) She is a key witness, as we said, for the prosecution. But she also had to admit to a relationship with a married man and father of two kids. How did the state handle that? The Speaker 3 (4:40) prosecution pressed Aaliyah pretty hard on the fact that she knew that Caleb was a married man. If you knew the defendant was married, how did you morally justify a sexual relationship with the defendant? Speaker 4 (4:51) It was completely wrong, and I shouldn't have. At first I was strong, and I said, this isn't okay, we shouldn't do this. And then he kept pursuing, and it just started with little things, and then it grew like cancer, and I found myself in a place I never thought it would be. Speaker 8 (5:07) Aaliyah told the jurors they were talking about getting married and having a family. Speaker 3 (5:11) Yeah, and she even showed the jury that she and Caleb had... gotten matching tattoos. It was a lightning bolt from Harry Potter. She had gotten it on her arm, and she said that Caleb actually got his underneath his armpit so his wife Ashley wouldn't find out. And Speaker 8 (5:25) that wasn't the only attempt, right, to keep the affair a secret, she said? Right. Speaker 3 (5:29) According to Aaliyah, they had communicated on several different apps like WhatsApp, GroupMe, and regularly deleted their messages so they wouldn't be caught. Prosecutors say that Just on GroupMe alone, they had been messaging over 107,000 times over the course of a year. And on average, that's about 300 messages a day. Speaker 8 (5:49) That's a lot. Prosecutors got Aaliyah to read some of those messages to the jury. Right. Speaker 3 (5:54) According to prosecutors, the text that Caleb wrote to Aaliyah really showed what he was feeling about his wife, Ashley, in his own words. And Caleb constantly told Aaliyah how much he wanted her gone. If Speaker 4 (6:05) I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That's how dark and how hateful I feel. Speaker 8 (6:11) Justin, what are some of the responses the court heard from Aaliyah? Speaker 3 (6:15) Based on the messages we heard, Aaliyah agreed with him pretty much throughout the relationship they were having. She talked about wanting Ashley dead and calling her names. And there were just times throughout her testimony when she became emotional reading those texts, saying that she's regretful and at one point whispering, I'm so sorry. Speaker 2 (6:33) Sorry. Speaker 4 (6:53) Says I want to kill her, Caleb. Speaker 6 (6:54) Who said that? Speaker 4 (6:55) Me. Speaker 6 (6:57) Next message. Speaker 4 (6:59) I said it so bad. Speaker 6 (7:01) Next message. Speaker 4 (7:02) He said that makes two of us. Speaker 8 (7:04) According to prosecutors, the affair with Aaliyah may have pushed Caleb into actually carrying out his threats to kill his wife. This goes to the heart of what the state says is the motive. Speaker 3 (7:15) Right. According to these messages, Aaliyah was pressuring Caleb to end his marriage and finally be with Aaliyah for good. Eventually, Aaliyah gave him a final deadline, January 11th of this year. And when Caleb didn't divorce Ashley that time, Aaliyah said that she was really done. How did Caleb handle this breakup? Caleb continued to try contact Aaliyah, even sending her songs that he wrote for her. He wrote the lyrics, but the music and the vocals were generated by AI. Speaker 8 (7:42) Let's take a listen to some of that music. Speaker 8 (8:00) How did Caleb and other people in the courtroom react to this music? Speaker 3 (8:05) Caleb looked at best somber and maybe trying to disassociate himself from the moment. Speaker 8 (8:11) Okay, so back to our motive. The prosecution suggests that Caleb killed Ashley to get Aaliyah back. Speaker 3 (8:18) Right. So the prosecution said that just days before Ashley was murdered, Caleb had reached out to Aaliyah again and told her that this time was for real and he was finally going to leave Ashley. Speaker 8 (8:29) Aaliyah finished up her testimony by talking about what Caleb told her just a few hours before Ashley was killed. And this is really a pivotal moment for the state. Speaker 3 (8:39) In his final message to Aaliyah that night, he said, I choose you, Aaliyah. You're more than enough. Good night. The Speaker 8 (8:46) prosecutor asked Aaliyah to read the jury what she wrote to Caleb right after she heard that Ashley was killed. Let's Speaker 1 (8:52) take a listen. Speaker 4 (8:53) The next message was. Caleb, I just saw the news. Someone told me to pray for Mrs. Flynn. In all caps, what is going on right now? Were you behind this? I deleted that message. I said, what is going on? Is this real? Speaker 8 (9:10) How did the defense handle Aaliyah Justin on cross-examination? The Speaker 3 (9:14) defense tried their best to really attack Aaliyah's credibility. They also put more context around Caleb's messages, showing that Aaliyah often sought reassurance from Caleb that he hated his wife. Speaker 4 (9:25) Did you at the time not believe that Caleb actually hated Ashley? Speaker 4 (9:30) There were a lot of times that I questioned it. Why? Because we shared location, and I would see him at a restaurant or a movie theater and later find out that they were there together. And then I would see text messages on his phone from her saying that she loves him. Speaker 4 (9:54) She always seemed to, you know, be very loving towards him. So that made me think that he was also loving towards her. In your opinion, at the time that he is saying that he hates Ashley, is he saying that as a lie to make you feel better? Speaker 8 (10:13) He might have been. The prosecution rested on Monday, and it was the defense's turn. They did not call any witnesses,