Caleb Flynn’s daughters send powerful message as he’s sentenced to life in prison for their mom’s murder

Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News/Pool

Minutes before Caleb Flynn was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, the former worship leader sobbed as his two young daughters asked him heartbreaking questions about their mother’s death.

“Mommy was the perfect person, the absolute perfect person. What did she ever do to make you hate her so much?” the couple’s 10-year-old daughter, Ava, wrote in a statement read in court.

“Did you really even think about how much pain you would bring your own two daughters?” Ava’s 12-year-old sister, Alyssa, asked in her own statement.

The girls’ words were read by relatives in court as Flynn, 40, was sentenced for fatally shooting his wife, Ashley, in their family’s Tipp City, Ohio, home in February. Prosecutors argued at trial he killed his wife in part because of his affair with a fellow worship leader at their church and then staged the crime scene to make it appear an intruder had killed her.

At the sentencing hearing Monday, Ashley’s loved ones remembered her as a beloved teacher, devoted Christian and dedicated mother to her two daughters. Ava called her mother her “best friend” and described her as an “angel.”

“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,” Alyssa wrote to her father, referencing his nearly two-year affair with 24-year-old Alleigha Botner. “How could you stand in that church and sing about how much you love God when you knew all the secrets you had inside?”

From Frings & Bayliff Funeral Home

Caleb Flynn, who appeared in court wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with his wrists shackled, was ultimately sentenced to life without parole for the murder of his wife – the maximum possible sentence. He also was sentenced to 9 years in prison for tampering with evidence and 7 years in prison for firearm enhancements, all to be served consecutively.

Both girls described the immense grief and pain they felt after their mother’s death, with the youngest saying she still cries every day.

“My heart aches to see you hurt, but then I think it was your choice,” Ava said. “It was your choice to leave your only two daughters. It was your choice to hide everything from everyone, and it was your choice to kill the only mother I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, that was a choice that cannot be erased, even though I really wish it could.”

The girls urged Flynn – who tearfully maintained his innocence in his own statement Monday – to confess to the murder and repent for his sins, with Ava telling her father he could still “have a life in heaven someday.”

“Please tell Jesus that you’re sorry,” she wrote. “It’s not going to change your punishment, but it will determine your eternal reward someday.”

“I wish that you could come to understand that actions have consequences and you have a lot to pay,” Alyssa said in her statement. “The least you could do is tell everyone you did it and receive your outcome.”

God has been present in her life since Ashley’s death, the 12-year-old wrote, and their family has “never been stronger.”

“Through all of what you put me through, God is gonna work something out for good,” Alyssa said. “And by the way, I don’t plan on coming to see you.”

CNN’s Lauren del Valle, Eric Levenson and Elise Hammond contributed to this report.

尼克·格雷厄姆/代顿每日新闻/泳池

在卡莱布·弗林因谋杀妻子而被判处终身监禁的前几分钟，这位前敬拜领袖在两个年幼的女儿向他提出关于母亲去世的令人心碎的问题时，泣不成声。

“妈妈是完美的人，绝对完美的人。她到底做错了什么，让你这么恨她？”这对夫妇10岁的女儿艾娃在法庭上宣读的一份声明中写道。

“你真的想过你会给你的两个女儿带来多大的痛苦吗？”艾娃12岁的妹妹艾莉莎在自己的声明中问道。

在法庭上，弗林（40岁）因今年2月在俄亥俄州蒂普市的家中枪杀妻子阿什利而被判刑时，女孩们的亲属宣读了她们的证词。检方在庭审中指出，弗林杀害妻子的部分原因是与教会的一位同工有染，之后他还伪造了犯罪现场，使其看起来像是入侵者所为。

在周一的量刑听证会上，阿什利的亲人们缅怀她，称她是一位深受爱戴的老师、虔诚的基督徒，也是两个女儿的慈母。艾娃称母亲是她“最好的朋友”，并形容她是一位“天使”。

“阿什利·弗林是你生命中最美好的事情。你曾拥有最美好的生活，却为了一个只有你一半年纪的女孩而毁掉了这一切，”艾丽莎在写给父亲的信中这样说道，她指的是父亲与24岁的阿莱娅·博特纳长达近两年的婚外情。“你明明知道自己内心藏着那么多秘密，怎么还能站在教堂里唱着你多么爱上帝呢？”

来自弗林斯和贝利夫殡仪馆

身穿橙色囚服、手腕戴着镣铐出庭的卡莱布·弗林最终因谋杀妻子被判处终身监禁，不得假释——这是最高刑罚。此外，他还因篡改证据被判处9年监禁，因非法持有枪支被判处7年监禁，所有刑期合并执行。

两个女孩都描述了母亲去世后她们所感受到的巨大悲痛，其中最小的那个说她至今每天都在哭泣。

“看到你受苦，我心如刀绞，但我想，这都是你自己的选择，”艾娃说。“是你选择抛下你仅有的两个女儿。是你选择对所有人隐瞒一切，是你选择杀死我唯一的母亲。很遗憾，这是一个无法抹去的选择，尽管我多么希望它可以。”

女孩们敦促弗林（他在周一的声明中泪流满面地坚称自己无罪）承认谋杀罪行并忏悔，艾娃告诉她的父亲，他“将来有一天仍然可以在天堂生活”。

她写道：“请告诉耶稣你很抱歉。这不会改变你受到的惩罚，但将来会决定你获得的永恒奖赏。”

“我希望你能明白，任何行为都会产生后果，而你将为此付出沉重的代价，”艾丽莎在声明中说道。“你至少应该坦白承认自己的所作所为，并接受应有的惩罚。”

这位 12 岁的女孩写道，自从 Ashley 去世后，上帝就一直陪伴着她，她们的家庭也“从未如此坚强”。

“尽管你让我经历了这么多，上帝最终会安排好一切，让一切都好起来的，”艾莉莎说。“顺便说一句，我没打算去看你。”

CNN的Lauren del Valle、Eric Levenson和Elise Hammond对本报道亦有贡献。