The Murder of Ashley Flynn

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[SPEAKER_00]: Warning check the locks podcast is a true crime podcast and may contain graphic descriptions of violence, murder, sexual assault, and more.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Check the locks podcast is not appropriate for all listeners.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In Ohio, a man calls 911 claiming that his wife had been shot in a home invasion.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But to tactics quickly realize that not everything is as it seems, and a tale of infidelity and murder is about to unfold.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Join me, John Connor, as I discuss the murder of Ashley Flynn.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This is Check The Locks Podcast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, and thank you for joining me as I dive into yet another truly terrifying true crime case.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Before we get started, as always, I hope you're having a great week, hope you're doing well.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I just wanted to say thank you for letting me spend a little time at it today while you tackle whatever it is you have going on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know I talked about this a little bit last week, but I have been in a great mood.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We are in full fall mode in my house.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Millie just wrapped up her fall break and we watched a different Halloween movie every night.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking Casper, Huebe Halloween, Hocus Pocus, and we've been going through them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We carved pumpkins the whole nine yard.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We even got a chance to take her to a not so scary haunted house here in town.

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[SPEAKER_01]: With some of our friends, it was really cool.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The kids just got to walk through all the actors were super nice and talk to them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: you know, they were all in costume, but we're just making sure that they had a good time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So we've been diving into the season head first, and I hope that you are having a great time like us and really enjoying the kickoff into the fall.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But let's talk a little bit about what we're going to be getting into today.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So if you've been following the news, you may be familiar with this case, and I'll hit on in a little bit more towards the end of the episode, but there was a viral moment in this case that really stuck out to me, and I am already

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[SPEAKER_01]: I will also say that I really only knew about the piece of this case that blew up on social media.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So diving into it, I actually found out that there was way more to it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It is pretty straightforward so this won't be the longest episode I've ever done, but the story itself is heartbreaking and interesting and tragic and I'm excited to cover it with you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So with that being said, I'm going to quit the Gabby Gabby, we'll get to the stabby stabby, and let's break this one down.

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[SPEAKER_01]: On the morning of February 16, 2026, 9-1-1 dispatchers in Miami, County, Ohio received a disturbing phone call.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When a man on the other end of the phone told police that someone had broken into his family's home, and that his wife had been shot.

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[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

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[SPEAKER_01]: The caller told the dispatcher that he wasn't sure if the intruder was still inside of his home, and officers were immediately dispatched to the scene.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When they arrived, responders were met at the door by the caller.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if the name Caleb Flynn sounds at all familiar to you, it may be because he was a former contestant on Season 12 of American Idol in 2013.

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[SPEAKER_01]: However, he did not advance to the main competition, but in a piece produced by the show, he credited his wife Ashley for pushing him into the audition, saying that he loved her more than anything and calling her very, very pretty.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Flynn had also previously worked as a worship pastor before moving into sales in 2021.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Once on scene investigators moved through the home, and when they reached the couple's bedroom, they made a gruesome discovery.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The body of 37-year-old Ashley Flynn, she was covering him blood and had succumbed to two gunshot wounds.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Ashley was born February 28th, 1988.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She would graduate from TIPS City High School in 2006 and go on to attend to Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, graduating in 2010.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was while in college as she would meet her future husband Caleb.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The couple will go on to have two daughters and Ashley would work as a substitute teacher as well as a full-time volleyball coach at Tippack News Middle School.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Additionally, she works as a teacher for Lifewise Academy, teaching Bible-based education to public school students' off-campus.

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[SPEAKER_01]: People who knew Ashley said she was known for her beautiful smile.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She was warm and she was kind, and she had made a positive impact on many people, both in the classroom and on the volleyball court.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And now, this woman who spent so much of her time giving to others had had her life taken away.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When investigators began to take a look at the scene and spoke with Caleb, it appeared to be a home invasion.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The house's garage door was wide open, and inside, the center console of Flynn's 2024 pickup truck had also been opened.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And the handgun that the husband normally kept inside was gone.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When questioned about the evening, Caleb told police that he had been suffering from a cough that night, so Ashley had asked him to sleep on the couch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Flynn told police that the family dog had woken him up, so he had gone to lie down in his daughter's room, and according to Caleb, that's when he heard the gunshot.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Believing that Ashley's murder may have fled on foot, detectives used the police dog to search around the home, but the canine didn't seem to pick up on a scent, and as they walked, an officer noticed something.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He and the dog were both leaving prints in the wet ground, but they didn't appear to be tracks from anyone else.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And on closer inspection of the garage, investigators noticed something else.

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[SPEAKER_01]: A refrigerator was blocking the door that led into the home, and it would have needed to be pushed out of the way for someone to access the house.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Investigators also found it odd that the two girls in the home didn't hear the shot.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It seemed that the closer they looked at Caleb Flynn's story, the more holes there seemed to be.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So they decided to look into his phone, and what they found only raised more questions.

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[SPEAKER_01]: At the first, it appeared that Flynn had made efforts to delete some type of digital information.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Additionally, his phone's location showed movement throughout the house on the night that Ashley was killed, which directly contradicted his statement of being asleep.

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[SPEAKER_01]: With this new information, investigators now believed that Caleb Flynn had shot Ashley as she slept, and then staged the home invasion to cover his tracks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: detectives now needed the murder weapon, but it would prove to be quite the challenge.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They believed that Flynn may have tossed the gun into a nearby storm drain, so along with help from the ATF, they used a high-powered magnet to try to fish the weapon out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And when that didn't work, an officer actually crawled into the sewer and searched by hand.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Sadly, the firearm was unable to be located.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But even without the gun, the prosecution believed that they had a strong case, and Flynn's trial would begin in September of 2026, with the defendant pleading not guilty.

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[SPEAKER_01]: However, the prosecution came ready, relying on electronic evidence to provide their theory on a motive.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You see, during their investigation, detectives learned that Flynn had been having an affair.

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[SPEAKER_01]: One that had begun a few years prior in 2022, with a 20-year-old intern at his church named Alia Botner.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He affair lasted a little over a year during which the couple would meet in the early morning when Ashley believed that Flynn was at the gym.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now the two has changed over 107,000 text messages, which the prosecution would actually print out and fill 34 books.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The content of some of the messages was quite startling, and they would be read to the court by botner while on the witness stand.

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[SPEAKER_01]: With a message from Flynn sent on August 25 reading, I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally thinking of ways to kill her and not go to jail.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In another, Flynn would write, if I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat.

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[SPEAKER_01]: but the most damning message was sent to botanour on the night before Ashley's murder.

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[SPEAKER_01]: In which Flynn wrote, I choose you, I'm free, actions will come tomorrow.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Additionally, in a now viral moment, AI generated love songs created by Flynn for botanour would be played in the court.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And as people listened, they were visually taken aback by each lyric, with some simply shaking their heads, and others trying to contain laughter

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[SPEAKER_01]: The prosecution also provided a financial motive.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Flynn was the sole beneficiary on a $100,000 life insurance policy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They also produced bank statement showing that Flynn and Ashley had over $84,000 in a joint savings account on the day that she was killed.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The defense would stick to Flynn's home invasion story, but in the end, the jury wouldn't buy it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And on September 29, Caleb Flynn would be found guilty of nine total charges, including aggravated murder and three charges of murder, two charges of felonious assault, and three charges of tampering with evidence.

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[SPEAKER_01]: With a judge sentencing the now convicted murder to life and prison without the possibility of parole.

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[SPEAKER_01]: During the sentencing hearing, Ashley's family read letters written by her two daughters.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Ten-year-old Avowood Wright, mommy was a perfect person, the absolute perfect person.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What did she ever do to make you hate her so much?

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[SPEAKER_01]: and 12-year-old Elizabeth Wright, did you really even think about how much pain you would bring to your own daughters?

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[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, Ashley Flynn was the best thing that ever happened to you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You had the best life ever and you decided to throw it away for a girl who was half your age.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Two days after a sentence was handed down, Caleb Flynn's defense team would file a notice of appeal.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Eva and Alyssa now live with Ashley's sister and her husband.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that's this week's case and as always I just wanted to share some final thoughts close everything out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now start by saying this, I had Olivia's voice in my head as I was researching this case and it just kept saying, just get divorced.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, if you've been a long time listener to the podcast, you may remember that that was Olivia's favorite saying in cases like this, and I was just nodding to myself in a green, because there are people in unhappy or loveless marriages all over the world, and every day, those people will choose divorce, they cut their losses and they walk away.

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[SPEAKER_01]: yet some people still have this crazy notion that killing your spouse is like the only way to go and for something like money is just nuts to me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we're talking $184,000, you know, and that is a lot of money, but that's not that much money.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's not

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I don't know, it's a I have to amount, but I was telling my wife about this case and she straight up said to me 200K is not enough for me to kill you over so to me as I was going through the research.

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[SPEAKER_01]: this really did feel like more of a crime driven by a hatred.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you get that from the tone in the letters that the children wrote.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, maybe with some kind of dark midlife crisis thing, and again, this is just my opinion, but it seems to me that Caleb grew resentful of his life, especially his wife, especially Ashley.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I could see him wanting to go back to his glory days, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: His pseudo-celebrity type of life with, you know, money in my pocket and the young woman dangling on the arm.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that to Caleb, there was only one way for that to happen.

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[SPEAKER_01]: and that was with Ashley dying.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So again, just speculation on my part, but it seems to me like this murder was about more than just money and a mistress.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The other thing that really got to me was thinking about Ashley and her daughters.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, those girls are so young.

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[SPEAKER_01]: At 10 and 12 years old, you have a lifetime of living ahead of you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But you also have enough years behind you to know who really loves you, who's there for you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And in this case, it seemed that Ashley did a great job at that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She did a great job as a mom.

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[SPEAKER_01]: From everything I found doing the research, she was loving and supportive and encouraging.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And you can tell from the letters that the girls wrote that they love their mother very much.

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[SPEAKER_01]: and it's hard to think about the things that were stolen from them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they lost two parents in one fell swoop.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Their mother won't be there as they go through life for the moment, big and small when a kid needs their parents and due to his actions, they lost their father too.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I can't help but think that the same goes for Ashley.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Because of the actions of someone that she was supposed to be able to trust, she was robbed of seeing her children grow up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I was able to find a production piece that was done for American Idol when Flynn was a contestant.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And in the video, the first thing he talks about is how he sings for the Lord and how much he loves the Lord and he wants to connect people to Christ through music.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then from there, he transitions into how much he loves his wife and how beautiful she is.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And when you watch that in hindsight,

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[SPEAKER_01]: it really does give you an uneasy feeling.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that seems to particularly stand out, especially when you know that his actions took so much from so many.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So for me, if we're talking debble test, you know, I'm going to put this probably about a 7 out of 10.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The only reason I don't put it as a 10 out of 10 is so my wife straight up told me, you know, 200k isn't enough for me to do anything to you, which, you know, I have to joke a little bit just because that's the way that I get through

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[SPEAKER_01]: looking at these kind of cases every week and things like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But it is terrifying to know that someone you're supposed to trust, someone that you love, someone that you have kids with because you believe that this person is going to keep them safe is the same person who would take your life to try to be with somebody younger and put a few dollars in their pocket.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Again, there's something about this that it feels like there was more under the surface and I'll be interested to know if we find out more about that as as time goes on, but for me, I'm going to put this at a seven out of 10, but as always, I want to hear from you, the listeners, the locksmith.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Where does the murder of Ashley Flynn fall on your devil test?

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[SPEAKER_01]: You can let me know, reach out on Instagram, check the locks pod, find me on Twitter, check the locks if you're not in our Facebook group.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's all that I have for you for this week's case, but please make sure that you're subscribed to check the locks and your favorite podcast absolutely you never miss an episode.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I will see you again next week with another truly terrifying true crime case, but until then remember, monsters are real.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So stay safe, stay ready, don't forget to check the locks.

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[SPEAKER_01]: See you next week.