A former music pastor is accused of killing his wife, a beloved Tipp City Schools volleyball coach and substitute teacher, and staging the scene to look like a home invasion.
Caleb Flynn, 39, was arrested Thursday evening and is charged in Miami County Municipal Court with murder and two counts each of felonious assault and tampering with evidence. He pleaded not guilty during his Friday morning video-arraignment from Miami County Jail.
“I just want to take care of my daughters. I’m not a risk,” he told Judge Samuel Huffman before the judge set his bond at $2 million. Flynn is next due in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
His wife, 37-year-old Ashley Flynn, was found shot to death after crews were called around 2:30 a.m. Monday on a report of a burglary in progress to the couple’s house in the 900 block of Cunningham Court, where police said there were signs of forced entry. She had been shot two times and was pronounced deceased at the scene, Tipp City Police Chief Greg Adkins said.
“The family and community deserve a thorough, professional and compassionate investigation into this very sensitive matter,” Adkins said in a statement released Thursday evening. “As a result of the investigation, probable cause existed to charge Caleb Flynn with the murder of his wife. Due to the ongoing nature of this case, specific investigative details will not be released at this time.”
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He was booked into the jail shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, records show.
“It’s disturbing the speed at which this occurred,” said defense attorney L. Patrick Mulligan of Dayton law firm Moermond & Mulligan, who is representing Caleb Flynn. “I question the thoroughness” of the investigation.
The Tipp City Police Department called the homicide investigation a “complex case” and in several statements released over the week assured there would be “the most thorough investigation possible.”
The department was the lead agency and received assistance from the FBI, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Miami County Sheriff’s Office and Miami County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mulligan also called his client’s $2 million bond “unnecessarily high” and said he plans to seek a bond reduction.
