A former “American Idol” contestant repeatedly spoke about wanting his wife dead and once told his mistress he was “thinking about ways to kill her,” the woman testified Wednesday during his Ohio murder trial.

Alleigha Botner told jurors she carried on an affair with Caleb Flynn for about 18 months and had issued him an ultimatum about their relationship just weeks before the killing. She said Flynn’s remarks about his wife, Ashley Flynn, became increasingly alarming in the months before Ashley was fatally shot inside the couple’s Tipp City home.

“At first it was, ‘I want her dead. I wish she was gone,’” Botner testified.

Later, she said, Flynn told her: “If I could kill her and not go to jail, I would.”

According to Botner, the threats eventually became even more explicit.

“One night he was up really late thinking about — told me that he was thinking about ways to kill her,” Botner said.

Flynn made comments about wanting Ashley dead at least once a month, Botner testified.

Prosecutors later showed Botner thousands of messages exchanged during the affair. In one message attributed to Flynn, sent in February 2025, he wrote: “I need her to die, to cheat again, to leave.”

Other messages attributed to Flynn said, “I want her dead and gone” and, in response to Botner asking what she could do for him, “kill her.”

Flynn is accused of shooting Ashley in the back of the head inside their home on Feb. 16, then arranging the scene to suggest that an intruder had broken in. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and related charges.

Botner also testified that Flynn possessed a gun before the killing. She recalled that he once showed her a firearm he kept in the center console of his truck.

“He showed me a gun,” she said.

Flynn told Botner the weapon was stored in the console, although she could not describe it because she saw it only once.

The gun prosecutors say Flynn used to kill Ashley has never been found, despite extensive searches of the family’s home, nearby woods, storm drains and other locations.

Jurors also heard that Flynn and Botner regularly deleted messages during their relationship.

When asked how often she helped Flynn delete data from his devices, Botner replied, “Multiple times.”

“One of them being the night before Ashley was murdered,” she testified.

Botner later testified that she used ChatGPT that night to research whether messages documenting the affair could be permanently deleted and sent Flynn screenshots of the results.

She told jurors she feared the affair could surface during a divorce and cost her her job. Prosecutors established that Botner sent the screenshots about 5:47 p.m. Feb. 15, hours before Ashley was killed.

Their relationship began turning personal in March 2024 and became sexual roughly two months later, Botner told jurors. She recalled Flynn telling her he hated Ashley, viewed his wife as little more than a “roommate” and remained in the marriage because of their two daughters.

Botner acknowledged knowing Flynn was married when the relationship became sexual and admitted she knew what they were doing was wrong.

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“I never morally justified it,” she testified. “I just did it. Even while I knew it was wrong.”

The two exchanged roughly 107,000 messages over about a year — nearly 300 per day on average — while routinely deleting their conversations.

By January, Botner testified, she had grown tired of waiting and gave Flynn a final deadline: leave Ashley by Jan. 11, or she would move on with her life and end their relationship.

He did not leave.

Botner stopped communicating with Flynn until Feb. 14 — Valentine’s Day and two days before Ashley was killed.

That day, she testified, Flynn told her he was “filing [for divorce] from Ashley” and was “actually leaving her this time.”

The two later met at Christian Life Center, where they had initially met through the church’s worship ministry. During that conversation, Botner recalled Flynn telling her he had already spoken with Ashley and told his wife he was divorcing her.

By the following night, Botner testified, Flynn was still telling her he planned to end the marriage Feb. 16.

“He said it’ll be a day I never forget,” she recalled.

Their communications continued past midnight, with Flynn allegedly telling her, “Tomorrow is a big day,” “I choose you” and that he was “about to be free.” Hours later, Ashley was dead. Botner told jurors she understood those comments at the time to mean Flynn was finally going through with the divorce.

Botner expected to hear from Flynn first thing that morning but instead received an Instagram message from a fellow church congregant asking whether she had heard about Ashley.

The congregant sent her a news story about Ashley’s death.

“My heart started pounding,” Botner testified. “It just seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day he’s divorcing her, she’s just dead all of a sudden.”

Botner testified that she immediately messaged Flynn.

“I said something like to Caleb, ‘What’s going on? Were you involved? Is this real?’” she recalled.

Flynn did not respond, Botner testified. She acknowledged deleting the message because she believed investigators would search his phone and feared they would discover the affair.

Botner admitted Wednesday that she initially lied to the FBI about her relationship with Flynn when investigators interviewed her days after the killing.

“I was selfishly afraid that my reputation was going to be ruined and that I was going to lose my job,” she testified. “And now that there was a murder attached, I didn’t want to be attached to that in any way.”

She began revealing more about the relationship after investigators told her they had found text messages on Ashley’s phone, Botner testified.

Prosecutors asked Botner how she feels about Flynn today, and she said, “I hate him.”

When asked why, Botner responded, “Because I believe that he murdered his wife.”

News Media reached out to Flynn’s attorney. Botner is expected to return to the stand on Thursday.

The Duchess of Sussex has received a “beautiful” welcome from the “loving” British public since returning to the UK, according to her best friend.

Kelly McKee Zajfen, who has been staying with Meghan and Harry, said people they encountered in the Cotswolds told the Duchess how much they had missed her.

Ms Zajfen has also released the first photographs of Meghan since the Duchess returned to Britain around three weeks ago.

In a series of Instagram pictures, Meghan can be seen smiling as she holds Ms Zajfen’s son, Jack, in a country pub. Harry also appears laughing while playing on the floor with the baby boy, who was born this year.

Ms Zajfen said Meghan had been deeply touched by the warm reception she received during her return to the UK, six years after she and Harry moved to America.

Writing to her tens of thousands of Instagram followers, she said: “To everyone we’ve met or bumped into, thank you for being so loving to my friend [Meghan].”

Describing Meghan, whom she calls her “bestie”, Ms Zajfen suggested the Duchess had repeatedly been told she was missed. She wrote: “It’s been beautiful to witness. She missed you too!”

Ms Zajfen, who had been staying with the couple for the previous week, added: “There’s something so special about getting a taste of this magical place with my bestie, and having my sweet Jack along for the adventure.

“I’ve loved seeing this sweet chapter through her eyes and daily adventures! Especially getting to experience so many little firsts with Jack by my side.”

Reports in the US have also said that Meghan and Ms Zajfen shared a pub lunch with Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who recently marked their 18th wedding anniversary.

Ms Zajfen said they ate fish and chips in the garden, with Jack also enjoying a taste.

Another photograph showed Ms Zajfen playing mahjong with Meghan and Markus Anderson, a close friend of the Duchess who is among her most trusted confidants. He has been dubbed the “third wheel” in her marriage to Harry.

The trip also included Ms Zajfen’s young son, who was born four years after she lost her nine-year-old son to Covid.

The 45-year-old Alliance of Moms co-founder has known the Duchess of Sussex for more than 20 years and, until last month, lived close to her in California.

The pair first met through Meghan’s former husband, Trevor Engelson, and have remained close ever since.

Reflecting on the visit, Ms Zajfen wrote: “Family time is just what the heart ordered, with a side of mashed peas and fish and chips. All of it has filled my heart.

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“You’ve been so good to us. We’re leaving with full hearts and definitely leaving a piece of ours here.”

It came as Prince Harry, who flew to New York this week, revealed the ‘most British things’ he and his family do since moving back to the UK.

Speaking to HELLO! at Monday’s WellChild Awards in London, the Duke of Sussex, 42, said his children now enjoy Marmite on crumpets, despite previously ‘dissing’ him for keeping the spread in the house.

Asked about the most British thing he has done with his family now that they’ve moved back from California, he replied: ‘Gone for a walk. Lots of walks. Isn’t that the most British thing?’

He continued: ‘OK yes Marmite on crumpets – please tell me that is a British thing because it has always been in my life and now the kids are eating Marmite on crumpets, which is a big moment for me.’

And asked whether Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, now enjoy the spread, Harry replied: ‘They do, they do very much.

‘They used to dis me for having Marmite in the house but now we are in the UK that is kind of water under the bridge.’

He added: ‘I already tried beans on toast. That was in California. That was years ago. It didn’t go down very well at all.’

Harry appeared to become emotional during the Royal Lancaster Hotel event, while revealing how becoming a father has changed the way he experiences the charity’s annual event, which celebrates seriously ill children and the families caring for them.

‘Once you become a parent it does change everything,’ Harry said.

‘It is not the fact that all the years I wasn’t a parent, that meeting the kids didn’t matter as much but you suddenly realise how grateful you are to have kids that are not sick.’

Harry also spoke about a particularly relatable moment at the breakfast table earlier that day, revealing that Archie and Lilibet had been suffering from the ‘Monday blues’ ahead of school.

‘Breakfast this morning, they had Monday blues,’ he said, comparing it to the ‘Sunday night blues’ he experienced before being sent away to boarding school.

But the duke managed to turn the mood around by explaining what he would be doing at the WellChild ceremony later that evening.

‘You know what you are just being a little bit tricky so I am going to tell you what I am doing tonight and they were genuinely fascinated and interested and had all sorts of questions.’

Harry said he and Meghan want to use their work to help their children understand more about the lives of others, adding that now ‘no longer being 5,000 miles away should make it easier to be more available to support the charities that need us and that we really enjoy working with’.

It comes after Harry and Meghan returned to Britain with Archie and Lilibet in August, with the children beginning school in the UK.

After a false start at one private school due to traffic on the school run, the children are now settled into a new school in the Midlands.

Ree Drummond’s foster son, Jamar Goff, was detained in May over allegations that he bit a correctional officer, months before his arrest for an alleged assault on Sept. 15.

According to TMZ, the 23-year-old was taken into custody in May 2025 after allegedly biting the hand of a detention or correctional officer.

Court documents obtained by the outlet show that Goff listed a phone number associated with Drummond, 57, as his family contact. He identified her relationship to him as “foster parent.”

At the time of that detention, Goff was reportedly homeless and employed at McDonald’s.

Additional details about Goff’s 2025 arrest have not been made public.

A representative for Drummond did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

Goff’s latest reported legal trouble came on Sept. 15, when he was arrested at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and possessing 1.8 grams of methamphetamine.

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He also faced charges of attempting to elude police and possessing drug paraphernalia after authorities allegedly found a glass pipe in his possession.

Police reportedly found Goff shirtless and asleep near a fountain on campus. When officers spoke with him, he allegedly said he was waiting to be sold “ice,” a slang term for methamphetamine.

He was not initially detained, but officers later discovered that an outstanding warrant had been issued for his arrest.

As authorities attempted to take Goff into custody and bring him to a local hospital, he allegedly fled and struck one of the officers.

Goff was later booked into the Jefferson County Jail, where his bail was set at $37,000.

Drummond has not publicly addressed the allegations involving her foster son. She and her husband, Ladd Drummond, fostered Goff in 2018, when he was a teenager.

The Food Network star also shares children Alex, Paige, Bryce and Todd.

If you or someone you care about is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

OXFORD, Miss. – An Ole Miss student says she believes she was drugged at an Oxford bar over the weekend, just days before two students were found dead. The incidents have heightened concern across the college town, prompting local bars to increase security measures.

Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said investigators are examining the deaths of two college-aged people whose bodies were found at separate locations. Authorities have not identified a link between the cases, although packaged kratom bought from a retail store was recovered during both investigations.

“We do not have confirmed information indicating that kratom or any other substance was a contributing factor in either death,” the agency said.

Ole Miss student Mary Harvey told News Media that she went to Oxford bars Saturday night to watch the Rebels play Louisiana State University. She said she later realized she had been drugged and remembers little of the evening.

“Later into that night, around the time when the game ended, I do not remember a single thing. And I was told by a boy that was there that I fell down,” Harvey said.

Harvey said police placed her in an Uber and sent her to her dorm. Once she arrived, other students had to assist her in reaching her room.

“Later after that, my roommate got in the shower and she said while she was in the shower, I went missing. And she left the dorm to find me and was searching everywhere, searched every floor. But on her way back from searching, she found me passed out in the hall of my dorm,” Harvey said.

Harvey said she no longer feels “safe in my dorm building.” In a Facebook post, she wrote that “people are scared to leave their dorm rooms.”

“I feel like everything is just kind of getting swept under the rug and covered up when it should be addressed like immediately,” she said.

Ole Miss student Kenneth Tonos, who provides security for several campus fraternities and sororities, told News Media that at least three Greek life events were canceled after the two deaths. He said bars are also adding precautions, including stricter screening to monitor exactly what patrons bring inside.

A University of Mississippi spokesman told News Media that both people who died were enrolled as students at the university.

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Authorities are handling the deaths as separate investigations and have not determined whether drugs or another substance played a role. The county coroner’s office told Fox News on Wednesday that both victims were male. One was 18 and died in a dorm room; the other was 20 and died at an off-campus home.

The coroner’s office has not released their names. Toxicology testing remains pending and may take several weeks to complete.

Officials urged the public “to avoid speculation regarding the circumstances or cause of either death while these investigations remain ongoing.”

“Local, state and federal partners are working collaboratively to gather the facts and provide answers as quickly and responsibly as possible. We are also working closely with the families involved and ask that their privacy be respected during an incredibly difficult time,” Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said.

A University of Mississippi spokesman told News Media Wednesday that several viral claims about drugs on campus are untrue, including reports that additional students were missing or unaccounted for.

Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief Raegan Settle told News Media that she wants more transparency from campus officials after the deaths of two students and subsequent drug investigation, urging leadership to issue safety warnings as national media attention mounts.

“The one main thing that I’ve heard repeatedly today is students being frustrated with the university that they haven’t said more,” Settle told News Media. “I think people are just waiting for more warnings and communication from the university and not just local law enforcement.”

Settle urged her peers to carry life-saving harm reduction tools like naloxone (Narcan).

“Getting a high or getting a nicotine feel is really not worth your life and risking your safety,” Settle warned. “And also… be the one who keeps Narcan in your purse. I know that I keep it in mine just in case.”

News Media reached out to the Oxford Police Department and Ole Miss for comment.