A jury in Troy, Ohio needed barely two hours Tuesday to reject Caleb Flynn's story that an intruder shot his wife to death in their bed while he slept on the couch. Instead, they found the 40-year-old former worship pastor and one-time "American Idol" contestant guilty on all nine counts, including aggravated murder, in the shooting death of his wife, Ashley Flynn, 37.

Ashley, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach, was shot twice in the back of the head as she slept on Feb. 16 inside the family's home in Tipp City, just north of Dayton. Flynn called 911 that morning claiming a stranger had broken in, shot his wife, and fled — a story prosecutors say he spent hours staging, down to forcing open his own truck's console from the inside to fake signs of forced entry.

Texts, not testimony, sealed the case

The defense called no witnesses and argued the case was "wholly lacking" in physical proof tying Flynn to the trigger. Prosecutors leaned instead on a trail of text messages to his mistress, 24-year-old Alleigha Botner, a former intern at his church, including one reading "I need her to die" sent months before the killing, and another describing staying up until 4 a.m. "trying to think of ways to kill her." Phone data also showed Flynn was awake and moving around the house in the hours before the shooting, directly contradicting his account of sleeping through it.

"He had a lawful way to leave, but he was too greedy. People lie. Evidence doesn't."

That line, from prosecutor Paul Watkins, became the case's defining moment, according to courtroom coverage from the Dayton Daily News. FBI investigators testified they found no pry or kick marks consistent with a forced entry, and that gouge marks on the door frame ran the wrong direction for an outside break-in. Phone records, prosecutors added, turned up no evidence supporting Flynn's later claim that Ashley herself had been having an affair.

Flynn and Ashley had two young daughters, one of whom was reportedly in a nearby room the night of the killing. Flynn shook his head and sobbed as the verdict was read before he was handcuffed and led from the courtroom. His attorney, Patrick Mulligan, said the defense plans to appeal.

Ashley's family, in a statement read by the prosecutor's office, said the verdict "brings justice and accountability for Ashley's death, and our family is deeply grateful," while acknowledging "no verdict can bring Ashley back." Flynn, who auditioned for "American Idol" in Chicago in 2013 but did not advance, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole given the jury's firearm-enhancement findings on seven of the nine counts. Sentencing is set for Oct. 5 at the Miami County Courthouse.