COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former music pastor in Ohio who appeared briefly on “ American Idol ” was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after a jury convicted him last week of murdering his wife while he was having an affair.

The judge said Caleb Flynn, 40, used his Christian faith to manipulate others and showed no remorse for actions marked by “layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty.”

With tears rolling down his cheeks, Flynn apologized to his family just before being sentenced, starting with his two young daughters, who were home when he shot his wife in her sleep. He called their births the “greatest joy in this life.”

Although he said he accepted responsibility for his words and decisions, Flynn remained adamant that he was innocent.

“As I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife,” he said.

Prosecutors said Flynn staged a home invasion in February and claimed a burglar killed his wife, Ashley Flynn, a 37-year-old schoolteacher and volleyball coach. In his 2013 appearance on “American Idol,” Flynn credited his wife with encouraging him to chase his dreams on the singing contest. He did not advance to the main competition in Hollywood.

During the trial, Flynn didn’t testify on his own behalf, nor did anybody else.

Family members, including Ashley’s parents, spoke in favor of the harsh sentence Monday, while saying they had forgiven Flynn because they didn’t want her legacy to be hatred.

Her sister, Kayla Keyt, said Flynn’s actions have scarred their entire church community, prompting children to run into their parents’ bedrooms to make sure their fathers haven’t killed their mothers.

As a family member read a statement written by his daughter Ava, Flynn sobbed uncontrollably as a pile of tissues grew on the defense table in front of him. At one point, it appeared he might fall over.

“Mommy was the perfect person,” her statement said. “The absolute perfect person. What did she ever do to you to make you hate her so much?” In her statement, his daughter Alyssa said she wouldn’t visit him in prison.

During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Flynn wanted out of his marriage when he shot his wife at their house in Tipp City, a suburb north of Dayton. He sent a text message to his lover the night before the shooting, saying, “I choose you. I’m free. Actions will come tomorrow,” prosecutors said.

During the trial, Alleigha Botner testified she met Flynn in 2022 while she was a 20-year-old intern at his church and had an affair with him for more than a year. She told jurors that Flynn said he hated his wife and had thoughts of killing her.

The gun used to kill Ashley Flynn was not found at the scene, and his attorney told jurors that investigators found no evidence that Caleb Flynn fired a gun that day. Prosecutors said his fingerprints and DNA were at the scene and that his devices showed him moving around the house, even though he claimed he was asleep at the time of the shooting.

The jury found him guilty of multiple counts, including murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence.

BOSTON (AP) — Authorities on Sunday suspended the search off the Massachusetts coast for six people on an air ambulance that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.

The U.S. Coast Guard said authorities searched more than 4,400 miles (7,081 kilometers) over a span of 66 hours for the four Canadians and two people from Bermuda who were on board.

“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard’s northeast district, said in a statement. “We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the tragedy and our gratitude for our partner agencies who helped support search efforts.”

The Federal Aviation Administration contacted the Coast Guard at 2 a.m. Saturday that it had lost contact with the Gulfstream G100 carrying six people over the Atlantic Ocean. Searchers later Saturday found a “debris field” off the coast of Nantucket, Lake had said at a news conference on Sunday.

Coast Guard crews along with the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Wing and Massachusetts authorities searched a vast area using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, boats and cutters.

The depth of the water around the debris field was 80 to 90 feet (about 24 to 27 meters).

The Canadian-registered air ambulance jet had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport for the nighttime flight to Massachusetts, according to a statement from the Bermuda airport’s operator, Skyport.

Air traffic audio indicates that the plane may have been “coming in blind” when a storm loomed ahead shortly before it vanished.

The pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency as the jet approached the coast, according to air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net. “Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” a controller can be heard asking the pilot.

That makes Mary Schiavo, who is a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department, think the plane may have lost its navigational instruments just as a storm moved across its path on radar. The plane also descended sharply from its cruising altitude of around 24,000 feet to around 10,000 feet, according to preliminary data from flight tracking site FlightRadar24.

“Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It’s a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” said Schiavo, who is an aviation attorney. “It’s very easy to get disoriented and not know if you’re turning, climbing, descending, etc.”