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CNN Headlines: Tearful Caleb Flynn Sentence To Life In Prison Without Parole Over Wife's Murder; Sources: Co-Pilot Likely Wanted To Target Israel's Ben Gurion Airport; Dozens Quarantined After Researcher At Russian Plague Lab Dies Of "Unknown" Infection. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 06, 2026 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[05:30:25]

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: It is half past the hour. Let's hit the refresh button on our top stories.

Former "AMERICAN IDOL" contestant Caleb Flynn has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing his wife. Prosecutors say that the 40-year-old shot Ashley Flynn after carrying on a nearly two- year affair with a 24-year-old worship leader at their church. They also say that he staged the scene to look like an intruder killer her. The judge heard emotional impact statements, including letters from the couple's daughters. Flynn denies the charges.

And outrage and demands for action at Cornell University as school leaders respond to how allegations of a 2024 gang rape was investigated. Hundreds gathering to show solidarity with Jane Doe and the faculty Senate preparing for a no-confidence vote against university administrators. Frustrations on full display Monday night as students and community members chanted "shame" and resigned. This case has drawn increasing attention since Jane Doe filed her lawsuit last month. The accused men deny any wrongdoing.

And with only four weeks left until the midterm elections, President Trump is in the middle of a multi-state blitz to rally supporters as the map of battleground states shows Democrats running strong even in red states.

At a stop in Nebraska, the president signed an executive order aimed at bringing down the near-record prices on diesel fuel. Trump also repeated promises that he's made multiple times but has yet to deliver on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right?

(Cheers) And it's going to end one way or the other. It's going to end very soon, and your prices are going to come tumbling. All your prices have been tumbling down. But it'll end very quickly and prices are going to come down very sharply. You might say, "Please, please, sir, it's going down too fast." You watch. You watch what's going to happen in a very short period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance was campaigning in Alaska Monday for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, saying he needs him in Washington, D.C.

Former President Barack Obama is heading to swing states to help push Democratic candidates across the finish line in the midterms. He'll join Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed at a rally in Detroit later this month. El-Sayed is in a tight race with Republican Mike Rogers that will help determine control of the Senate. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson will also attend. Obama is expected to make more campaign stops and appear in ads for Democrats leading up to Election Day.

Former "AMERICAN IDOL" contestant Caleb Flynn couldn't hold back the tears during his sentencing hearing Monday as he learned his fate for the murder of his wife. Flynn, who claims his innocence, sobbed as his young daughter's scathing victim impact statements were read.

CNN's Sherrell Hubbard reports with more.

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SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Defiant until the bitter end, Caleb Flynn, fighting through tears, continued denying that he murdered his wife on February 16.

CALEB FLYNN, SENTENCE TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER OF WIFE ASHLEY: I did not kill my wife.

HUBBARD (voiceover): Despite the denial, Flynn was sentenced to life in prison without parole, the maximum possible sentence. A jury last month found him guilty on multiple charges, including aggravated murder, murder, felony murder, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence.

JUDGE JEANNINE PRATT, MIAMI COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, OHIO: Your actions, Mr. Flynn, were abhorrent.

HUBBARD (voiceover): Prosecutors said Flynn killed his wife and staged the crime scene. They pointed to Flynn's affair with a fellow worship leader at his church as motive, saying Flynn believed if he could frame a faceless intruder for his wife's death, he could keep his relationship with his mistress and his job and custody of his daughters.

A sobbing Flynn had a message for those daughters Monday.

FLYNN: There's so much I wish I could be there for.

HUBBARD (voiceover): Flynn's daughters, just 10 and 12 years old, issued scathing statements.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "You truly don't understand how much you hurt my life. And by the way, I don't plan on coming to see you."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Dear Daddy, how could you do such a thing?"

HUBBARD (voiceover): Several of Ashley Flynn's family members gave victim impact statements. They remembered her as a mother, daughter, and a lover of God and said that while they wanted Caleb sentenced to the fullest extent of the law, they forgive him.

TODD FLYNN, ASHLEY FLYNN'S FATHER: We will not let anger or bitterness consume the wonderful memory of Ash.

[05:35:00]

HUBBARD (voiceover): I'm Sherrell Hubbard reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Well, President Trump has approved a firing squad for the execution of the soldier convicted of the deadly mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. This would be the Army's first use of this execution method on a soldier since World War II. Nadal Hasan said he was targeting his fellow military members before they were set to deploy to Afghanistan in order to protect the Taliban and its leaders. Thirteen people were killed and 32 others were injured.

We return back to this top story as Cornell University's handling of an alleged gang rape investigation back in 2024 is triggering calls for change now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame!

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SMITH: Protesters say the university must do more when students come forward with allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When someone comes forward with a story like Jane Doe did, it should be taken with the seriousness that it's being taken with now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We stand with Jane Doe, but also, we stand with, um, taking more measures to prevent this from happening in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Now meanwhile, members of Cornell's faculty Senate are calling for a vote of no confidence against the school's administration. CNN has reached out to Cornell for comment on that.

There's also newly obtained documents showing campus police drafted requests to preserve phone records about a week after the accuser reported the alleged assault, but the local D.A. says his office never got any phone records.

CNN's Jason Carroll has more on that aspect.

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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Protests across Cornell's campus today over how the university handled the investigation of an alleged rape case at the Chi Phi fraternity house two years ago. This as secret audio recordings of a phone call between Jane Doe, the woman who said she was raped, and a fraternity member she went to see the night of the alleged attack were obtained by ABC News.

FRATERNITY BOTHER: You want me to give my recollection of the entire night?

CARROLL (voiceover): According to ABC, the call was recorded by Jane Doe three weeks after the alleged assault where she told the fraternity members she spent time in the emergency room and in therapy because "There's so much damage on my body and my brain. If I just know what happened, then I can feel a little bit better and move on and maybe be able to stay at this school." In the recorded call she also said "What y'all did would be classified as gang rape." And "You already knew when I came in, I was 10 shots deep."

The fraternity member recounted it differently.

FRATERNITY BROTHER: You did tell me you were sober by the way. You said you hadn't been anywhere.

CARROLL (voiceover): ABC reported that Jane Doe pushed back, saying, "That is not true. I never would have said that." And she wanted to know how they ended up in a threesome with another fraternity member.

FRATERNITY BROTHER: So you come in, say hi. We start dancing for like maybe three to five minutes, and then I pop the question. You say yes. Then I remember, like, we didn't know who else to bring, so I go up to (redacted) who was on the dance floor too, and I pop the question and he's like, "Yo," and then we go upstairs.

CARROLL (voiceover): Jane Doe continued to ask how so many people ended up in the room.

FRATERNITY BROTHER: I have racked my brain for this mystery. You know, it's possible that both of us, like, remember this and it's not true.

CARROLL (voiceover): According to ABC, again, Jane Doe pushed back, saying, "No, no, because I remember looking up and being like, that is too many people."

ABC News says that in that same call, the fraternity member never mentions to Jane Doe the Snapchat message inviting others to join in that night.

Jane Doe's attorney told CNN he's thankful information's being leaked, though he's concerned evidence of cell phone pics may have been lost.

THOMAS GIUFFRA, JANE DOE'S ATTORNEY: I think they're in the bottom of Lake Cuyahoga, because once they knew there was a problem, they cleared everything out and they got rid of it. And the fact is that the investigators let that happen.

CARROLL (voiceover): Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: All right. Thank you, Jason.

If you or anyone you know is struggling after a sexual assault, you are not alone. Free, confidential 24/7 support is online at RAINN.org. That's RAINN with two Ns. Or you can call 800-656-HOPE.

New York's governor declared a statewide disaster emergency over a measles outbreak. This is the first declaration by a U.S. state since cases began surging last year. The state also expanded the pool of health professionals allowed to give out the MMR vaccine. Officials have reported at least 108 measles cases this year in New York, most of them in rural communities. According to the CDC, the U.S. is having its worst year for the measles since 1991.

[05:40:00]

The co-pilot accused of trying to hijack a Flydubai flight last week was likely targeting Israel's Ben Gurion Airport. This is according to sources. Now we're also learning from a regional diplomatic source that Flydubai did not reach out to the suspect's previous employer, Oman Air, before hiring him.

For more details, here's CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: This is obviously still a developing investigation, and we are seeing the twists and turns happen in real time. But the latest information that we have, according to an Israeli official and an Israeli source familiar with the matter, is that it appears that this suspect, the co-pilot -- the Omani copilot on this flight -- likely wanted to target Israel's Ben Gurion airport.

And so, while initially, clearly, the plane was starting to go down, there were questions about whether or not he wanted to simply crash the plane where he was at the moment, which was over the Arabian desert. Now investigators are now indicating that it was likely he wanted to take that plane further and cause more casualties beyond simply the 170-plus passengers who were on that flight.

Now, we know that Israeli officials are receiving regular updates from Emirati investigators. He is, of course, still in Emirati custody, but there is a close security partnership between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. And so Israel does have some window into how this investigation is proceeding.

We also know that the Australian Federal Police and New Zealand Police have also been looking into this suspect in this case because apparently, he had spent some time in both Australia and New Zealand.

Here in Israel the questions are really turning not just to, you know, the suspect and how he got on this plane, but also to the security failures that led to this situation. Last week we had a lot of focus on the heroic passengers on this plane who prevented an absolute catastrophe from taking place -- a catastrophe that we're still starting to grasp the potential scale of. But now the questions are really turning to the failures internally in Israel as well, including at the Ministry of Transportation, which would have been responsible for vetting the pilots on these planes from foreign aircraft flying into Israel.

Apparently, the Israel Tax Authority would have received the names of these pilots, but the Ministry of Transportation said its procedures did not include checking the names of flight crew members, which is obviously a glaring oversight here.

So a lot of questions being asked here in Israel about this Israeli government, the Ministry of Transportation, and these clear warning signs across the board that were missed or simply procedures that were not abided by.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: All right. A lot to continue to track in that investigation. Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

Next up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, check this out. Hundreds of exotic animals discovered in a car at a port where police say the suspect was trying to take them. We've got that story on the other side of the break.

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[05:47:28]

SMITH: Well, dozens of people are reportedly in isolation after the death of a lab worker at a plague research lab in Siberia. And now the World Health Organization wants answers from Russia, but they say the risk to public health appears to be low based on the information currently available.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen tells us what we do know right now.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia is facing a possible plague scare, and all of this comes after a 28-year- old female lab worker working at a lab dedicated to combating the plague died of what Russian authorities call pneumonia with an unknown cause.

Now, the Russian Agency for Combating Infectious Diseases is cautioning and saying it's completely unclear whether or not this lab worker died of the plague. In fact, in a statement, they say, "No microorganisms associated with the employee's professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient. However the governor of the neighboring province did say that possibly the patient died of the plague and the head of Russia's agency for infectious diseases also rushed down to that region.

The Russians have also started what they call anti-epidemic measures. That includes, first and foremost, quarantines and that means isolating people who had contact with this patient. They also say that they've essentially shut down the hospital where the patient died and that as of right now, inpatients in that hospital are not being allowed out. And of course, no new patients are being admitted to that hospital. Some other hospitals in that area apparently also in a state of quarantine.

Now the Kremlin also has commented on all of this. They said they didn't want to say too much, but they did caution against believing what they call rumors and speculation. And the World Health Organization says they believe, as of right now, the risk of all of this spreading and becoming a bigger problem is low. Nevertheless, folks that CNN spoke to in that region said they were somewhat uneasy.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Let's go around the globe to see what else is making headlines today.

In France, the government is calling for calm as students protest for the third week. Students have been demonstrating against teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and rundown schools. More than 4,000 teenagers have been arrested since the protests began.

[05:50:05]

And take a look at this. Police in Italy seized hundreds of exotic live animals from a car at a port in Sicily. The animals included 77 parrots, 300 tortoises also in tow, and police say that the suspect was trying to smuggle them to Malta on Sunday. Many of the animals are endangered species protected from export by the Washington Convention. Italian authorities say that the animals are now being cared for in a suitable facility.

All right. It's one last tango for the GOATs. Later today, Lionel Messi will play his last game with Argentina's national soccer team. The final whistle will mark the end of an international career spanning more than two decades. Messi announced his international retirement in August, shortly after leading his country to another historic World Cup final.

Well, still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, a hiker gets lost several miles from a trail. How rescuers were able to find him in the dark and rough weather.

Plus, a recall to tell you about -- this one of packaged frozen berries. We're going to tell you what's wrong next and what to look out for.

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[05:55:45]

SMITH: In today's Money Express, a major deal is expected to close. Paramount and CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, set to merge into a single media giant.

Maribel Aber joins us from the NASDAQ MarketSite with more details. Maribel, what do we know?

MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, MONEY MATTERS: OK, Brad.

The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is set to close today, creating a combined media company called Skydance. CNN chairman and editor-in-chief Mark Thompson will remain in his role, reporting to Skydance CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. As part of the merger, an editorial board will be formed to address concerns about undue influence on CNN and Paramount-owned CBS News. Skydance faces pressure to reduce heavy debt once the deal closes, but no specific job cuts have been announced.

Millions of people who use the Flo period tracking app could be eligible for part of a nearly $60 million settlement. The lawsuit accuses Flo of violating users' privacy by sharing sensitive health data with third parties, including Google and Meta. Now, Flo does not admit any wrongdoing. The settlement covers people who actively used the app between November 2016 and February 2019 and entered menstruation or pregnancy information. The deadline to file a claim is October 15. Instructions and other details can be found at periodtrackerdataprivacylitigation.com.

And frozen berries sold at Trader Joe's and Walmart stores are being recalled because of possible E. coli contamination. GreenWise brand frozen blueberries and mixed berries have been pulled from shelves across dozens of states. Seventeen illnesses have been reported so far, including six hospitalizations. The FDA urges customers to check their freezers and throw the berries away or return them for a refund. Batch details and more can be found on the FDA's website -- Brad.

SMITH: All right. I know the first thing I'm doing when I get home. Maribel Aber, thank you.

Well, the cost crisis is causing a crunch in the Halloween candy aisle, and we don't mean those chocolate bars. CNN's Ivan Rodriguez explains what's behind the creeping costs and what might wind up in this year's Halloween haul.

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IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): That bag of Halloween candy may look sweet, but the price might make you scream.

STEW LEONARD JR., PRESIDENT, STEW LEONARD'S GROCERY STORE CHAIN: Everybody's feeling the pinch today because of the inflation.

RODRIGUEZ (voiceover): The Bureau of Labor Statistics found candy and chewing gum prices rose 32 percent from December 2019 to November 2024. The materials used to make that candy rose even more, 87.6 percent. Collapsing cocoa production, weather disruptions to sugar crops, keeping candy prices sticky even as inflation for sweet treats has slowed this year.

For retailers like Stew Leonard Jr., some familiar favorites become a harder sell.

LEONARD: And it has driven chocolate prices up. But you know what? Everybody still loves these little Snicker bars and the Milky Ways -- and, you know, those things are just like a tradition.

RODRIGUEZ (voiceover): But prices aren't scaring everyone away. A survey from the National Confectioners Association says 81 percent of Americans plan to participate in Halloween this year.

CARLY SCHILDHAUS, NATIONAL CONFECTIONER'S ASSOCIATION: Americans are incredibly enthusiastic about the Halloween season. They are looking for reasons to celebrate and to incorporate chocolate and candy into their celebrations.

RODRIGUEZ (voiceover): Their survey also finds 94 percent of parents plan to celebrate Halloween with their children, and the industry says it's responding with more options to make it affordable and respond to consumer demand.

SCHILDHAUS: The confectionary industry is known for innovation and what that looks like is not just exciting treats, but also offering a range of options for people, whether that is a dietary need or preference, a flavor preference, a candy type preference.

RODRIGUEZ (voiceover): I'm Ivan Rodriguez reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: Let's get a check in on some of the other stories making news across the country.

We start in Ohio. Police in Dayton say that they found five children living inside a boarded up house all alone. Officers were called for a welfare check last week and say the children were between four and 12 years old. Investigators say there appeared to be no food and no power inside the home. The children were taken to a hospital to be checked out.

[06:00:00]

And in Georgia, a hiker got lost over the weekend leading to this rescue found several miles off a trail in a ravine. Emergency management crews realized things would get difficult with the darkness setting in and the changing weather, so they called for a helicopter to come hoist him out. What a rescue there.

That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.