Caleb Flynn’s two young daughters confronted their father with devastating questions as relatives read their letters aloud in court, just before the former “American Idol” singer was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of their mother, Ashley Flynn.

Alyssa, 12, and Ava, 10, wrote about the loss of the woman they described as the center of their lives—and about the betrayal they felt after learning that their own father had been convicted of killing her.

Their letters were read during Flynn’s sentencing hearing in an Ohio courtroom on October 5, leaving Flynn in tears.

“Mommy was the perfect person, the absolute perfect person,” Ava wrote. “What did she ever do to make you hate her so much?”

Flynn convicted of murdering his wife

Flynn was found guilty on September 29 of murdering Ashley Flynn, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach.

The case began on February 16, when officers were called to the Flynn family home in Ohio following a report of a burglary. During a 911 call, Caleb Flynn told dispatchers that his wife had been shot by an intruder.

According to police interviews played during the trial, Flynn claimed he had been sleeping on the couch when he was awakened by gunshots.

Authorities never recovered the weapon used to kill Ashley.

Prosecutors argued that the burglary was staged to make it appear that an outsider had entered the home and committed the killing. They also presented text messages in which Flynn had discussed thoughts of killing his wife with his then-mistress, Alleigha Botner.

His daughters confronted him over their mother’s death

The letters written by Alyssa and Ava were described by their uncle as coming “straight from the heart, totally unedited.”

The girls are now being raised by their maternal aunt and uncle, Kayla and Matthew Keyt. Kayla is Ashley Flynn’s sister.

Ava wrote about the care and love her mother had given to the family before turning directly to her father.

“She took care of you,” Ava wrote. “She loved you with all her heart. She was my best friend. And then you chose to kill the only mother I ever had.”

Alyssa also expressed her love for her father while condemning what she believed he had done.

“I love you deeply with all my heart and it’s sad that you can’t love anyone but yourself,” she wrote.

The sisters also referred to Flynn’s affair with Botner, who testified during the trial about her relationship with him.

“Did you really even think about how much pain you would bring your own two daughters?” Alyssa wrote.

She also accused her father of throwing away his family for a woman “who was half your age.”

Mistress testified during the trial

Botner, who was 24 at the time of the case, testified that she had been involved in an affair with Flynn when Ashley was killed.

She told the court that she deleted text messages Flynn had sent her on the night of the murder. She also acknowledged that she had wanted Ashley dead.

Botner later told the court that she hated Flynn because she believed he had murdered his wife.

Legal experts previously told NBC News that Botner was unlikely to face criminal charges in connection with Ashley’s death. She has not made a public statement since Flynn’s conviction.

Flynn continues to deny killing Ashley

Despite the guilty verdict, Flynn maintained his innocence during his sentencing hearing.

In an emotional statement addressed to his family and Ashley’s relatives, he acknowledged that he had said terrible things about his wife but insisted that he had not killed her.

“What I am most ashamed of and I regret most of all is the awful things I said about Ashley,” Flynn said. “I loved her and loved her. She is, was my wife. She was beautiful and amazing in countless ways.”

Flynn admitted that he had “lied about a lot of things over the last couple of years,” but said he was telling the truth when he denied killing Ashley.

“I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife. I will continue to fight for my innocence as long as the Lord allows me to, since I did not kill my wife,” he said.

He then turned his attention to his daughters, telling them how much he loved them.

“I never knew that love this fierce was possible until the moment that I held you for the first time,” Flynn said. “Please know your daddy is so proud of you and loves you beyond what words can describe.”

His daughters urged him to repent

The girls’ letters also reflected their religious upbringing and their desire for their father to acknowledge what they believed he had done.

Ava urged Flynn to seek forgiveness from Jesus, while making clear that she understood repentance would not change his prison sentence.

“Please tell Jesus that you’re sorry,” she wrote, adding that it would not alter his punishment but would determine his “eternal reward someday.”

Alyssa’s letter was even more personal as she described the emotional damage she said her father had caused.

“You truly don’t understand how much you hurt my life, and I wish you could feel the pain I have been through,” she wrote.

She said discovering that her father had been convicted of killing her mother was shocking and had made her feel that she could no longer trust him.

Her final words to Flynn were blunt: “And by the way, I don’t plan on coming to see you.”

Ashley’s sister speaks about the family’s pain

Kayla Keyt also addressed the court, speaking about the lasting consequences of Flynn’s actions and the public nature of the case.

She said the “evil and vile things” Flynn had said about Ashley and the family could never be completely erased because they were now online.

“We cannot erase the internet,” Keyt said.

She warned that one day Alyssa and Ava might search for their mother or father online and encounter details about the worst night of their lives—information the family had tried to shield them from.

Despite her anger and grief, Keyt said her faith had led her to forgive Flynn.

“I forgive you because I refuse to allow what you did to destroy another part of my life by filling my heart with hatred and bitterness,” she said.

Judge condemns “deceit, manipulation and cruelty”

Judge Jeannine Pratt also delivered a pointed assessment of Flynn’s conduct during sentencing.

“The layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty are hard to fathom,” she said.

The judge also accused Flynn of using his faith to manipulate other people’s lives.

For Alyssa and Ava, however, the sentencing hearing was about far more than the punishment handed down to their father. Their letters laid bare the personal consequences of Ashley Flynn’s death: two young girls growing up without their mother and struggling to understand how the person they trusted as their father could become responsible for her murder.