When Miami law enforcement showed up at Courtney Clenney’s condominium on the afternoon of April 3, officers said they located her keeping her bleeding boyfriend in her arms.
Christian Obumseli, 27, who had been stabbed in the chest, was pronounced dead at close by Jackson Memorial Medical center. Clenney, 26, was billed with his murder past week, the alleged culmination of what investigators explained in their arrest warrant affidavit as an progressively “violent and toxic” marriage.
The design — who goes by Courtney Tailor on OnlyFans and Instagram, in which she’s followed by 2 million men and women — has maintained that she acted in self-defense.
But authorities allege in the affidavit attained by E! News that, although equally get-togethers participated in “many incidents of domestic violence” since November 2020, it was Clenney’s behavior that escalated and eventually resulted in murder.
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Contacting the prices an “absolute injustice,” Clenney’s attorney Frank Andrew Prieto instructed E! Information when his customer was arrested in Hawaii on Aug. 10, there was “apparent proof” that she experienced been defending herself on the night in query.
“Obumseli attacked her and choked her that night Courtney had no selection but to fulfill pressure with power,” Prieto reported. In addition, he extra, Clenney experienced been entirely cooperative with legislation enforcement and would have been ready to self-surrender to authorities “in an energy to start the authorized process of clearing her of the expenses.”
“Courtney was in Hawaii trying to get remedy for her PTSD and relevant issues to this situation,” the lawyer ongoing. They would “vigorously defend Courtney,” he explained, “and obvious her of this unfounded and baseless demand.”
Clenney was denied bail and remains jailed in Hawaii on a count of next-diploma murder with a fatal weapon, pending extradition. Her first court docket listening to in Miami is scheduled for Sept. 12.
In a statement posted to social media, Obumseli’s brother, Jeffrey Obumseli, called Clenney’s arrest “development.”
On her OnlyFans page (which is presently inactive), Clenney — as Courtney Tailor — explained herself as a “proud Texan” and “whole-time health and fitness product and foodie.” Along with her dogs, Jesse and Ranger, “I just moved to Miami so I need your beneficial vibes! Scary Massive transform for this lil texas female.”
“Generating new stomping grounds,” she captioned an Instagram image geotagged in Miami on Jan. 14.
Authorities explained she and Obumseli dated for extra than two a long time before he died. Mates of the pair stated that they met in Austin and moved to Florida together.
They had been dwelling at the Just one Paraiso Residences, a luxurious creating in Miami, in a three-bed room device on the 22nd flooring with a watch of Biscayne Bay.
The “We in Miami” podcast produced a clip on April 8 of what was described as an job interview with Clenney recorded “months prior to” the stabbing. In reaction to the host’s observation that she looked as if she only dated wealthy fellas, Clenney stated, “Allow me explain: I only day rich Black fellas.”
She also said that she designed “a lot” from OnlyFans each and every thirty day period, replying “yeah” when the host guessed 6 figures. “It is really not as well poor,” she reported. “I am grateful.”
In accordance to the August 2022 arrest warrant affidavit, Clenney was beforehand arrested in Las Vegas in July 2021 on suspicion of domestic battery versus Obumseli throughout an argument at the Cosmopolitan resort. She was booked into Clark County Detention Center and admitted to throwing a glass in the path of his head and getting thrown objects at him ahead of, for each Las Vegas Metropolitan Police data, but the Clark County D.A. dropped the circumstance the following month.
Incidents of violence concerning the pair began escalating with Clenney “throwing and/or using weapons on numerous situations,” the affidavit states. According to investigators, A single Paraiso stability and other employees documented numerous complaints from fellow tenants as significantly as two flooring previously mentioned the couple’s device, and there experienced been “so a lot of incidents of arguing” that administration was “going towards legal motion” to evict the pair.
Safety digital camera footage that was released by the Miami-Dade Point out Attorney’s Place of work demonstrates an altercation that transpired among the pair on Feb. 21 inside the elevator at the One particular Paraiso.
In the 66-second online video attained by E! Information, Clenney receives into the elevator and starts off jabbing at the touch-display quantities, then smacks the panel as Obumseli joins her inside.
She proceeds to strike him with an open up palm on his shoulder and swats and pushes at him a few more occasions (they look to be exchanging words, but you will find no audio), then grabs and pulls on his hair from the again of his head. He holds up his arm seemingly to ward her off, then utilizes one arm to pin her to his side so she cannot go her arms for a several seconds whilst he punches a quantity on the monitor, then lets her go. She starts smacking at him yet again and he puts his palms up, at some point appearing to press her towards the other facet of the elevator. Her hand will make call with his deal with yet again proper ahead of the doorways open, and then she smacks at his back with both equally fingers as she follows him out.
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An OnlyFans and Instagram product with a significant social media next is now experiencing a murder charge in the lethal stabbing of her boyfriend.
“The defendant was aggressively attacking Christian,” Miami-Dade State Lawyer Kathie Fernandez Rundle informed reporters of the scene unfolding in the video clip, at an Aug. 11 push meeting, for the duration of which she identified as their connection “very tempestuous and combative.”
“The violent and toxic two-12 months romantic relationship of Christian Obumseli and Courtney Clenney did not have to finish in tragedy with Christian’s murder as a victim of domestic violence,” Rundle stated.
Prieto identified as the video clip “irrelevant and probably inadmissible.”
“The video does not depict the activities major up to what was captured in the elevator,” he explained in a assertion after its release. “Obumseli was the abuser, the worst variety of abuser. He would manipulate and abuse Courtney in non-public when he thought nobody was all over.”
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Larry Handfield, an attorney representing Obumseli’s family, countered that the video clip from the elevator “was just an isolated glimpse of a sample of perform that was demonstrated by the defendant in this case.”
Given that relocating into the One particular Paraiso in January, the duo had separated “several instances,” investigators famous in the arrest affidavit, most lately in March when Clenney manufactured Obumseli depart though her mother, Deborah Clenney, was in city from Texas. When mother still left, Obumseli moved back in on April 1, and “arguments began virtually promptly,” the affidavit specifics, resulting in Clenney calling police–who, in convert, observed that she “appeared intoxicated” when she manufactured her report. No arrests had been produced.
The Miami Herald documented in April that some sources were indicating Clenney and Obumseli have been damaged up when he died but he held returning to the making in any case, though other folks explained to the paper they ended up even now collectively.
Key fob records reviewed by investigators showed that Obumseli went out at all-around 1:15 p.m. and arrived back again at their setting up at 4:32 p.m. with sandwiches from Subway, per the affidavit. At the very same time, Clenney was wrapping up an Instagram online video, putting up shortly before Obumseli returned. She referred to as him at 4:01 p.m. and once more at 4:33, correct prior to he walked in the doorway.
Her previous Instagram submit is what appears to be a dwell Q&A she shared as a Reel on April 3.
Deborah told police in a recorded statement that she talked to her daughter on the telephone two times in between 4:43 p.m. and 4:56 p.m. She reported she heard Clenney yelling at Obumseli to depart and accusing him of “lying.” Deborah did not say anything at all to police about her daughter becoming attacked or claiming she was attacked.
Investigators concluded, per the affidavit, that Obumseli was stabbed sometime in the course of that 13-minute window.
At 4:57 p.m., Clenney named 911. Per the affidavit, she was listened to on the phone indicating, “I am so sorry, newborn,” and a gentleman could be listened to in the history indicating he could not sense his arm and he was dying.
(In the meantime, neighbors had named creating protection to report a disturbance, and security subsequently called 911 as perfectly at 4:46 p.m.)
Clenney advised police that Obumseli had shoved her against the wall by the neck, then threw her to the floor. When she got up, she said, she grabbed a kitchen knife and threw it at him from at least 10 toes away, piercing his upper body.
Noting that she ultimately delivered law enforcement with “several inconsistent accounts” of occasions, the arrest affidavit states that Clenney also instructed police, “I actually don’t know if this was justified at all.” Investigators also noted that she did not have any injuries to reveal she was attacked.
In an April 8 assertion, Miami Dade Law enforcement relayed that Obumseli and Clenney experienced a “physical altercation” the night time he died. She was interviewed by law enforcement and subsequently introduced.
“When the investigation is accomplished, the Condition Attorney’s Business office will review the police department’s evidentiary presentation and acquire acceptable legal action in accordance with the regulation,” prosecutors reported at the time.
Meanwhile, Obumseli’s family was not acquiring Clenney’s model of occasions.
“We have every rationale to believe that that his dying was the end result of unwarranted and unprovoked violence,” Jeff Obumseli wrote in a statement posted to social media April 10. “We want to see that justice is served.”
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Referring to aged tweets of Obumseli’s that resurfaced in the wake of his death that ended up disparaging towards Black girls, Jeff wrote, “As a family members, we strongly disagree with the ignorant and repulsive tweets from my then-higher school aged brother that have lately surfaced. On the other hand, the tweets do not diminish our need for a thorough investigation into Toby’s murder or negate the requirement for justice.” (Toby is short for Obumseli’s middle name, Tobechukwu.)
In the statement, Jeff also accused law enforcement of managing Clenney in different ways because of to her “privilege as a wealthy white woman. Within just 24 several hours pursuing Toby’s dying, the detective on the circumstance prematurely concluded this was not a criminal offense of violence. But the information and facts presented is deficient and the absence of transparency strongly implies foul engage in is included.”
Miami detectives reported in the days pursuing Obumseli’s loss of life that they were being actively investigating what occurred.
Handfield, the family’s attorney, told Rolling Stone the killing was “unprovoked” and, “to include insult to injuries, the particular person accountable for killing [Obumseli] is going for walks around totally free and has not been arrested for triggering the loss of life of this young gentleman.” He also alleged that the person in question was getting “exclusive cure.”
Prieto, Clenney’s lawyer, stated in a statement acquired by E! Information on April 14 that creating accusations about exclusive remedy was “irresponsible.”
“There is skilled and sizeable proof that Courtney is the sufferer of domestic violence,” Prieto mentioned. “There is no doubt the two of them had a tumultuous relationship also, there is proof that Courtney was a victim of physical, psychological, and mental abuse at the arms of Obumseli. That evening was no various and Courtney had the suitable to defend herself out of fear for her life.”
At the identical time, he explained, Clenney was “filled with complete grief and despair” in excess of Obumseli’s demise.
She “is mourning the reduction of Mr. Obumseli, in personal, out of respect for his family,” Prieto reported. “There is almost nothing we can say to alleviate the agony his relatives is going by way of having said that, their calls for justice and an arrest in this subject are misplaced.”
The lawyer also informed the Miami Herald, “This is a tragedy for all associated, but it was not felony perform. Courtney was defending herself and the investigation will reveal accurately that.”
An autopsy performed by Miami-Dade County Chief Healthcare Examiner Kenneth Hutchins identified, on the other hand, that the knife experienced fatally punctured an artery in Obumseli’s upper body. Hutchins concluded that the wound could not have been produced the way Clenney reported it was, but rather by a “forceful downward thrust.” He ruled the loss of life a homicide.
Miami police offered these findings to the Point out Attorney’s business and the investigation kicked into a new gear, in accordance to the arrest affidavit, ensuing in all of the aforementioned information about Obumseli and Clenney’s relationship.
When Clenney was charged, Handfield instructed CBS Miami, “We generally thought that with a extensive and honest investigation that this day would become a truth. This is these a reduction for the spouse and children, but it provides restored hope that even while delayed, justice will still arrive.”
In an overall look on “Dr. Phil” in May possibly (prior to the health-related examiner’s conclusions were unveiled), Handfield and customers of Obumseli’s spouse and children reiterated their beliefs that Obumseli was the one particular getting abused.
His cousin Karen Egbuna recalled him getting “seriously fired up” when he fulfilled Clenney, but “when they commenced relationship, Toby stopped coming all around.”
Requested if Obumseli experienced a historical past of staying violent, including with earlier girlfriends, they all shook their heads.
