An Instagram influencer has been charged with murder after allegedly fatally stabbing her boyfriend inside a luxury Miami high-rise in April.
Courtney Clenney, a 26-year-old OnlyFans model, was taken into custody on Wednesday in Hawaii after being charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection April 3 death of her boyfriend, 27-year-old Christian Obumseli, the Miami Herald first reported. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is set to hold a press conference about the arrest on Thursday afternoon, citing in a press conference that the arrest report is sealed but that a “social media personality” was charged in connection with Obumseli’s murder.
Clenney’s defense attorney, Frank Prieto, confirmed the charges to The Daily Beast and said his client had been at a Hawaiian rehab facility for PTSD. The lawyer added that they are “disappointed that the State Attorney sought an arrest warrant” and noted that his client has “cooperated with the investigation from the beginning.”
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“We are completely shocked at Courtney’s arrest based upon the clear evidence of self-defense in this matter,” Prieto said. “Obumseli attacked her and choked her that evening; Courtney had no choice but to meet force with force.”
“We will vigorously defend Courtney and clear her of this unfounded and baseless charge,” he added.
The Miami Police Department did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
The arrest marks the largest development in the investigation into the grisly slaying. The Miami Police Department previously said that on April 3, officers responded to a report of a stabbing at the One Paraiso luxury building around 5 p.m., where they found Obumseli, who worked in cryptocurrency, with a “knife wound.”
“A female was located on scene and interviewed by detectives,” police said.
Obumseli was then transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. While the details of Obumseli’s death remain unclear, a police spokesperson previously The Daily Beast that the pair “had been involved in a physical altercation” prior to the attack.
Local media reports also indicated that Clenney was detained at the scene to be taken to a mental health facility under the state’s Baker Act—which allows police to involuntarily commit an individual for up to 72 hours.
At the time, Prieto insisted that Clenney had acted out of self-defense.
“We have always offered to self-surrender if charges were filed in an effort to begin the legal process of clearing her of the charges,” Prieto told The Daily Beast on Wednesday, noting that this is “an absolute injustice to charge a victim of domestic violence and human trafficking with a crime; Courtney was clearly defending herself.”
Clenney—who boasts 2 million followers on Instagram, 25,700 on TikTok, and 41,000 more on Twitter—describes herself as “that chick from the internet” on social media accounts under the name “Courtney Tailor.” On her OnlyFans account, Clenney describes herself as a “Proud Texan! Full-time fitness model and foodie living with my 2 dogs, Jesse and Ranger. I just moved to Miami so I need your positive vibes! Scary BIG change for this lil texas girl.”
On April 2, an OnlyFans post on her page read, “talk dirty to me.” The day prior, her page posted: “I’m not always this nasty… wait, yes I am lol.”
According to the Dallas Morning News, the pair recently moved to Florida from Texas, and initial reports suggested the conflict that night was not the first time the couple had had a physical altercation.
“We’ve seen her hit him. I’ve never seen him hit her,” Ashley Vaughn, one of the couple’s friends, told Local10. “From what we’ve personally experienced between the both of them, we believe that Christian wouldn’t put her in a position where she would need to stab him to protect herself.” (A neighbor told the same outlet that they had witnessed Obumseli swing at her about a week before the incident.)
Another friend told the outlet the friend group in Miami was now reeling from the news—and the reality that both Clenney and Obumseli were lost to them. “We didn’t think this is how far it would have gone,” Tahki Banks said.
In a GoFundMe campaign, Obumseli’s family said the “unconscionable” tragedy occurred just a week before his 28th birthday—and it is hard to believe “someone’s selfish act ripped Christian away from this world.” Describing Obumseli as an “extremely compassionate” person with an “infectious smile that could light up any room” the family added that they were seeking justice for the “heinous act of violence.” The family did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
“It is not enough to say we are shocked and hurting—We are utterly devastated,” the family said in the online campaign. “His murder leaves many unanswered questions and creates a void that can never be fixed or filled. Not even with time.”
