MIAMI — A history of violence by an OnlyFans model and Instagram influencer toward her boyfriend was the reason why prosecutors in South Florida charged her with murder, authorities said Thursday.
Courtney Taylor Clenney, 26, was arrested in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, on Wednesday, according to a news release from the Hawaii Police Department. She was charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the April 3 stabbing of Christian “Toby” Obumseli, 27, in Miami, the Miami Herald reported.
Clenney was enrolled in a substance abuse rehabilitation program in Hawaii, according to her attorney.
During a news conference on Thursday, Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released an arrest warrant, according to the newspaper. Rundle said evidence received by police depicted Clenney as an aggressor who did not act in self-defense, according to the newspaper.
Clenney has an online following of more than 2 million people, according to Hawaii News Now. She is known as Courtney Tailor on Instagram.
Police said that Clenney fatally stabbed Obumseli, who was unarmed, during a domestic dispute in their Miami apartment, WPLG-TV reported. Clenney claimed she had only thrown the knife from about 10 feet away, the Herald reported. However, investigators stated that Obumseli’s chest wound was simply too deep to have been caused by a blade thrown from the alleged distance.
Prosecutors also played a video of Clenney repeatedly attacking Obumseli in an elevator two months before the killing, WPLG reported.
“The violent and toxic two-year relationship of Christian Obumbeli and Courtney Clenney did not have to end in tragedy with Christian’s murder as a victim of domestic violence,” Rundle told reporters.
In the video footage, Clenney can be seen repeatedly striking Obumseli, WPLG reported. Some of the punches are to Obumseli’s head, and he attempted to push back and push her away, the television station reported.
“There was a history of her always being aggressive and violent,” Larry Handfield, a Miami lawyer who is representing Obumseli’s family, told the Herald.
According to the arrest warrant, April 3 “began peacefully” with the couple “playing with their dogs in the apartment,” where they had lived since January.
Obumseli later went to Subway to get sandwiches for them and returned at about 4:32 p.m. EDT, the Herald reported, citing building records. Clenney had just finished uploading a video to Instagram.
Press conference held today by @KathyFndzRundle announcing an arrest in the homicide of Christian Obumseli. @USMarshalsHQ https://t.co/tAS1adaE7j
— Miami PD (@MiamiPD) August 11, 2022
Prosecutors believe the stabbing happened sometime during a 13-minute span shortly after Obumseli returned, as she was making telephone calls with her mother.
According to the warrant, Deborah Clenney told police that she heard her daughter arguing with Obumseli. At 4:57 p.m., Courtney Clenney called 911 to say Obumseli had been stabbed.
“On that call, the victim can be heard in the background repeatedly saying he is dying and cannot feel his arm,” the warrant stated. “The defendant is also heard saying, ‘I’m so sorry baby.’”
“My brother was so caring.” Jeffrey Obumseli told WSVN-TV. “My inspiration, an inspiration to others, funny, very bright. He had big dreams.”
“We’re hurting right now, deeply,” Karen Egbuna, Christian Obumseli’s cousin, told the television station.
Clenney’s defense attorney, Frank Prieto, has maintained that it was his client who was the victim of domestic abuse and she acted in self-defense.
“We look forward to clearing her name in court,” Prieto told the Herald shortly after her arrest.
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