Social media model Courtney Clenney. Photos / Supplied, AP
Social media model Courtney Clenney. Photos / Supplied, AP
Prosecutors in South Florida announced a second-degree murder charge against social media model Courtney Clenney in connection with the fatal stabbing of her live-in boyfriend.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the charge against the 26-year-old model during a news conference. Clenney was arrested in Hawaii. Fernandez Rundle saidClenney, who goes by the name Courtney Tailor on such platforms as Instagram and OnlyFans, remained jailed in Hawaii while authorities seek her extradition to Florida.
She appeared in a courtroom on Hawaii's Big Island, where she waived her right to an extradition hearing and agreed to return to Florida.
Judge Henry Nakamoto ordered her held without bail pending extradition.
Fernandez Rundle characterised Christian Obumseli's April 3 death at the couple's Miami apartment as the culmination of a "tempestuous and combative relationship" that began in November 2020. The county medical examiner said in an autopsy report that Obumseli, who worked in cryptocurrency, died from a forceful downward thrust from a blade that went 7.6cm into his chest, piercing a major artery.
According to an arrest report, Clenney acknowledged killing Obumseli but said she acted in self-defence. She said Obumseli had pushed her and thrown her to the floor, which prompted her to grab a knife and throw it at Obumseli from about three metres away. The medical examiner said Obumseli's wound could not have been caused by a knife thrown from that distance.
Clenney's Miami defence lawyer, Frank Prieto, said the medical examiner's opinions won't stand up to scientific scrutiny when they argue self-defence at trial. He acknowledged that Clenney and Obumseli had a tumultuous relationship but said Obumseli was the primary aggressor.
"Obumseli was the abuser, the worst kind of abuser," Prieto said in a statement. "He would manipulate and abuse Courtney in private when he thought nobody was around."
