MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – An affidavit shows that Courtney Clenney, who is accused of murdering her boyfriend in their Miami apartment, was arrested in Las Vegas for domestic violence less than a year before the fatal stabbing.
An arrest affidavit stated that in July of 2021, Clenney was arrested in Las Vegas for domestic battery on Christian “Toby” Obumseli in a hotel where the two were staying. Prosecutors say the 26-year-old Instagram and OnlyFans model stabbed Obumseli to death on April 3, 2022, after he returned from getting the two Subway sandwiches.
Clenney remains behind bars in Hawaii and was denied bail during a court appearance on Thursday. She will be extradited to Miami within 30 days. Clenney’s lawyer, Frank Prieto, said that the model was in Hawaii seeking treatment for PTSD and related issues from the April 3 incident.
On Thursday, the Miami-Dade State Attorney released video filmed in an elevator of the couple’s apartment last February purporting to show Clenney hitting Christian “Toby” Obumseli.
The video, according to prosecutors, is indicative of the violence present in their relationship. Two months after the elevator encounter, detectives say Clenney, known as Courtney Tailor on social media, knifed Obumseli to death.
Prosecutors say that Clenney stabbed the 27-year-old man in the chest with a kitchen knife while he was unarmed and that it was neither an accident nor did Clenney stab Obumseli in self-defense.
Investigators say Clenney told them a different story that didn’t add up, which was that she threw a knife at Obumseli from a distance that she estimated to be about 10 feet. But Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said that the medical examiner determined that the stab “was a downward strike with a knife.”
In a statement, Clenney’s attorney said:
“It is a shame that the State Attorney’s Office is seeking to win this case in the court of public opinion by showing an irrelevant and likely inadmissible video of Courtney in an elevator getting physical…Obumseli was the abuser, the worst kind of abuser.”
Clenney’s attorney stands behind the case of self-defense. “The facts that will be presented at trial prove this.”
The stabbing occurred in the couple’s 22nd-floor condo at One Paraiso in the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami.
There is a hearing set for Sept. 12 in Miami to confirm that Clenney has been brought back to the States.
The arrest came after a four-month investigation by Miami police homicide detectives and prosecutors.
Lawyers for Clenney
On Thursday, Prieto released a statement disputing the video that Rundle showed to media.
“The video does not depict the events leading up to what was captured in the elevator. Obumseli was the abuser, the worst kind of abuser. He would manipulate and abuse Courtney in private when he thought nobody was around. Do not forget that the initial investigation from the City of Miami Police Department uncovered an independent witness who saw Obumseli hitting Courtney in the head while he thought he was in the privacy of Courtney’s apartment.”
Prieto did acknowledge that there was a tumultuous relationship between the two. However, “It is inappropriate for prosecutors to try and taint the community against Courtney to the point she may not be able to receive a fair trial.”
The Timeline
The arrest affidavit states that evidence showed that on Sunday, April 3, the day began “peacefully,” with the couple playing with their dogs in the apartment.
Obumseli left at some point to pick up Subway sandwiches for both him and Clenney.
Key FOB records show that he left the apartment at 1:15 p.m. and returned at 4:32 p.m. He was seen on surveillance video returning to the apartment via the service elevator with their two dogs.
At the same time, Clenney had finished and uploaded an Instagram live video to her page.
Call records show that Clenney called Obumseli at 4:01 p.m. just before she went live on Instagram, then called him again at 4:33 p.m., shortly after posting the live video and his arrival into the apartment.
Based on phone records and testimony from Clenny’s mother, Deborah, a timeframe for when the stabbing occurred was determined.
Her mother said she was on the phone with Clenney in two separate phone calls. She confirmed that she was on the phone with her daughter at the time of the incident, therefore the stabbing must have occurred between 4:43 p.m., less than 10 minutes after Obumseli returned to the apartment) and 4:57 p.m., when Clenney called 911.
Clenney’s call detail records show that she telephoned her mother at 4:43 p.m. for a call that lasted just over six minutes, then a second call at 4:49 p.m. for a little over seven minutes until 4:56 p.m.
Investigators concluded that the stabbing must have occurred in the intervening 13 minutes.
In that time frame, neighbors had been calling security to report a disturbance in the apartment and security called 911 at 4:46 p.m. to notify them of the disturbance. At 4:57 p.m., Clenney called 911 and told police Ombuseli was suffering from a stab wound and needed help.
On the call, Ombuseli can be heard repeatedly saying he is dying and cannot feel his arm, according to the report. Clenney can also be heard on the call saying, “I’m so sorry, baby.”
The affidavit lays out an on-again, off-again relationship since November 2020 with, what is described as multiple incidents of domestic violence from both sides over the period of their relationship.
Had Rekindled Relationship 2 Days Before Incident
Security and building staff at the condominium building, One Paraiso, had documented so many incidents of disturbances between the two, including complaints from tenants “as far as two floors” above that the management company was looking into legal action to have them evicted, according to the affidavit.
They had moved into the building in January of 2022 and, almost immediately, incidents were documented of violence and arguments.
The pair also separated including the last week of March 2022, when Clenney allegedly had Ombuseli move out while her mother was in town.
They rekindled their relationship on Friday, April 1, 2022 and Ombuseli came back to live in the apartment, according to the arrest affidavit. On Sunday, April 3, 2022, Ombuseli was stabbed and died from his injuries.