Social media influencer charged with murder in the death of her boyfriend

A social media model was charged with murder on Thursday in connection with the fatal stabbing of her boyfriend, south Florida prosecutors said.

The Miami-Dade state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the charge against Courtney Clenney, 26, during a news conference. Clenney was arrested Wednesday in Hawaii. Fernandez Rundle said Clenney, who goes by the name Courtney Tailor on such platforms as Instagram and OnlyFans, remains jailed in Hawaii while authorities seek her extradition to Florida.

Fernandez Rundle characterized Christian Obumseli’s 3 April 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 3in (7.6 cm) into his chest, piercing a major artery.

According to an arrest report, Clenney acknowledged killing Obumseli but said she acted in self defense. 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 10ft (3 metres) away. The medical examiner said Obumseli’s wound could not have been caused by a knife thrown from that distance.

Clenney’s Miami defense lawyer, Frank Prieto, said the medical examiner’s opinions won’t stand up to scientific scrutiny when they argue self-defense 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.”