THE DAILY BEAST
The parents of an OnlyFans model accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death in 2022 have also been arrested in connection with the case over an allegation of evidence tampering, reports say.
Courtney Clenney’s mom and dad, 57-year-old Deborah and Kim Clenney, 60, were booked Tuesday on unspecified felony charges from out of state, online records from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office in Texas show. Lawyers for the family of Christian Obumseli—the man Courtney allegedly killed—confirmed to WTVJ that the parents were taken into custody at their home in Austin over a warrant out of Miami involving evidence tampering.
Courtney, now 27, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and insists she stabbed Obumseli in April 2022 in self-defense during an argument. She is currently in jail awaiting trial.
On Tuesday, TMZ reported that her parents’ arrests are related to a laptop belonging to Obumseli that was found in the Miami condo he shared with Courtney. Kim, Courtney’s father, reportedly found the computer while he was clearing out his daughter’s belongings after Obumseli’s death. Kim “even attempted to access” the laptop, which had not been taken by police, police sources told WPLG, before eventually handing it over to his lawyers.
“We’re extremely surprised and very concerned about the arrest of the Clenney family; this could be an example of prosecutorial overreach and misconduct,” Frank Prieto, an attorney for Courtney Clenney, said in a statement. “It appears excessive in that the family is now confined in jail awaiting an extradition hearing on what may be an attempt to manipulate media headlines and discredit them before Thursday’s scheduled hearing on a gag order in the case.”
Prieto added that he and his team “believe the Clenney family has been targeted with some trumped up charges to discredit them in the press and make their lives miserable.” “It stinks of a power play by prosecutors to control the narrative,” he added.
Kim Clenney previously spoke up in defense of his daughter during a bail hearing in November 2022, describing her relationship with Obumseli as “very toxic” but insisting it was Obumseli who “wasn’t treating her correctly.”
The Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office recently released a video filmed months before the fatal argument which shows Courtney Clenney repeatedly hitting Obumseli and accusing him of cheating on her. Obumseli’s family’s lawyers said the footage was part of a disturbing pattern, while Courtney’s attorney said it was an example of “example of the toxic relationship” the couple had and claimed there was evidence Obumsei “physically abused” before the argument in which he was killed.
