Miami IG model fatally stabs boyfriend. Cops trying to figure out if it was self-defense
BY CHARLES RABIN AND DAVID OVALLE
Christian “Toby” Obumseli was a handsome Texan who came to Miami to work in cryptocurrency. His girlfriend was Courtney Clenney, of Michigan, a social media influencer who has millions of followers on Instagram and OnlyFans.
On Sunday, Clenney fatally stabbed Obumseli, 27, inside their luxury high-rise Edgewater apartment in what Miami police say was a domestic dispute.
But five days after the killing, police and prosecutors have not yet decided whether to charge Clenney, 25, while they try to sort out whether she was acting in self-defense.
Obumseli’s supporters have taken to social media to call for an arrest in the case and his relatives plan to hold a press conference Friday afternoon outside the State Attorney’s Office. The celebrity gossip website TMZ.com on Friday also posted a video of a blood-stained, handcuffed Clenney talking to Miami police officers — shaky images apparently taken from an adjacent building.
“His murder leaves many unanswered questions and creates a void that can never be fixed or filled. Not even with time,” his brother wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Clenney is known as Courtney Tailor on her social-media platforms, where she boasts over two million followers. She and Obumseli had been dating less than two years.
Her defense attorney said Clenney was a victim of domestic violence and acted only out of fear for her life.
“As Courtney struggles with the pain of being a survivor of domestic violence and the aftermath of the events that evening, we ask that the community and Christian’s family allow the police and the state to conduct their independent investigation of the events,” Frank Prieto said. “This is a tragedy for all involved but it was not criminal conduct; Courtney was defending herself and the investigation will reveal exactly that.”
Christian and Courtney.jpeg
Christian Obumseli and Courtney Clenney dated for over a year before she fatally stabbed him on April 3, 2022 in Miami. - INSTAGRAM
The stabbing happened at the El Paraiso, 650 NE 32nd St., where the two had lived. Clenney frantically called 911 in a panic, and Obumseli was rushed to the hospital, where he died of a single stab wound to the front of his chest.
“The preliminary investigation determined that both Mr. Obumseli and the female had been involved in a physical altercation,” Miami police said in a statement.
She was later hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation.
Friends of the couple and witnesses gave WPLG Channel 10 various accounts of what appeared to be a stormy relationship. A neighbor told the station Obumseli swung at her about a week ago.
The couple had apparently broken up last month, with Clenney’s mother visiting to help her daughter, who was afraid of leaving the apartment because Obumseli kept trying to find ways into the building and sleeping in common areas, multiple sources said.
Then on Friday, April 1, Miami police were called to the apartment because of a domestic dispute. Miami police officers noticed bruises on Clenney’s arms and legs, law enforcement sources told the Miami Herald. No arrests were made at that time.
The fatal stabbing happened two days later. After Sunday’s stabbing, Clenney claimed she stabbed Obumseli only after he attacked her, pushed her to the ground and grabbed her neck, law-enforcement sources tell the Herald.
Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, prosecutors must thoroughly disprove a self-defense claim before filing charges or taking the case to a jury.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Family members were scheduled to meet with prosecutors at 3 p.m., before the press conference.