Miami prosecutors unveiled video footage on Thursday that showed an OnlyFans star fighting with her boyfriend in an elevator just two months before fatally stabbing him in the chest.
Courtney Clenney, who boasts 2 million followers on Instagram, will be extradited to South Florida after her arrest in Hawaii this week on second-degree murder charges.
Miami-Dade County State Attorney Kathie Fernandez-Rundle said at a press conference announcing the charges Thursday that Clenney stabbed Christian Obumseli at close range during a fight at their luxury apartment on April 3.
Fernandez-Rundle said the pair had a “tempestuous” relationship that became so disruptive to residents in the apartment building that managers were pursuing their eviction.
To demonstrate Clenney’s capacity for violence, Fernandez-Rundle played a video from February showing the pair scuffling in an elevator that opened directly into their apartment.
“It certainly appears that the defendant was aggressively attacking Christian,” Fernandez-Rundle said.
Clenney’s attorney, Frank Prieto, maintains that she stabbed Obumseli in self-defense after he shoved her to the ground.
Fernandez-Rundle said the couple’s constant warring had led to a brief separation in March while Clenney’s mother came to stay with her in the apartment.
But just two days before the fatal confrontation, the pair reconciled and Obumseli moved back in.
“The arguments began almost immediately,” she said, adding that cops responded to the apartment and found Clenney intoxicated.
Two days later, Fernadez-Rundle said the couple had a relatively quiet morning and recorded a video playing with their dog. Obumseli later left to get them sandwiches.
Clenney then went live on Instagram as Obumseli returned home at 4:33 pm that Sunday before they began arguing once again.
Clenney later claimed to investigators that she grabbed a knife after Obumseli threw her down to the floor and chucked it at him from a distance of 10 feet.
But Fernandez-Rundle said the evidence did not support that claim — and that she had stabbed him in the chest at close range. Obumseli was never armed.
Records show that the model called her mother twice before calling 911 at 4:57 pm, the prosecutor said. Obumseli could be heard on the 911 call “repeatedly saying that he was dying,” Fernandez-Rundle said.
She added that Obumseli was a victim of “domestic violence” — and that men are often unwilling to come forward to report their abuse.
Clenney had been getting therapy for PTSD stemming from the case in Hawaii before her arrest.
“We are completely shocked at Courtney’s arrest based upon the clear evidence of self-defense in this matter,” Prieto said Thursday. “Obumseli attacked her and choked her that evening; Courtney had no choice but to meet force with force.”
Larry Handfield, a lawyer for the Obumseli family, had initially argued that investigators prematurely deemed the stabbing a case of self-defense and pushed for a more thorough probe.
Joined at Thursday’s press conference by Obumseli’s brother and cousin, Handfield lauded the arrest.
“We always believed that with a thorough and fair investigation that this day would come into reality,” he said. “This is such a relief for the family. But it gives restored hope that even though delayed, justice will still come.”
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