In a newly released 911 call, popular Miami-based OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney pleaded frantically with police to save her boyfriend as he bled from a stab wound to the chest.
Clenney, who is charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the April 3 death of her boyfriend Christian “Toby” Obumseli, did not mention during the 911 call that she stabbed him — but she did apologize.
She has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge against her.
Clenney, who used the name Courtney Tailor on Instagram (where she has two million followers) and OnlyFans, produced adult content online.
As her dog barks in the background of the 911 call, Clenney, 26, cries, “My boyfriend is dying of a stab wound!”
The 911 operator repeatedly asks for an address to the couple’s luxury high-rise apartment, while Clenney apologizes to Obumseli. “Baby, I’m so sorry!” she said.
Obumseli is also briefly heard in the background of the call. “I can’t feel my arm,” he says twice. Police later confirmed that Obumseli died from a three-inch deep stab wound to his chest.
Clenney claimed she was acting out of self-defence. She alleged that she threw a kitchen knife at Obumseli after he grabbed her throat and held her against a wall. Prosecutors in the case claim Clenney was the aggressor and allege that the social media influencer had a history of becoming violent when intoxicated.
Larry Handfield, the lawyer representing Obumseli’s family in court, claimed the 911 call proved that Clenney had not acted in self-defence.
“It shows her state of mind,” he said, as per The Miami Herald. “She’s saying she’s sorry because she’s realizing what she’s done. She’s not saying, ‘I was defending myself.’”
Alternatively, Clenney’s lawyer Sabrina Puglisi argued the 911 audio proved her client’s compassion and care for Obumseli.
“This is not someone that stabbed somebody and didn’t care,” said Puglisi. “Obviously, you can hear from her emotions she’s asking for somebody to come quickly to help.”
Police and staff at the apartment building where Clenney and Obumseli lived were aware the couple had a tumultuous relationship. The Miami Herald reported that after public fights and numerous noise complaints, the apartment building was working to evict the couple.
Just two days before Obumseli’s death, police were called to the apartment building on April 1. Authorities have now released the bodycam footage from the interaction, in which a police report claimed Clenney “appeared intoxicated.”
Clenney, through tears, told police that Obumseli was “stalking her” and had been sleeping in an elevator entrance in front of her apartment. She said she had recently broken up with him.
“I have not always been a victim, but like right now I am the victim in this situation,” Clenney told police in the video.
She claimed she wanted a restraining order against Obumseli before he could file one against her.
“I want a restraining order against Christian Obumseli. I’m serious. Where can I do that? How can I make myself first? ‘Cause I know him and I know he’ll do it,” she told police.
Police informed Clenney she would need to obtain a restraining order at a courthouse. They also told the distraught influencer they could not enter her apartment under Florida law because Obumseli was also a legal resident there.
“It’s very clear from the video she looks upset. She’s emotional. She’s crying,” said Clenney’s lawyer. “She’s upset that she can’t even walk her dogs all day for fear of being followed by Obumseli.”
The Obumseli family’s lawyer claimed the bodycam footage proved nothing because Obumseli had not been arrested that night.
Further police video revealed an employee of the apartment building told an officer that Obumseli had “charged” at Clenney. She disputed this claim the next day in an email to the staff member, claiming there had been “nothing physical whatsoever.”
Clenney’s lawyer claimed the social media influencer sent the email to “protect” Obumseli.
“In her mind, it was that he, as a Black man, could be hurt or harmed if he was ever arrested by the police,” she said.
Last month, a Florida judge denied the request by Clenney’s legal team to restrict evidence in the trial. Her lawyers claimed the amount of specifically “salacious” and “sexually explicit” evidence presented in the trial would create a “media circus” in the already highly publicized case.
The trial is ongoing.
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