Boyfriend Fatally Stabbed by OnlyFans Model Feared for His Safety in Toxic Relationship: ‘Is Love Going to Kill Me?’

Courtney Clenney claims she killed her boyfriend Christian Obumseli in self-defense and has pleaded not guilty

On Saturday, April 2, 2022, Miami police entered One Paraiso condominium to find OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney, then 25, near the front desk, her bleached blonde hair extensions draped over one shoulder.

The front-desk attendant, who called the police, said Courtney and her boyfriend, Christian Obumseli, were causing a disturbance, which was one of many during their four months of living at the condominium. Courtney told police that she broke up with Christian, 27, but he refused to leave.

“He’s been literally sleeping in my elevator room without my permission,” Courtney told the officers. “I want a restraining order.”

But after police told her that Christian was a legal resident of the building who hadn’t apparently committed a crime, they left, and Courtney returned to her condo.

On Sunday, April 3, Courtney fatally stabbed Christian with a kitchen knife inside of their 22nd-story apartment. When police enter her condo, she is seen on body-camera footage cradling Christian’s head on the blood-soaked floor. “Baby, baby, baby, baby, wake up,” she screams.

Detained and handcuffed while medics tried to save Christian's life, Courtney sat on the balcony of the $10,000-a-month waterfront apartment as her boyfriend's blood dried on her face, chest, stomach, arms and sweatpants.

During questioning, she claimed she threw the knife at Christian from 10 feet away in self-defense. However, the Miami-Dade medical examiner ruled Christian's death a homicide caused by a knife that punctured three inches into his shoulder in a downward direction — a fatal injury they said was inconsistent with Courtney's account.

Four months later, Courtney was arrested at a Hawaii rehab facility and charged with second-degree murder. In an arrest warrant, police cite years of text messages and videos recorded by Christian that allegedly prove Courtney was the aggressor.

“Because of this, I won’t be able to grow old with my brother,” Christian’s older brother Jeffrey Obumseli, 32, tells PEOPLE. “Still to this day, the family is hurting. We are in deep grief, and it’s just too painful to talk about.” 

Related: Video Footage Shows OnlyFans Model Courtney Clenney Hitting Boyfriend a Month Before His Murder

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Courtney, now 27, has pleaded not guilty, and is currently behind bars awaiting trial. The Texas-native grew a large social media following after she began posting on OnlyFans, a subscription platform that often hosts sexual content. In late 2020, Courtney and Christian began their tumultuous relationship.

“They met at a very financially vulnerable stage in his life,” Karen Egbuna, Christian's cousin, tells PEOPLE. “He had been laid off during the pandemic, and I think Courtney's job took her several places and out of the country. In support of their relationship he would often travel with her.”

One of the trips was an OnlyFans content trip to Palm Springs in summer 2021, which fellow OnlyFans creator Patrycia Kratiuk, 27, attended. Kratiuk tells PEOPLE that when she met Courtney, she was “very bubbly, always smiling — until she started partying.”

Kratiuk claims she saw Christian provide Courtney with drugs, which seemed to set off a different personality in Courtney. Christian was “really nice, quiet, but he was just always lingering around,” Kratiuk says. “He was always watching her. You never really saw them separated.”

After Christian's killing, police allege they discovered a history of drug use and domestic violence in the relationship. On Feb. 28, 2022, Christian texted Courtney and said that in the relationship, he was slapped, spat on, stabbed and called a racial slur. “Is love going to kill me?” he wrote in part.

Christian was the baby in his close-knit family, Egbuna, 35, says. That’s what made it especially shocking when a medical examiner called his mother asking if she would consent to donate his organs — before anyone in the family knew he had been killed. 

“It sent this frenzy through the family,” Egbuna says. “We were trying to call him. We tried to reach out to Courtney. We were desperate to figure out what exactly had transpired.”

In January 2024, Courtney was charged with an additional felony alongside her parents, Kim and Deborah Clenney, on accusations of unauthorized use of a computer after allegedly accessing Christian’s laptop after his death. Kim and Deborah’s attorney, Jude Faccidomo, denies that the parents committed a crime. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Courtney's defense attorney, Sabrina Puglisi, called the relationship "unhealthy" and "marked by aggressive conduct from both parties," but claims that Courtney was the victim of domestic violence.

"Courtney endured Obumseli's mistreatment, clinging to hope that someday he would cease harming her," Puglisi said in the statement. "Regrettably, that day never arrived, and Courtney's actions reflected those of a young woman desperate to save herself from dying at the hands of her abuser."

The Obumseli family attorney, Larry Handfield, says the evidence is inconsistent with the self-defense claim, and Christian's family believes that he was the victim of domestic violence.

“We've had no experience with domestic violence,” Egbuna says. “And so, it's something we never imagined that anyone in our family would experience, let alone lose their life from.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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