The parents of accused murderder Courtney Clenney were arrested on Jan. 30 in Austin, Texas, and are facing charges related to their daughter’s case after investigators allege that they conspired to gain access to a computer that belonged to her boyfriend she allegedly stabbed to death in 2022.
Clenney, an OnlyFans and Instagram model with millions of followers, admitted to fatally stabbing her partner, Christian Obumseli, inside their luxury Miami apartment on April 3, 2022. Defense attorneys claim that she took his life in self-defense, painting Obumseli as a possessive and violent boyfriend.
Miami-Dade Police detectives say they have uncovered incriminating text messages involving her parents, Deborah Clenney, 57, and Kim Clenney, 60.
These messages reveal a conspiracy in a group chat with their daughter’s attorneys, Frank Prieto and Sabrina Puglisi, to unlawfully retrieve Obumseli’s laptop from the apartment, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office contends.
Courtney Clenney, who is jailed while awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges, is implicated in the same conspiracy as her parents. Miami-Dade Police say there is probable cause to charge her with the same third-degree felony computer offense, but records do not show she has been charged yet, the Miami Herald reports.
“The new charges support our position from day one: This was not a justified killing,” Obumseli family attorney Larry Handfield told Local 10 News.
“The tampering with evidence and obstruction supports our position this was not self-defense; this was someone not in self-control,” he continued. “We are grateful for the SAO for the new charges.”
Group Texts Show Courtney Clenney’s Parents’ Involvement in Allegedly Plot
According to an arrest warrant, the Clenneys obtained Obumseli’s computer from Courtney Clenney’s Miami apartment sometime between the time she killed Obumseli in April 2022 and her arrest in Hawaii in August of that year. In a text chat, their initial messages outlined plans to access the computer without permission from the deceased’s family.
Kim Clenney texted the group on Sept. 22, 2022, “Forgot (sic) ask if she gave any ipotential (sic) passwords for the laptop.”
Prieto replied, “Yes. Sabrina and I have a list. We will provide,” before following up later with various passwords that might unlock the device.
Over a week after the first text, on Sept. 30, 2022, Kim Clenney chimed in on the group, writing, “Hell yeah! That PIN worked!”
“Kim. Hold off on going through the computer please,” Prieto replied a few minutes later. “I don’t want to turn you into a witness just yet if you find something useful … that is great news and makes this easie (sic),” the arrest warrant said.
Investigators said the chat also discussed sending the laptop to Dallas from Austin so that Prieto could pick it up.
“When it comes to potential evidence, we always have to consider chain of custody issues and don’t necessarily want to take risk something gets lost in the mail but hang tight. We will make a decision by Monday,” Prieto said.
Puglisi, identified as Individual 2, jumped in and wrote, “I‘m sure you guessed by me (sic) prior text, we don’t want you accessing files because the State Attorneys could request their own independent analysis of the hard drive and accuse you of creating or modified files.”
“That’s why I wanted to put a quick pause on that,” Obviously I know you would not do that but we want to maintain that credibility.”
After the exchange in October 2022, Prieto texted in the chat, according to NBC News, “Hey Deborah. Good seeing you today. I forgot to have you sign a property receipt for turning over the laptop. I will get one to you next week to sign. Thank you for bringing it to Dallas area.”
The group continued to talk about the laptop from October 2022 to July 2023, with Prieto sharing with the parents and his co-counsel that an IT expert had the laptop “to evaluate, clone, and run searches on.”
Others were also on the group message, but the Clenneys are the only ones who have been arrested by authorities.
Prieto has since released a statement regarding the arrest, saying, “We’re extremely surprised and very concerned about the arrest of the Clenney family; this could be an example of prosecutorial overreach and misconduct” and adding that he believes that their being detained is excessive.
“We believe the Clenney family has been targeted with some trumped up charges to discredit them in the press and make their lives miserable,” the lawyer continued. “It stinks of a power play by prosecutors to control the narrative.”
The state was seeking a gag order in the ongoing case, aiming to detain Courtney’s parents without bond, according to Prieto. With the couple currently held in the Travis County Jail in Texas, their attorneys call the no-bond request excessive, highlighting that the charge typically carries a $5,000 bond.
