On Tuesday (Jan. 30), Kim and Deborah Clenney, the parents of Courtney Clenney, were taken into custody by authorities at their residence in Austin, Texas. The arrest comes after their daughter was charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing of Nigerian model and businessman Christian Obumseli in 2022. According to NBC News, the couple were given felony charges of unauthorized access to a computer or electronic device, as they allegedly had access to a laptop owned by Obumseli.
“We’re extremely surprised and very concerned about the arrest of the Clenney family. This could be an example of prosecutorial overreach and misconduct,” said the attorneys of Kim and Deborah in a statement shared by CBS News. “We believe the Clenney family has been targeted with some trumped-up charges to discredit them in the press and make their lives miserable. It stinks of a power play by prosecutors to control the narrative.”
The statement continued, “This Thursday (Feb. 1), the state is seeking a gag order in the case. Now they’ve gone after Courtney‘s mom and dad in such a way that requires them to spend considerable time in jail without bond… It appears the prosecutors are going for media mileage in this one with little or no evidence as we have yet to know what the true accusations are. It’s unnecessary and distasteful. All they had to do was a phone call and we would have been in court. It’s so inexcusable.”
As REVOLT previously reported, Courtney, 27, claimed self-defense in the fatal stabbing. Since then, Obumseli’s family filed a lawsuit against the OnlyFans model. “[Obumseli’s estate] is seeking wrongful death damages in hopes of getting a huge payout because these companies have very high limits on their insurance policies. Courtney has no assets that the estate can collect on,” said Courtney’s lawyer, Frank Prieto. “Courtney was a victim of domestic violence, and her actions [on] the evening of April 3, 2022, were taken to save her life. Once she is vindicated in the criminal matter, the civil case will also fall apart.”