2nd February, 2024
Kim and Deborah Clenney, parents of Courtney Clenney, the US-based Instagram model accused of killing Christian Obumseli, her boyfriend, have been arrested for allegedly tampering with evidence in the murder case.
In 2022, Courtney was charged with second-degree murder after a physical altercation resulted in Obumseli’s death from a fatal stab wound in their Miami apartment.
Her lawyers claimed it was an act of “self-defense”.
Cell phone recordings made by Obumseli before his death captured Courtney appearing to be using racial slurs during an argument.
Since August 2022, the model has been held in the Miami-Dade corrections and rehabilitation centre.
According to a recent report by NBC, Courtney’s parents were booked into the Travis county jail in Texas on Tuesday after authorities received warrants to access their iCloud accounts.
The authorities said they discovered a group chat among Kim, Deborah, and their daughter’s attorneys discussing how to access a laptop that belonged to Obumseli.
“Will be sending the laptop PIN ideas so we can try them before you see her again?” authorities claimed Kim wrote on September 26, 2022.
They also alleged that Courtney’s father asked the group chat again for password suggestions days later, to which Frank Prieto, one of the model’s lawyers, replied with six options.
The authorities further claimed that other messages exchanged included coordination of the laptop transfer between Deborah and Prieto.
Kim and Deborah have now been charged with unauthorised access to a computer, a third-degree felony in Florida.
The Clenney family attorney, however, condemned the charges as an attempt to manipulate media narratives and discredit them ahead of legal proceedings.
“It appears excessive in that the family is now confined in jail awaiting an extradition hearing on what may be an attempt to manipulate media headlines and discredit them before Thursday’s scheduled hearing on a gag order in the case,” the attorney said.