Kim and Deborah Clenney, the parents of Courtney Clenney, a US-based Instagram model accused of killing her boyfriend Christian Obumseli, have been arrested for allegedly tampering with evidence in the murder case.
Courtney was charged with second-degree murder in 2022 after a physical altercation in their Miami apartment led to Obumseli’s death from a fatal stab wound.
Cell phone recordings made by Obumseli before his death reportedly captured Courtney using racial slurs during an argument.
Since August 2022, Courtney has been held in the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Center.
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.
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, which is considered tampering with evidence in the murder case.
The authorities also alleged that Courtney’s father, Kim, asked the group chat again for password suggestions days later. Frank Prieto, one of the model’s lawyers, reportedly replied with six options.
According to the authorities, other messages exchanged in the group chat included coordination of the laptop transfer between Deborah and Prieto.
Kim and Deborah have now been charged with unauthorized access to a computer, which is considered a third-degree felony in Florida.
The Clenney family attorney, however, condemned the charges, describing them as an attempt to manipulate media narratives and discredit them ahead of legal proceedings.
