By Anna Lazarus Caplan PEOPLE
American model Courtney Clenney has been arrested in connection with the April death of her boyfriend Christian “Toby” Obumseli. Clenney, 26, was arrested Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Service at an undisclosed location in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, according to a statement from the Hawaii Police Department.
The Florida woman, who police say also has an Austin, Texas address, was taken into custody “on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by Miami-Dade County, Florida, for the offense of murder in the second-degree with a deadly weapon,” per the department. Clenney is tentatively scheduled for a court appearance Thursday on the Big Island, and is set to be extradited to Florida, the agency said.
Her attorney, Frank Prieto, told the Miami Herald that Clenney was in rehabilitation for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder in Hawaii. “I’m completely shocked, especially since we were cooperating with the investigation and offered to voluntarily surrender her if she were charged,” Prieto told the newspaper. “We look forward to clearing her name in court.”
Obumseli, 27, was found stabbed inside a luxury condo at the One Paraiso Residences on the afternoon of April 3. Authorities arrived at the scene of the alleged attack just before 5 p.m. They discovered a woman in the residence with Obumseli, according to a statement from the Miami Police Department.
“The preliminary investigation determined that both Mr. Obumseli and the female had been involved in a physical altercation,” police said in the statement, which refers to the attack as a “domestic violence incident.”
Prieto identified Clenney as the unnamed woman to local media outlets, but asserted at the time that she did not commit a crime because she was a victim of domestic violence acting out of self-defense.
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