SERIALously - 9: Courtney Clenney: OnlyFans Model to Murderer? The Shocking Bloodbath Inside Influencer’s Luxury Apartment

Episode Date: May 8, 2023

OnlyFans Model to Murderer? The Shocking Bloodbath Inside Influencer Courtney Clenney’s Luxury Apartment Today's Sponsors: Show your skin you care with the Athena Club Razor Kit! Head to athenaclub.com and use code AE for 25% off your first order.  Visit BetterHelp.com/AE today to get 10% off your first month.

Getting you started. This fall at Keanu College in Fort McMurray. We offer small class sizes, competitive tuition fees, and a flexible learning environment to make it easy for you to live, work, and study locally. By providing high quality education, skills, and training necessary for your future, Keanu College is focused on getting you started. Learn more at keanu.ca slash ykeanu. That's Keanu.ca slash W-H-Y Keanu. Buckle up and crank up that volume. This is Serialistly with Annie Elise. Hey everybody, happy Monday. Welcome back to another episode of Serialistly. It is me, Annie Elise, your true crime BFF, here to break down some of the craziest crime headlines out there. Not just headlines, actually, because we go into

a lot of crimes that you've never even heard of, but we definitely talk about some of the craziest stories over here. So if you're brand new and you've never listened to this podcast, welcome. I hope you enjoy the podcast, and if you do, please don't forget to rate and leave a review. Also, if you want to check out the video version, you are more than welcome to hop on over to my YouTube channel, 10 to Life, and you can check out the video version there. That way you can not only see the visual of me talking, but also as I'm explaining things, there will be photos on the screen, videos on the screen, the works. But anyways, happy Monday and welcome back to another episode. So today we are going to be talking about a case that a lot of people are familiar with,

but there are so many people who have never even heard of it. And I feel like even those people who are familiar don't know all of the details and it is like such a crazy case because you have wealth, beauty, sex, you know, unfortunately toxicity, kind of all of the elements that make crimes very fascinating to some people and Dateline and Lifetime movies and all of those things. And it's the case of Courtney Clunney, also known as Courtney Taylor. Courtney is an OnlyFans model and a beautiful beautiful girl a beautiful blonde girl but she's an OnlyFans model. She has gotten a lot of press especially a lot of press of course after this but her story is very very interesting. She is currently being accused of murdering her boyfriend, who she had a very toxic

relationship with. She is claiming it was self-defense and that there was domestic violence in the relationship, while the evidence and his family are saying, no, this was murder, calculated murder, and she was the aggressor. So what we're going to do today is walk through the entire case, not only how she came into OnlyFans and who Courtney is, but their relationship, because what's so interesting about their relationship is so much of it was caught on video. And they lived in a luxury high-rise building in Miami, so there was so much video caught in the elevators, audio that was secretly recorded on their phones between the two of them, so much video caught in the elevators audio that was secretly recorded on their phones between the two of them so much documented to where once you have all of the

information and you've heard all of the information and if you're watching the video version of this when you've seen all of the information then you'll be able to better judge is Courtney guilty is she innocent and was this domestic violence? And I think her defense attorney was even claiming at one point that she was being exploited by Christian. But anyways, guys, we are going to dive right in to all of it. She's left with only one fake fingernail, blood on her hands, blood all over the apartment. We're actually literally going to want to kill you, but you don't take me seriously. And listen to this racial expletive. Once again, the defense saying this was self-defense and now additional new evidence.

Courtney, I was on a bike ride and she passed me and I said, hi, you and Courtney are having a live chat. My bad. I forgot to tell you that. That doesn't make you an act and call me a. Baby, I'm so sorry. I can't feel my arm. 4101. I can't feel my arm.

4-1-0-1. I can't feel my arm. Alright, so what do you want to say? I just, I want to be like, I want to be like exonerated, I guess. I don't know if I get it wrong. Courtney, who goes by the name Courtney Taylor Online, was born as Courtney Clunney. She was born on April 21st, 1996 in Midland, Texas. So she decided to pursue a career in the entertainment industry at a pretty young age, and by the time she was 13, she had already set her

sights on achieving that goal. She moved to Austin, Texas with her family and began working as an extra in films in early 2013 and 2014, knowing that she wanted to have some sort of element of Hollywood in her life. She appeared in several commercials for companies including Pepsi and other well-known brands. She also started getting into the music video scene, which is something that I feel like a lot of aspiring actors and actresses begin doing because it puts you on the map in a little way and it of course is a great networking tool. So she appeared in several music videos. She appeared in the G-Eazy music video and Bebe Rexy music video, Me, Myself, and I. And that was in October of 2015. So slowly graduating from commercials to now music videos, kind of climbing the ranks and getting more into the Hollywood scene. She also did a photo shoot

for Playboy magazine, and that was later that same year. She then landed some small TV roles and some movie roles as well, such as American Psycho, The Lion Game, Unstalkable, and Boyhood. After getting a taste in the entertainment industry, she moved on to fitness training. In 2017, she finally made the move and moved to LA, and her Instagram account quickly grew when she did this. Because if you guys are on social media, you probably know there are some very gorgeous fitness models out there who have like these insane Instagram accounts with this insane following. I personally think it's because a lot of guys like to just like check out their bodies. And when they're like squatting and dropping it, they like to see, you know, their ass cheeks moving and all that.

But anyways, so she moves to LA. She becomes a fitness model, fitness training. She has this Instagram and it just starts blowing up. And before she knew it, she was at over 2 million followers on Instagram. And Courtney had said that she was inspired by another fitness model that she had been following. So she starts competing in these bikini athlete competitions where you have to train super heavily. You look just ripped, you're tan. It's like, you know, intense, intense training. But you know the kind where the bodies look like they are kind of like deep fried in oil

and tanning oil at the state fair and like dipped in a corndog machine with oil all over. Like you get what I'm saying. They are like super, super spray tanned, super cut and just like shiny as all hell. So that's what she was doing. So she starts continuing climbing this social ladder of sorts and she does this in an even bigger way when she decides she's going to create an OnlyFans account. Now she creates this account under the name of Courtney Taylor, not her true biological born name Courtney Clenny, which this isn't anything kind of out of

the normal. I feel as though a lot of people I know personally too who have OnlyFans accounts use almost a pseudoname or a stage name because it's a persona that they're putting on. So she creates this persona, Courtney Taylor, and her profile on OnlyFans describes her as a full-time fitness model and a foodie, living with two dogs, Jesse and ranger and it also says i just moved to miami so i need your positive vibes scary big change for this little texas girl which i just want to say guys by that little snippet of a biography you're not just a little texas girl who just moved to miami you lived in LA before. You already lived in a big city. You lived in Austin as well. But again, I think it's because she's trying to portray this

image of, I'm this sweet, innocent little Texas girl. I'm trying to make it in a big city. And you know, I say it all the time. There's these like guys and I give them the term and I don't, I didn't coin this term by any means, but Captain Save-A-Ho. Where it's like these guys see this damsel in distress or this little meek little girl and they want to just throw their money at her, they want to take care of her, and I think that's kind of how she was positioning herself with this. And for those of you who are not familiar with OnlyFans, because maybe you are a different demographic who listens to me, OnlyFans is another social media platform, but it's a, I believe it's a subscription-based only. So you pay a certain amount every month, and I don't know if it's

different tiers or if it's a fixed amount, but basically it gives you access to not safe for work content. And not for everybody, but that's primarily how OnlyFans started and what it's known for so if you are going to post super sexy bikini photos or nude photos I think some girls even live cam on OnlyFans but you have to pay a premium to access this maybe it's $10.99 a month or $19.99 a month or again if there's different tiers but it's a place where it's content primarily again not exclusively but primarily content that you are not able to post on Instagram or TikTok because of the guidelines with nudity and things like that it's just it's more explicit content so she creates this OnlyFans account probably at this point because she's realizing hey I've got two million followers I'm hot as hell I've got a. I'm going to show my tits off and I'm going to get paid for it. Hell yeah. And you know, women

empowerment, more power to you. If that's what you want to do, do you. I personally don't have the confidence, but if you do, you know, game on. So she does this and it takes off. She already has this huge following, but it's reported that Kourtney had made over $3 million on OnlyFans alone. And she was only on it for a couple of years before this entire thing went down with her boyfriend. So, like, that is a grip of money to be making in such a short amount of time. In March of 2022, before everything kicked off with this horrific crime, she appeared as a guest on a comedy podcast called We in Miami. Now, during this episode, she made a joke about being a crazy toxic girlfriend, which, let me just say, probably not the best joke to make if you were, in fact, a crazy toxic girlfriend. Just saying.

So, she also discussed her dating preferences on this show and she said and i quote this is not my me spitballing here this is her quote no that's not true i only date black guys especially black guys let me clarify i only date rich black guys i'm courtney taylor and i do of of for a living holy fans you've got like a million followers or something? Two million. Damn. You look like the type of girl that only dates like rich guys. Is that true?

No, that's not true. I only date black guys. Especially black guys. Especially black guys. Let me clarify. I only date rich black guys. Okay, rich black guys. There we go.

And you know, so you know you're toxic. Yeah. You can tell she like black guys. Especially black guys for all you watching. I'm with it. Do you like to be fully controlled or do you? I like to be submissive. Yeah, in the bedroom.

But like in my life, I don't like anybody to tell me what to do. So you only want them to tell you what to do in the bedroom. Other than that, you don't want them to tell you anything. Right. That's exactly it yes so that sounds like you're a control freak with your relationships be careful with this one she's gonna boss you around like sweet toxicity so despite her background her endeavors for fame her now insane social media following the attention she's getting the money she's getting social media following, the attention she's getting, the money she's getting, nothing could top her actions on April 3rd, 2022, which ultimately led to her name spreading like wildfire in the

national media and news headlines, and definitely not in the way that she had once hoped her name would spread and that she would rise to fame. But before we get there, we need to talk about the other individual involved in this case because he is, of course, the main focus in this case. He is the victim, in my opinion, and we need to talk about who he is. Christian, also known as Toby Abamsali, is his name. Christian was also a Texas native and there is relatively little information out there about him. His social media profiles indicate that he studied communication studies at Texas Tech University and was also a cryptocurrency trader. Courtney and Christian first met and started dating around 2020 and they lived together in Austin but then later they moved to, and they moved to a luxury high-rise apartment in Miami. This place is beautiful, you guys, and if you're watching the video version, you can see on

the screen, it was like top-tier penthouse, beautiful building. Now, although Christian and Courtney were living this lavish, gorgeous lifestyle, Christian was quite different to Courtney and had a pretty like a pretty large contrast in comparison as far as his Instagram following he kept a much lower profile however he did appear in many of Courtney's OnlyFan videos where they were you know getting it on getting together doing their thing so they lived in this massive luxury building this building had 53 floors they lived on the 22nd building. This building had 53 floors. They lived on the 22nd floor with just stunning waterfront views and a private elevator that accessed their apartment directly. Literally a dream apartment. The apartment was in Courtney's name and her name

only and rent was reportedly 10 grand a month at this place. I'm telling you, it was a nice spot. But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for this couple because despite their lavish lifestyle and seemingly perfect life, the couple's personal life couldn't have been more opposite. Police were responding to their apartment at least seven times since their move-in date in January of 2022. So in just four months, the police had visited this couple's apartment seven times. On average, the police were visiting there twice a month. Not good. Clearly an indication that something was going down and that things were not all happy, sunshine and rainbows, and going well. On April 6, 2022, news broke of a murder at this luxury high-rise building in Edgewater, Miami. According to NBC Miami and other media outlets,

a man had been fatally stabbed, but the female involved had not yet been named. Miami police officials stated that a 27-year-old male victim was found stabbed at the building and then later was pronounced dead at the local hospital. A woman was detained at the scene and then later taken for a mental health evaluation because she was threatening to take her own life, although her identity still had not been disclosed at this time. Friends later identified the victim as Christian Abamsali, 27 years old, and they said he had been living in the building with his girlfriend, Courtney Clunney, also known by the stage name Courtney Taylor. Friends of the couple had expressed their absolute shock and disbelief at this tragedy, with one of them even describing Christian as a high-energy, bright, and intelligent man. bright and intelligent man. However, as more information started to emerge, so did allegations of physical and domestic abuse by both of these people in this relationship. And a neighbor who

had a clear view into the couple's apartment reported seeing Christian swinging at Courtney, while a friend of the couple claimed that they had seen Courtney hit Christian. So you're now hearing allegations and things emerging that, okay, this relationship wasn't what everybody thought it was. It wasn't this beautiful relationship that was poised on Instagram this way, which we always know Instagram only shows the highlight reel. But then you also have people who know the couple start to bring some allegations to the surface saying, you know, I have a direct view into their apartment and I've actually seen Christian hitting Courtney. Then a friend close

to the couple says, no, no, no, no, no. I've seen Courtney hitting Christian. And I just will say in toxic relationships, it's not extremely uncommon that they both potentially could be aggressors rather than just one, but this becomes very important as we continue. So when Courtney's name became public, she immediately hired an attorney named Frank Predo, and he claimed that she was acting in self-defense and that she was a domestic violence victim. In a statement to the Miami Herald, her lawyer said, this is a tragedy for all involved, but it was not criminal conduct. Courtney was defending herself and the investigation will reveal exactly that. Her lawyer also spoke with TMZ and alleged

that Courtney was a victim of physical, emotional, and mental abuse, all at the hands of Christian, even suggesting that she may have been a victim of human trafficking. He further claimed that at the time of the incident, Christian was committing a forcible felony by gaining access to Courtney's apartment without permission. Because remember, her name was the one on the apartment. His name wasn't on the lease. And they were in the middle of kind of going back and forth, breaking up, and I'll talk more about that in a moment here. So her defense attorney is saying no. Also, he was committing a felony by forcibly gaining access into this apartment that wasn't even his. He was trespassing. So it had been reported that Christian and Courtney broke up a month prior to this murder. According to Courtney's mother, she was scared to leave her

apartment because Christian kept finding ways to break into the building and would sleep in the common areas of the building. It was also reported that the police were called to this apartment just days before the murder and that they had noticed bruises on Courtney's arms and her legs. However, no arrests were made at that time. That same article stated that Courtney stabbed Christian after he pushed her to the ground and grabbed her neck. Christian's family adamantly disputed these claims and argued that there was no way that the murder could have been an act of self-defense because they described Christian as a star athlete, the captain of his high school football team, and a very kind and caring individual with an extremely bright future.

So what's the truth here? This is just another he said she said situation where Courtney was acting in fear of her life or was she the aggressor or was this a heat of the moment murder and now this huge lie has been made to cover it up once Courtney had finally realized what she had done. The incident occurred on April 3rd, three days before the news went public. Christian had suffered a fatal stab wound to the chest, which penetrated three inches into his skin. And the exact location, I believe, is somewhere in between his chest and his shoulder blade, like right in that general area on the side of his body. Or I should say, I'm sorry, to the side of

his chest. So just to paint the picture further, three inches is approximately half the length of a dollar bill. So I want you to remember that because I am going to bring it up here again later. The weapon responsible for the attack was a six inch kitchen knife that punctured an artery, which ultimately led to Christian's tragic death eight days before his 28th birthday. This 27-year-old man just stabbed and brutally bled out, dying. The wound was located right above a chest tattoo that Christian also got with Courtney's name in cursive. So after this occurred, the investigation into the incident was ongoing, and obviously it attracted so much attention from the media and the public, because this story was not only so unbelievable, but it completely contrasted their online personas of this great couple who loved each other,

who were living it up in Miami, had all of this wealth, a dripping in designer, and traveling to all of these luxurious places around the globe now you hear no no this couple wasn't in fact couple goals as some would call it there was something way darker and way deeper going on behind the scenes and as that slowly started to uncover nobody could imagine what was about to be leaked and the video and the interrogation and just everything that was about to come. And guys, we're going to get into all of that, but first we are just going to take a quick break to hear from today's sponsor. Can you believe that it is almost summer? It's literally right around the corner because now I'm finding myself always wearing tank tops, but with that, I need to make sure to remember to shave and get

these like pits in check because I'm just a smooth armpit kind of gal no offense to anybody who's not but that's just me and honestly there's no better razor out there than Athena Club razor. Shaving used to be something that I dreaded and honestly kind of forgot to do from time to time but Athena's Club's products seriously make it fun and easy to shave. Not only is it the prettiest razor that I've ever seen, but it's also really gentle on my skin, leaving it moisturized, super smooth, and bump-free. Athena Club's razor has thousands of five-star reviews from its customers. The razor is designed with built-in skin guards to help prevent razor burn while being gentle on curves. Plus, the razor blade is surrounded by a

water-activated serum with shea butter and hyaluronic acid, which is like the holy grail for skincare. All my skincare nerds out there, you know. The best part is that the razor kit is only $10, and it comes with two blade heads, a magnetic hook for the shower storage, and your choice of handle color, which let me just say, the handle color options are so beyond cute. If you're a minimalist like me, they even have black and white razors, but they have such fun, cute colors, so of course, you know I had to get pink. With Athena Club, you never have to think about blade refills either, because you get to choose how often you want your replacement blades shipped to you, and they ship for free. You'll also never be stuck with an overused

blade longer than it should be used for, which I honestly have been so guilty of doing in the past when it has like rust on the edges and it like nicks me. It ain't good. Athena Club also has the most amazing shave foam that will leave your skin soft, hydrated, and smooth, which I love using because it helps keeps my legs, my pits, everything from looking dry, ashy, and gross. Show your skin you care with the Athena Club razor kit. Head to athenaclub.com and use code AE for 25% off your first order. Again, that's athenaclub.com and use code AE for 25% off. Athena Club has also launched in Target stores nationwide,

so make sure to check out the shaving aisle and buy their products in store in real life. Once again, go to athenaclub.com and use promo code AE today and you'll get 25% off your first order. So after this news is made public, even more questions arose just days later after the news broke on October 8th when it was revealed that Kourtney was no longer being held for mental health evaluation, and she seemed to be doing more than fine. In fact, she was spotted at a hotel bar in Miami with her dad, just five days after the murder. And another guest who was in this hotel, who knew of the case and knew of what was going on, videoed Courtney with her dad and then published it. And this video went viral. It went viral fast. Mostly because on this video, you can hear this girl confronting Courtney saying,

how are you here just having drinks so casually when you just murdered your boyfriend? And the viral video mostly went viral because everybody was questioning how someone so mentally unstable and possibly even suicidal, whether it was self-defense or not, either way, she technically had killed her longtime boyfriend, so how could she be totally fine a few days later just kicking it in a hotel lobby, drinking, acting as though nothing ever happened, not even looking distraught? People were suggesting that yes, although people grieve differently, sure, most people, myself included, were kind of calling bullshit on her reaction and her demeanor to all of this. Another thing that had everybody up in arms is Courtney wasn't arrested immediately

following the incident. She continued to live her life as if nothing had happened. In June of 2022, she moved back to Austin, Texas to be closer to her parents, and she bought an extravagant home in this high-end bee cave community in Austin. She bought the home for 1.35 million dollars. Courtney also transferred 1.5 million to her father's bank account for him to manage. So people were outraged. They were like, this girl is just gallivanting around without a care in the world. She's buying a million dollar home. She's moving to Austin. She's acting like nothing ever happened, and she's not facing any repercussions. And of course, you can imagine, not only was everybody in the public somewhat outraged by this, but there was a lot of conversation and a

lot of heat about this being a beautiful white girl who just killed her black boyfriend and was not arrested. And every single video was going viral about this. Now prior to Kourtney's arrest, it was said that her dad had absolutely zero clue that she had an OnlyFans account, which I don't know where he was thinking she was getting all this cash and if she's an OnlyFans account, which I don't know where he was thinking she was getting all this cash and if she's transferring 1.5 million, where do you think that's coming from? But apparently he had no idea about any of that. But that all came to a screeching halt just four months later. Because on August 10, 2022, Kourtney was finally arrested. But she was arrested in Hawaii, where she was at a rehab facility for substance

abuse and ptsd so she returned to florida on august 11th and was arrested on second degree murder charges her lawyer spoke out and said i'm completely shocked especially since we were cooperating with the investigation and offered to voluntarily surrender her if she were charged. They continued on by saying, we look forward to clearing her name in court. So here's the official version of events and timeline according to the prosecution. On Sunday, April 3rd, 2022, Christian left their Miami apartment around 1 15 p.m. and then he returned at 4 33 p.m. with sandwiches from Subway for him and Courtney. Before returning at 4 1 p.m., Courtney live streamed herself on Instagram in what seemed to be a bit of a Q&A session with her followers and her fans. She wore the same outfit that police later photographed her in after the murder. And her behavior on that live was

suggestive, in my opinion, of her being on substances, whether under the influence of alcohol, maybe she had smoked something, but her demeanor was a little bit odd, to me at least. Courtney called Christian right before the live at 4.01 p.m., and then again at 4.33 p.m. Now, when he left earlier that afternoon, Courtney had realized that Christian stopped sharing his location with her. Because Courtney didn't trust Christian and was exceptionally jealous, this was a major source of contention for the two of them. So, when Christian finally did return hours later, he turned his location on again with Courtney, but she didn't do the same. Within the next half hour, Courtney called her mother at 4.43 p.m., and they chatted for six minutes.

Then she called her mom again at 4.49 p.m., and they spoke for seven minutes. At some point between 4.43 p.m. and 4.57 p.m., Courtney stabbed Christian in the chest with a six-inch serrated kitchen knife. Courtney's mom later said that she heard Courtney say that Christian was lying. So what I envision as this is going down, and I'm not, I wasn't there, but here's what I envision based on the time stamps. He leaves to go get these sandwiches a little after 1 p.m. He turns off his location. This, of course, pisses Courtney off because she's jealous that they have a history of a toxic relationship, so she's calling him saying, like, what the fuck? Why are you turning off your location? He's not responding or not answering. She goes live on Instagram. It appears she has maybe been drinking. He finally returns

home at 4 30, turns his location back on. She calls her mom saying he's lying, he's lying. In my opinion, most likely accusing him of where the hell have you been? It doesn't take three hours to go get sandwiches and you turned off your location like you're sketchy, you're sketchy. She calls her mom two different times while fighting with Christian. I believe one of the times was venting about him lying and her just being maybe under the influence and irate about the situation. And then the other time after the stabbing. Then at 4.57 p.m., Courtney called 911. And this is when she asks for paramedics. At the same time, neighbors reported a disturbance to building management,

who then phoned security and also called the police. To the police, Courtney claimed that Christian charged at her, pushed her, and attacked her in retaliation. After the stabbing, Courtney called her mother for support while Christian bled out in the background. And this call was pretty haunting, guys, because you can hear him say I'm not okay I think I'm dying. 13 minutes later is when she called 911. By the time the paramedics arrived Christian suffered excessive blood loss and later died at the hospital. It was revealed that when police questioned Courtney after the incident she denied stabbing Christian entirely. Now remember earlier how I

mentioned the length of half of a dollar bill being the same depth as Christian's stab wound? Well, Courtney's version of events was that Christian came at her, charging at her, and that she threw a knife at him from across the room, which was about 10 feet away. She said that she didn't intend to hurt him at all. That wasn't the intention. She just wanted to scare him. So with that, I just kind of want to pause for a second and set the stage. So Courtney's saying that Christian's coming at her, charging at him, or charging at her, I'm sorry, and that she just wants to scare him. So she takes this kitchen knife and she just throws it like an axe thrower at Christian, not meant to actually hit him or hurt him, but just to scare him and to get him to back off.

I mean, with that, first of all, you don't have to be a physics expert for that to not really make much sense at all. And the medical examiner that performed Christian's autopsy said that unless Courtney was a professional knife thrower, it was absolutely impossible for the knife to have penetrated through his skin in such a powerful and downward motion to penetrate three inches deep, which I mean, seriously, it does sound ridiculous. She used a six inch kitchen knife, so the knife would have been halfway inside of christian to get that kind of penetration from 10 feet away with a kitchen knife that is a thin blade a flimsy blade a bit probably to to chuck it and for it to not only make contact but then get inserted in the skin and then boom boom boom penetrate three inches deep? Not very likely in my opinion,

honestly. But this was Courtney's story and she was sticking to it. During the time leading up to Courtney's arrest and the months after, it was bombshell after bombshell released about her relationship with Christian, about her background, about their behavior, about their fights. I mean, it was a lot. So let's go through all of it, shall we? First of all, Courtney was months behind on her rent, and as a result, there was an investments group that was representing the apartment building, and they filed an eviction notice against Courtney in Miami court on March 21st, 2022. Once again, things weren't real about this luxury lifestyle they were living. But I do question, if you are making so much money, why aren't you paying your rent? I get it. 10 grand a month is a lot for rent, but she had over

a million dollars in her checking account and she transferred after the murder 1.5 to her dad. So why wasn't she paying her rent? It's just bizarre. But anyways, I'm going to move on. I guess you could say that about people who are rich and don't pay their taxes too. I don't know. Now going back into a little bit of Courtney's background. In August of 2018, a woman in Austin, Texas sued Courtney for personal injuries, for property damage, and loss of use of a vehicle following a car crash. The case ended up being settled out of court and was dismissed. Then in Texas in 2022, Courtney was arrested for driving while intoxicated, which was her second DUI charge. Her blood concentration was 0.30,

which was more than twice the legal limit. So sure, she has a somewhat rocky past with some alcohol-related criminal charges, but going from two DUIs to murder is quite a jump in my opinion. So how on earth did the couple get there? According to an anonymous friend, the couple started out in love, but their relationship quickly became combative and unstable. Courtney and Christian had frequent arguments and breakups, usually triggered by minor occurrences, such as Christian talking or looking at another woman, Courtney feeling a bit jealous. But not only that, Courtney was the one that had a history of cheating, not Christian. was the one that had a history of cheating, not Christian. So I get that the saying could be said and made true that the one who's accusing of cheating is usually the guilty one. So maybe

that was the case. Maybe that's why she was so crazy about him sharing his location, knowing where he was, making sure he wasn't looking at any other females because in her mind she knew she was cheating and had the history of cheating and that anybody's capable of that. I mean, I guess that argument could definitely be said. It was also said that Courtney's drinking often led to violent and impulsive behavior and fights between the couple. Christian's friends noticed how the constant arguing affected him, causing him to become stressed, quiet, and even withdrawn, according to them. And eventually, Courtney also tried to isolate Christian away from his friends and family, according to all of them. So basically, if all of this is true, Courtney was just a huge red flag,

accusing him of cheating when she's actually the one cheating, then pulling him away from his family and friends to just focus on her, gaslighting him the whole time, all huge signs of either a narcissist in a relationship, and more often than not, domestic violence occurring in that relationship, or at the very least, the beginning signs of what a relationship statistically is headed towards. Their arguments eventually became physical, with Courtney as both the aggressor and the abuser. She hit him, slapped him across the face, pulled his hair, and verbally berated him. Their penthouse neighbors in both South Austin and Miami complained about their fighting several times, and the police visited the couple's Miami apartment often, as we talked

about in the beginning of this episode, as often as twice a month in the months leading up to the murder. Despite this abuse, Christian never fought back and instead reportedly tried to calm Courtney down by blocking her swings or holding her arms down. Friends who spent time with the couple recall Courtney frequently starting the fights with Christian, which involved slapping, pushing, shoving, and even spitting. On one occasion, she even pushed him down the stairs at a house party. Also, during some of these knock-down, drag-out fights, it was common for Courtney to completely destroy the apartment while this was going on. Just breaking things, throwing things, destroying

everything in her sights and awake, which let's just say I get she's young but not very mature. Christian apparently had tried to reason with Courtney by sending her text messages, pleading for a change in their relationship, and just begging her to get things back on track, saying, you know, I love you. Let's work on this. Let's get things going. Like, we shouldn't be like this. This is not how our relationship was meant to be. As Kourtney's career and opportunities grew, Christian began working as her personal assistant. He would manage her schedule, her photo shoots, all with her promising him a percentage of the revenue from her OnlyFans account. But in a very sleazeball attempt to make up for her abusive behavior towards Christian, Courtney sometimes would shower him with expensive gifts,

taking advantage of her wealth in almost a way of an apology without an apology. You know what I mean? Kind of like, I'm sorry for slapping and hitting you and spitting on you, but here's a new Rolex. And let me give you an example of this. After throwing Christian's belongings off of their Miami penthouse balcony one time, she bought him a $10,000 luggage cent from Louis Vuitton. And this really irks me in a big way because in so many cases that we've talked about and that I've covered, we see this happen a lot. The gaslighting. Gaslighting is not only done in a verbal way to where you're making them question things, but it can definitely be done with gifts and with isolating people with material things to make them forgive you, to make them think, oh, things aren't

so bad. Like, look, he really does love me me he bought me this diamond bracelet it's never going to happen again he is so sorry in this case it's something that we don't hear about as often but definitely does happen frequently when a woman is doing that and when she is the aggressor so she is the cash cow of the relationship in my opinion so if she's theor, she's then also just trying to gaslight him into their relationship and thinking things aren't as bad by showering him with these lavish gifts as a form of an apology. So with this, friends said that Christian would often make excuses for Courtney's abusive behavior and that he would attribute it to her drinking, claiming that their relationship was good whenever she was sober.

However, as Courtney's fame and income grew, her sobriety decreased and she was drinking heavily and allegedly using some drugs. And I go back to that live stream that she did just moments before Christian was murdered. It also came out that this was not Courtney's first rodeo with domestic violence against a man. You know what? And I was working. I was still going to expos and whatnot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember being in Australia

and this guy trashed me on social media. He was like, I came up to talk to Roden, he was such an ass, like I couldn't talk to him. And I had to send him a DM. I was like, dude, I couldn't talk. Like my jaw was broken. Like my mouth is wide shut because I'm trying to talk to a DM. I was like, dude, I couldn't talk. Like, my jaw was broken. Like, my mouth is wide shut because I'm trying to talk to him.

But he was like... Sean was married at the time and also had a child with his wife. And he started an affair with Courtney. And it was during this affair that Courtney allegedly attacked him when she discovered that he was married. And although Sean never pressed charges against Courtney, his broken jaw was corroborated by two of his ex-wives because her history also included a history of domestic violence that involved allegedly stabbing a previous boyfriend before Christian. So this is a huge red flag. Not only does she have a pattern and history of domestic abuse, but also the caveat

and the nuanced detail of stabbing. This is a big red flag, and if this isn't bad enough, guys, it gets much, much worse. But before we get into all of that, we are going to take one more quick break to have a word from today's sponsor. This episode of Serialistly is brought to you by Better Help. I'm going to keep it real with you guys. I have never been shy about telling you that working full-time and balancing two young kids and a marriage is hard freaking work. Really hard. For me personally, I always want to be everything to everyone and more times than not, I put myself on the back burner. I'm on the bottom of the list, and I just internalize my needs, my feelings, all of it, which is an honestly horrible habit that I've been trying to break.

And something that has helped me tremendously is speaking regularly with a therapist because sometimes we really don't know why we react the way we do or why we're feeling a certain way until we talk through things. Better Help connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from the comfort of wherever you are. It's helpful to not only talk with somebody in a judgment-free space, but it's great for learning positive coping skills and empowering you to be the best version of yourself. Therapy also isn't just for those who have experienced major trauma or feel like they need some sort of severe healing. I continue to go to therapy because it's so helpful, even just using it as a maintenance tool

when things are going great in my life. It helps keep things sharp and stay positive and bring things back in check with myself. What I love about BetterHelp is it's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule, which is seriously so perfect for me. All you do is fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and if you aren't vibing with your therapist for any reason, it's totally okay and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Find more balance with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash AE today and get 10% off your first month that's better h-e-l-p dot com slash ae multiple videos were released by the prosecution documenting courtney's aggressive and violent

behavior towards christian she can be heard screaming herself completely hoarse in her voice on several videos where christian was secretly recording them she was calling him the n-word on one telling him that she wanted to kill him in another one and in one clip she said i'm actually fucking not having a good day where I actually literally fucking want to kill you, but you don't take me seriously. That is really scary. You literally talked to her without telling me. Courtney, I was on the bike ride and she passed me and I said, hi, you and Courtney are having a live chat. My bad, I forgot to tell you that. That doesn't make you an act and call me a.

All right, so what do you want? What do you want us to do? I just, I want it to be like, I don't want it to be like exonerated, I guess, of like anything wrong. And I want him, okay, the point we started here, I want a restraining order against Christian and Renzelli. I don't issue those.

No, I'm serious. Can I do that? Okay, but how can I make myself first? Because I know him and he would do it. How can I make myself first? I'm actually not having a good day. We're actually literally, I want to kill kill you but you don't take me seriously the other video was video surveillance footage from her private elevator in the video Courtney

is seen hitting Christian multiple times pulling his hair and yelling at him while he is trying to calm her down and trying to use his arm almost as a shield so that he isn't hit and at one point in this video he even kind of like holds down her arms at her sides, where it could possibly be construed as him being the controller in that situation, or the aggressor, but I think it was more in a move to kind of tame her and calm her down so that she couldn't physically keep wailing on him. But again, I wasn't there, so I don't know. I'm just basing my opinion based on the footage I watched. And probably the most disgusting and damning piece of evidence from her history was that of February 2022, two months before Christian's death. Courtney cheated on Christian, and somehow when they were having an argument about this,

she attempted to stab him in the face with a knife, but she ended up missing his face and instead sliced his beard and his cheek so bad that he needed to get stitches for his cheek, and it's been reported that the wound kept reopening from Courtney hitting him in the cheek even after that occurred. She also repeatedly used racial slurs toward him and kicked him out of their apartment on multiple occasions. In my opinion, again, just a power control move. She was the one whose name was on the lease, so she had all the power, she had all of the money. He was either going to shape up, ship out, she was the controller. Again, allegedly, in my opinion.

Courtney's lawyers tried to get her released on bail while she was awaiting trial. At her second bail hearing in December, Courtney was in court sobbing while her legal team insisted again that she had been acting in self-defense when she stabbed her boyfriend. But the judge, Judge Laura Sheeran Cruz, denied bail in a written order, saying, From the evidence prevented during this hearing, the court does not find the defendant's claim of self-defense on April 3rd, 2022, credible. There is no dispute that the defendant killed the victim in this case. The only factual issue in dispute is whether the defendant was acting in self-defense and whether this claim rendered the state's evidence doubtful. Clearly,

the defendant and victim had a sadly volatile relationship, so the request for bail was denied. She entered a plea of not guilty, and she is currently sitting in a Florida jail awaiting her trial. Then, another bombshell dropped. The interrogation video after the murder was released, and let's talk about it because I've got a lot of feelings on it. I have watched a ton of bizarre interrogations in my day, and while this one isn't the most insane I've seen, it was truly shocking to watch. In the beginning of this video, before detectives come in, Courtney was talking to herself and praying for Christian. She was saying, protect me and protect Christian.

Please, God, please don't take Christian from me. And then in another time, she said, God, Christian, be okay, before she buried her face in a brown paper napkin. Now, at this time, she was still in her completely blood-stained clothing. And I actually, to give a more accurate description, blood-drenched clothing because her clothing was just sopping in blood, guys. She was covered head to toe in blood. So the investigators walk in during this and she said, my apologies for being absolutely fucking covered in blood. And it felt like an odd statement to say, and I get it, and when you're in shock sometimes you say certain things and they don't quite make sense, but it just kind of felt like a very odd and kind of cavalier comment.

Three hours into the interview, one of the detectives said, we have to inform you that Christian did not make it. And Courtney's reaction was unbelievable. She gasps and she puts her hands on her neck and her knee kind of like she's in some kind of dramatic movie in my opinion and the interrogator tries to continue but Courtney just cannot handle it she interrupts while heavily breathing and says Christian is dead oh my god this is not real right no fucking way Christian died trying to wrap her mind around the news that she just heard or dramatic a little bit. I don't know. You tell me what you think if you've seen it. Then in a very weird twist, she asks for a hug,

almost kind of like she's a five-year-old girl who just got like a little owie and wonders if that and then she says like, but I'm wondering, is that allowed in here? She's asking the officer for a hug, then says like, is that even allowed in here? Well, one officer for a hug then says like is that even allowed in here well one of the men in the room offers to hug her but then she only lets him hold her shoulder so it just kind of feels weird you know like she's this fragile girl she's asking for a hug but then doesn't then they ask if she's okay and she responds by heavily breathing and saying that she needs to hug her mom after that she kept trying to convince the detectives that this isn't happening that they're playing some kind of sick joke on her, but they promise her that they'll get

her parents there as soon as possible and that this is in fact real. At one point, Courtney even starts talking about how she's worried that she killed Christian, which seriously, the detectives have to remind her that she can't undo what's already happened. She's in denial, and I understand that also could be a normal reaction of shock, but this interrogation just felt very not on the nose. Then the detectives offer her a meal, but she declines, but she does ask for something else. She says she's not hungry, but she needs a hit of her vape because she's fully addicted to it, in her own words. Anyways, the detectives keep promising her support and telling her that it's going to be okay and that it's going to be a process,

but let's be real, this was just a hot mess. She's in denial, she's angry, and she's addicted to her vape, pretending to be shocked that Christian died died and like she's on that show Candid Camera or whatever that old school show is called. It's just weird. The interrogation lasted for a total of four hours and she was on video whispering, crying, possibly fake crying, muttering to herself and praying while the detectives aren't in the room with her. But I do want to say there is a part in this interrogation that hasn't sat right with me about the law enforcement side of it. There were multiple

times where Courtney asks if not only if she needs a lawyer, but she asks like, my dad has my lawyer's information, like can I call my dad? Or should I have my dad call my lawyer? Should I have my dad call a lawyer? Like things to that effect to where the detectives in a very strategic and roundabout way kind of say like, well, you do what you need to do or you do like not answering her saying like, yes, do you want a lawyer? What you have to and your dad has his contact? Sure. Like it felt kind of sneaky and shady in my opinion, because I don't know that Courtney has ever been in this degree of trouble in the past even though she has had run-ins with the law so I think in a

weird way she was asking like do I need a lawyer if so I need to call my dad my dad's the one who will call a lawyer for me because I don't even have one or whatever she was trying to insinuate and the detectives were kind of you know hitting her little curveball away in a very legal tactic but it didn't sit right with me because there were multiple times in my opinion where it felt like that's the path she was trying to go down and while it wasn't officially her asking for a lawyer it just felt a little shady but I get it that's the detective's jobs. So most recently a bit of legality has transpired. All along, Christian's family has believed that Courtney killed him in cold blood. So it turns out that

Christian's estate is taking legal action against Courtney and a few others for some serious negligence. In the filing documents, the estate is claiming that they had to shell out a ton of money for Christian's medical care and for the funeral arrangements, and they want Courtney to help pay for it all. But that's not all. The state is also demanding damages from Courtney for the pain and suffering that Christian's family has endured, both now and in the future. They're also seeking compensation for the loss of Christian's future support and services to his family.

So, will Courtney be able to fight this lawsuit? Her lawyer seemed to think so. In a statement to TMZ, her lawyer said, Courtney will defend this civil matter as vigorously as the pending criminal case. It's important to note that the plaintiff filed suit against the security company, building management company, and the owners of the apartment that Courtney rented. The 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. Courtney was a victim of domestic violence and her actions the evening of April 3rd, 2022 were taken to save her life.

Once she is vindicated in the criminal matter, the civil case will fall apart. Her lawyers even made an appearance on court TV after this lawsuit became public, and they went on there to speak on Courtney's behalf and maintain that, again, she is a victim in all of this. Today, as she is sitting in jail, we know, awaiting her trial, is she still maintaining that she's the victim in the situation with her boyfriend? Julie, thank you for having us. I echo Sabrina's words. Absolutely.

The evidence is clear in this case that she was the victim of domestic violence. This has been portrayed as one-sided up until this point. The reports ignore several important facts. For example, one of the neighbors talking to a local here, saying that he saw her strike her in the head from across the way. It ignores the fact that she's called security on him many times in several other vacations. Security had to intervene. Absolutely. Her vigorous defense that we're mounting will show that she was in fact the victim and the action she took that night to save her own life. We figured you both have been extremely busy. Please, Sabrina, what would you like to add? Please. No, and I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just wanted to jump in there with a couple things because, you know, the other day I heard the attorney for the family speak

and she used the words that Abel and Sally was a soul, a gentle soul, a kind and docile, gentle man. But the evidence really goes against that. And I don't think we've had the opportunity to really share it. But I'll just give you three examples. In Las Vegas, July of 2021, security was called by Courtney and the body cam of the officer shows the security guard telling him we overheard her on the phone saying get your hands off me they go up to the room and clumps of her hair on the ground 2022 in February we have a audio video of the security going up to outside of the apartment where they can hear Courtney screaming, saying, you hit me in the leg. And then just a mere two days before what happened here, this tragedy, we know that Courtney was asking for help. She was begging the police to get her a restraining order. police to get her a restraining order. But more than that, and something that I think is not really shown, is in that same body cam, the employee at that building, he is heard telling

the officers on the body cam, we saw Album Sally charge at her and had to get in the middle. Those are not the actions of a gentle soul, a docile man. So what are we supposed to believe here? And better yet, who do you believe? Do you believe that this was a mutually toxic relationship and that they both were the aggressors and something went down in that apartment that evening or late afternoon, I should say, in which maybe she was protecting herself and this was self-defense? should say in which maybe she was protecting herself and this was self-defense or do you think she was drunk maybe she was high because she clearly seemed a little off balance in that live stream just moments earlier and that when Christian came into the apartment after being gone for hours with his location off she started throwing accusations at him getting heated and

then took a knife and this time fatally stabbed him rather than just nicking him with stitches or like her previous stab allegation with her previous boyfriend and did it go too far this time? Because again, I still keep getting hung up on, even though with hearing the evidence and hearing the stories, you could side with one or the other or be conflicted. What I keep getting hung up on is the stab wound itself. How are you going to claim that you're throwing a knife from 10 feet away and that it penetrates three inches deep? Again, if a medical examiner is saying that a professional knife thrower couldn't even do that, I hardly can imagine this young girl being able to do that, but I guess anything is possible.

So what do you think about this case? Who do you believe is at fault, and who do you believe is the true victim? Courtney recently celebrated her 27th birthday in jail at the end of April. Now, I don't know if this is true or not, but Radar Online said, to kick off her big day, Courtney will be offered a breakfast menu consisting of oranges, waffles, ham, grits, and milk. For dinner, cooks are serving a chicken patty, white rice, black beans, carrots, and bread. Which, that doesn't sound like a great birthday menu to me, but okay. So Courtney's expected to go to trial sometime this year, but as of recording this episode, a trial date has not yet been set.

So stay tuned for that because there is more to come and I will continue to follow this very closely. It seems as though new evidence and new allegations, new video, new secret footage are released all of the time. So I will for sure do a follow-up episode here on the podcast with you. But for just quick random updates as they come up and as they emerge I will be posting them on my Instagram so make sure if you're not following along there you do so it's at underscore Annie Elise and as always the video version of this episode and future

episodes will be on my YouTube channel 10 to life so there you have it also leave your comments in the comment section below on YouTube or on Spotify you can leave it in the Q&A part of this, and I will answer some of your questions that you have about this case if you have any. And also, as always, leave me your case suggestions as we continue to do these new episodes. That's all I got for you today with this bizarre and crazy and tragic case, guys. So I will see you guys next Monday for a brand new episode of serialously please don't forget if you enjoyed this episode give it a quick rating on whatever podcast app you are listening to it on and leave a review if you feel so generous and inclined to do so and i will see you

guys again next monday for another episode all right guys it is your true crime bestie signing off have a great week and i will talk to you guys all very soon. Bye. Changing a light bulb should be simple. Whoa, whoa, whoa.oh. That's not supposed to happen. Quickly submitting and tracking a claim on the Bel Air Direct app actually is simple. Bel Air Direct. Insurance simplified.