A trial date has finally been set for a TikTok star accused of shooting dead his estranged wife and her lover after spying on them through their daughter’s iPad.
Ali Abulaban, 29, who went by the name JinnKid on social media, is accused of shooting his wife, Ana Abulaban, 28, and her friend Rayburn Cadenas Barron, 29, on October 21, 2021.
Prosecutors said Ali, who has a history of domestic violence, surreptitiously installed a listening device on his five-year-old daughter’s tablet, and when he heard his wife and another man talking, he went to his apartment in San Diego and shot. them to death.
On Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Taren Brast told the court that Ali confessed to killing Ana and Rayburn to his mother and police, and at the time told his daughter he had “hurt mom.”
He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, allegations of use of a handgun and special circumstance allegations of committing multiple murders.
A trial date has been set for Ali Abulaban, 29, accused of shooting his wife, Ana Abulaban, 28, and her friend Rayburn Cadenas Barron, 29, on October 21, 2021.
Deputy Prosecutor Taren Brast told the court that Ali (right) confessed to killing Ana (left) and Rayburn to his mother and police, and at the time he told his daughter he had “hurt mom”.
Prosecutors said the jealous Tiktoker thought his wife was cheating on him with Rayburn (pictured), with Brast saying Ana and Ali had been separated “for quite some time” before.
Ali, who has pleaded not guilty, remains in custody on bond and is expected in downtown San Diego Superior Court for a pretrial hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday. It’s unclear why it took so long to set a trial date.
Around 3:10 p.m. on the day of the murders, police found the two victims dead on the 35th floor of the Spire San Diego luxury apartment complex.
Prosecutors said the jealous Tiktoker thought his wife was cheating on him with Rayburn, as Brast said Ana and Ali had already been separated “for quite some time” before.
According to Brast, Ana asked her husband to move out on October 18 while he was checking into a hotel.
Three days later, Brast said, Ali sneaked into the apartment and trashed it while his wife was gone. While he was there, she said he also installed the listening app on his daughter’s iPad.
Prosecutors believe Ali copied Anna’s apartment key and used it to gain entry.
Ali then listened to the app a few hours later and heard his wife and a man talking and laughing, before running back toward the skyscraper, Brast said.
Security camera video showed him running out of the 35th floor elevator toward the apartment.
Brast said Ali shot Rayburn three times at close range – in the neck, cheek and back of the head – before turning the gun on his wife, shooting her in the forehead.
After the shooting, prosecutors said Ali picked up his five-year-old daughter from school with a loaded gun in the car. He told his daughter he had ‘hurt mum’ before being arrested by police
At the time of her death, Anna’s heartbroken family set up a GoFundMe page to help them cover funeral expenses and the cost of repatriating her body to the Philippines.
The suspect then called his mother and confessed, Brast said.
“The defendant then fled the building, went to pick up his daughter from school and still had the loaded gun in his car,” Brast said. “(He) told his daughter he had ‘hurt mom’ and then was quickly apprehended by police.”
With his young daughter still in the car, Ali was stopped by police later that day and arrested, according to investigators.
A couple who lived across the street from Ali and Anna at the time testified that about a month before the tragic incident, Ana knocked on their door and asked them to call the police because her husband had hit.
Neighbors said Anna asked to use their phone because Ali took hers.
Sgt. Christopher Leahy of the San Diego Police Department later said officers had been called to the couple’s apartment nine times since July 2021.
Ali was never arrested in connection with these incidents.
He previously said that he and Anna separated after moving to San Diego and that the move was “part of the downfall.”
“My wife wanted me to take her and her friends here to a life where there are tacos on Tuesday, women on Wednesday, a party on Saturday and a bar on Sunday,” Ali said.
While he claimed his ex-wife loved to party, his childhood friend Cassie Conroy said that wasn’t the case.
“He’s a bad guy. There’s nothing good about him. He is selfish. That’s all I can say: selfish,” Conroy told Fox 5.
According to testimony, another friend of Anna’s told police she had planned to get a restraining order against Ali, but it was never filed.
According to testimony, another friend told police that Ana had planned to get a restraining order against Ali, but it was never filed.
Before the shooting, Ali had gained more than 940,000 followers on TikTok and had around 170,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. His story featured comedy sketches and impersonations of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface.
Before the shooting, Ali had gained more than 940,000 followers on TikTok and had around 170,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
His account featured comedy sketches and impersonations of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film, Scarface.
Just days before filming, Ali posted an audio trailer for his film Montana: Scarface Prequel Film which he said was “his vision and desire to give the world a new Scarface story.”
At the time of her passing, Anna’s heartbroken family set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs.
“Losing a loved one is never easy. Losing a daughter, a sister, a mother in such a violent way is inconceivable,” said the page.
In the latest update, a family member said that Ana’s body will be sent home to the Philippines.
“I am heartbroken this has happened to such a beautiful soul. Ana is always in my school memories with her kind spirit and infectious laugh,” a friend commented on the page which raised more than $20,500.
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