A trial date has finally been set for a TikTok star accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife and her lover after spying on them through their daughter’s iPad.
Ali Abulaban, 29, who trolled JinnKid on social media, is accused of shooting his wife, Ana Abulaban, 28, and her boyfriend Rayburn Cadenas Barron, 29, on October 21, 2021.
Prosecutors said Ali, who has a history of domestic violence, secretly 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 her San Diego apartment and shot them until death.
On Monday, Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast told the court that Ali confessed to killing Ana and Rayburn to his mother and police, and at the time he told his daughter that he “hurt mommy.”
He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, charges of using a handgun and a special circumstances charge of committing multiple murders.
A trial date has been set for Ali Abulaban, 29, who is accused of shooting his wife, Ana Abulaban, 28, and her boyfriend Rayburn Cadenas Barron, 29, on October 21, 2021.
Deputy District Attorney 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 “hurt mommy.”
Prosecutors said the jealous Tiktoker believed his wife was cheating on him with Rayburn (pictured), while Brast said Ana and Ali had been separated ‘for quite some time’ before that
Ali, who has pleaded not guilty, remains in custody on bond and is expected in Superior Court in downtown San Diego for a hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday. It’s unclear why it took so long to schedule the trial date.
Around 3:10 p.m. on the day of the slayings, police found both victims dead on the 35th floor of the Spire San Diego luxury apartment building.
Prosecutors say the jealous Tiktoker believed his wife was cheating on him with Rayburn, while Brast said Ana and Ali had been separated for “quite some time” before that.
According to Brast, Ana asked her husband to move on October 18 when he checked into a hotel.
Three days later, Brast said, Ali snuck back into the apartment and trashed it while his wife was away. While he was there, she said he also installed the listening app on his daughter’s iPad.
Prosecutors believe Ali copied the key to Anna’s apartment and used it to gain entry.
Ali listened to the app hours later and heard his wife and a man talking and giggling before running back to the high-rise, Brast said.
Security camera footage showed him running from the 35th floor elevator to the apartment.
Brast said Ali shot Rayburn three times at close range — in the neck, cheek and back of the head — before pointing the gun at his wife and shooting her once in the forehead.
After the shooting, prosecutors said Ali went to pick up his 5-year-old daughter from school with a loaded gun in the car. He told his daughter he “hurt mommy” before being arrested by police
At the time of her death, Anna’s heartbroken family created a GoFundMe page to help them with funeral expenses and the cost of returning her body to the Philippines.
The suspect then called his mother and confessed, Brast said.
“The suspect then fled the building, went to pick up his daughter from school and still had the loaded weapon in his car,” Brast said. ‘[He] told his daughter that he ‘hurt mommy’, after which he was quickly arrested by the police.’
With his young daughter still in the car, Ali was stopped and arrested by police later that day, investigators said.
A couple who lived across the street from Ali and Anna at the time testified that Ana had knocked on their door about a month before the tragic incident and asked them to call the police because her husband had hit her.
The neighbors said Anna had asked to use their phone because Ali had taken hers.
Sergeant Christopher Leahy of the San Diego Police Department later testified that 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 grew apart after settling in San Diego and that the move was “part of the downfall.”
“My wife wanted me to move her here with her friends, to a life of taco on Tuesday, women on Wednesday, party on Saturday and bar on Sunday,” Ali said.
While he claimed his estranged wife liked to party, her childhood friend Cassie Conroy said this was not the case.
‘He’s a bad guy. There’s nothing good about him. He’s selfish. That’s all I can say: selfish,” Conroy said Fox 5.
According to testimony, another of Anna’s friends told police she planned to get a restraining order against Ali, but it was never filed.
According to testimony, another friend told police that Ana planned to get a restraining order against Ali, but it was never filed
Before the shooting, Ali had more than 940,000 followers on TikTok and about 170,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. His account included comedy sketches and impersonations of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface
Before the shooting, Ali had more than 940,000 followers on TikTok and about 170,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
His report included comedy sketches and impersonations of the character Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface.
Just days before the shooting, 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 death, Anna’s heartbroken family created a GoFundMe page to help them with funeral costs.
‘Losing a loved one is never easy. It is unimaginable to lose a daughter, a sister and a mother in such a violent way,” the page said.
In the most recent update, a family member said that Ana’s body would be returned to her home in the Philippines.
“I am heartbroken that this happened to such a beautiful soul. Ana will always be in my school memories with her kind spirit and infectious laugh,” a friend commented on the page that has raised more than $20,500.