Before Ali Abulaban became a name on social media, he was serving in the US Air Force and stationed in Japan. There, he met his wife Ana, who was from the Philippines, and they started dating. Abulaban was discharged from the military after allegedly getting into a fight with one of her friends and the couple moved to Virginia where his family was based. They married in 2017 and had a daughter. The following year, Abulaban started making TikTok videos under the name JinnKid. He recorded comedy impressions that attracted millions of views. His most watched video was his version of the fictional character Tony Montana from the 1983 film Scarface.
He had more than 940,000 followers and Ana would often make cameo appearances and help him with the filming. They became well-known influencers. The couple moved to San Diego so that Abulaban could take advantage of the California social media scene to grow his fame. They settled into a luxury apartment on the 35th floor of a high-rise building. With her beauty and fashionable looks, Ana also started to gain a following, and fans soon started to comment on their relationship. Something was wrong. By 2021, their daughter was five, and Ana, 28, was unhappy in her marriage. Abulaban had a cocaine addiction and he was even seen taking the drugs during a live stream on his channel. He would also openly criticize his wife and accuse her of being unfaithful in jealous rants or complain that they weren’t having enough sex.
During one livestream, Abulaban talks on his phone while Ana sits on the sofa. “Don’t get married, guys; I threw my whole life away for her,” he says as he pans around to get her in view. There were other times when he would film their arguments and verbally abuse her.
At first, Ana stayed in the marriage because she was concerned about losing her daughter to Abulaban and having to return to the Philippines without her if they divorced due to losing her visa. Divorce was also discouraged in her culture. But soon, Ana admitted she was frightened. She filed a police report accusing Abulaban of domestic violence and told him their marriage was over.
On 18 October 2021, Ana asked Abulaban to move out of their apartment after she accused him of forcefully pushing her. She told him she was going to file a restraining order, and he moved into a hotel.
Ana was unaware that when Abulaban handed back the key card to the flat, he’d made copies so he could return.
Three days later, on 21 October, Abulaban went back into the apartment when Ana was out. He trashed the place and installed a spyware app on his daughter’s iPad to spy on Ana and record her. When Ana saw that he’d been in the building, she sent him a message. “I want you out of my life,” she wrote.
Ana cleared up the mess and invited her friend, Rayburn Cardenas Barron, 29, over while her daughter was at school to help clean up. When Abulaban secretly listened in, he could hear his estranged wife and Rayburn laughing and talking together. Convinced they were romantically involved, he angrily raced back to the flat – with a gun.
Abulaban was seen on security cameras going into the lift and running on the 35th floor to the apartment as though he was trying to catch them in the act. He burst in and confronted Ana and Rayburn who were on the sofa. Abulaban shot Rayburn three times at close range in the neck, face, and head. Then he turned the gun on Ana and shot her in the head. Neighbors’ cameras recorded the shots and the terrified screams.
After the killings, Abulaban called his mother and told her what he’d done. He even sent her a photo of the bodies to prove it. He fled the apartment and went to pick up his daughter from school. He told the five-year-old that he’d “hurt mommy” before he was quickly apprehended by the police and arrested. Abulaban couldn’t deny the problems in his marriage, or his jealousy and anger issues, as he’d documented it all on his social media accounts.
At the trial earlier this year, Abulaban didn’t deny killing Ana and Rayburn, but he said it was due to a drug-induced psychosis from a huge intake of cocaine and that it was second-degree murder. He took the stand and said what he’d done.
“My gun was in my hand and next thing I’m shooting,” he added. “And before I could stop myself, I just f***ing snapped. My gun was in my hand, and next thing, I was shooting, and I couldn’t stop. I’m just shooting… It’s like I’m watching it happen like I’m in the passenger seat of my own body,” he said.
The killings were described as a “crime of passion” but the prosecution disagreed.
“Heat of passion does not apply when you walk into an apartment that you had bugged, with a key card you were not supposed to have, to a fight that no one else knew was happening but you,” they said. “And you brought a gun. That is not heat of passion.”
They said Abulaban had plenty of time to rethink his decision as he was driving there, going up in the lift and unlawfully entering Ana’s home. But he fired his gun within seconds and didn’t stop until Ana and Rayburn were dead.
The court saw the photos Abulaban had taken of his dead victims and played the harrowing sounds of the gunshots. The prosecution said he was possessive and when he’d lost control of his wife, he’d killed her. In May, the jury found Abulaban guilty of first-degree murder.
Four months later, he was sentenced. Ana’s sister Hermae Sartin gave a tearful victim impact statement, saying that
if she’d known her sister was being abused, she would have insisted Ana return to the Philippines with her daughter.
“You treated my sister like she didn’t matter, but she mattered,” Hermae said. Abulaban argued back and there was shouting in court before the judge had to step in.
Rayburn’s family described him as caring friend and a family man who went out of his way to help others. “The pain and trauma of losing our brother the way we did is so painful that we have difficulty living a normal and healthy life,” they said.
Abulaban made a statement blaming mental illness and drug abuse for his actions. He verbally attacked the jury and complained about the punishment for his crimes.
“I believe everyone should have the ability to parole because everyone can change,” he said. “Being sent to prison forever feels like I’m being sent to hell, and I don’t think that’s fair,” Abulaban said.
The judge said he didn’t accept Abulaban’s excuses and insisted the killings were deliberate. “Firing within seconds of entering the apartment, clearly showing an intent to kill. Not heat of passion. Willful, deliberate, premeditated, cold-blooded murder,” the judge said.
The judge added that Abulaban’s tears in court had been for himself. “When I saw the Scarface videos, it’s as if when you committed these crimes, you became that persona of Scarface,” the judge said.
Abulaban was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders and 50 years to life for the use of a gun. The judge said he will die in prison. As the courtroom cheered, Abulaban, 32, mocked them with a slow clap and muttered expletives under his breath.
The path to murder had been played out on social media and would seal Abulaban’s fate behind bars.
