The Dark Side of Going Viral | Hashtag Homicide | Forensic Files

[AUDIO LOGO] [LIGHT MUSIC] [gunshots] Zara Barker: There's a dark side to social media,
and I think that's what we saw with the rise and fall of JinnKid. Taren Brast: People thought that Ana and Ali were happy
together because there were a lot of posts that they were in a happy marriage and everything was great.
And making posts about not only their lives together, but about his career, him wanting
to do comedy impersonations, but behind the scenes, it was a lot different. Zara Barker: Ali seemed to really like
to control the narrative of what other people could see between his relationship with his wife.
There was a point where he was live streaming fights that him and his wife were having for the world to see.
And he didn't seem to have any shame about it. Christopher Leahy: The verbal arguments are escalating
into physical assault. Summer Stephan: Ana was trying to get a restraining order.
She kicked him out. Ana made the fatal mistake of being happy for a moment, and he couldn't stand that.
Christopher Leahy: But then our communications division received a 911 call. Summer Stephan: This is the most selfish, narcissistic
mindset, when people take another life, especially a mother's life, like that. [theme music]
♪ ♪ Zara Barker: Ali Abulaban had joined the military. And he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
While he was in Okinawa, he had enjoyed some of the nightlife. And while he was there, he ended
up having some mutual friends and ran into a woman named Ana. Christopher Leahy: Ana was a Filipino national,
but living in Okinawa. She had a group of friends. There's a large Filipino community in Okinawa, Japan.
Zara Barker: They didn't start talking or have a relationship right away, but there was one day where Ali was working
the gate on the military base in Japan, and Ana ended up driving through that base.
He stopped her and asked for her identification. And instead of maybe going through the process
he was supposed to, he ended up giving her his phone number. And that's where we see the Ali and Ana story begin.
Ali and Ana started dating. They talked on the phone. They talked on social media.
Their relationship seemed to blossom very fast. They were hanging out with each other as friends,
mutual friends, going to parties, bars, and then they kind of became inseparable.
narrator:<i> Before long,</i> <i> Ana and Ali's relationship</i> <i> turned serious.</i>
<i> From the outside, they seemed</i> <i> like a normal loving couple.</i> <i> But on an August night</i> <i> in 2015, Ali is involved</i>
<i> in a violent incident.</i> Taren Brast: There is an incident where Ali struck another male, and so that case was reported.
Zara Barker: Ali ended up getting discharged from the military because of an alleged fight
that he had had with one of Ana's friends. Now, his version of that story and her friend's version of that story are very different.
[airplane's engine] Ali had moved back to Virginia after being discharged, and Ana had moved back to the Philippines
to be with her family. Shortly after moving back to the Philippines, Ana found out she was pregnant with Ali's daughter.
narrator:<i> With</i> <i> a daughter on the way,</i> <i> Ali and Ana decide to raise her</i> <i> together in the United States.</i>
Taren Brast: He did help Ana come to the United States to get a visa to be able to live there
after their daughter was born. And so Ana and Ali lived in Virginia for a couple of years.
They were both working. They got a house. They lived near his family, but Ana wasn't necessarily
happy there. It was more isolating. She didn't have a lot of friends around. She didn't have her own family around.
And so she did want to move to San Diego. She had some friends from high school, from Japan here,
and so she came out to visit with Ali. They hung out at a party with several of Ana's friends.
That's where they both first met Ray. And Ray had shown some interest in Ana and told Ali he was lucky to have her.
- He was making these comments to Ali, commenting about how beautiful Ana was. Ricardo Escalante: Ali was very jealous, and because of that,
you know, he didn't like him. narrator:<i> When they returned</i> <i> to Virginia after their trip</i>
<i> to San Diego, Ali</i> <i> decides to chase</i> <i> his dream of becoming</i> <i> an actor and starts</i>
<i> making videos on social media.</i> Zara Barker: Around the pandemic time, Ali went to social media and started doing impersonations.
Ricardo Escalante: He basically portrayed characters like Tony Montana. [Banging the door]
- You wanna [beep] with me? OK, now, OK. Jenna, Jenna, where's my [beep] lighter?
Ricardo Escalante: Characters like Tekashi 69. Zara Barker: Ali Abulaban had grown
into what some would consider a social media star or a social media celebrity. He had amassed more than 1 million followers
on all of the platforms he was on, such as Instagram and TikTok. He was known under the username as JinnKid,
and he often did these impressions of characters that were often pretty violent.
- Find me up in the bathtub. Hector comes with the [beep] chainsaw. Manoro comes in, he shoots the [beep] lady on the bed.
I shoot two guys, kill Hector. Everybody's [beep] dead. Zara Barker: In some of his early JinnKid videos,
we could see Ana in the background. We could hear Ana in the background laughing.
So we know, at least from social media, that she was very involved in his early days of JinnKid
and seemed to really approve of what he was doing. narrator:<i> Ana began building</i> <i> her social media following</i>
<i> by sharing everyday</i> <i> moments of joy</i> <i> with her daughter, friends,</i> <i> and her seemingly healthy</i>
<i> relationship with her husband.</i> Taren Brast: Making posts about not only their lives
together but about his career, him wanting to do comedy impersonations. And so he and Ana started that in Virginia,
but it was more when they moved to San Diego that the fame was there for Ali where he got more followers.
Ali did not want to move here, but Ana wanted to and so he knew that he could get more famous being near LA, and
so they ultimately decided to move to San Diego in February of 2021. [cool music]
They moved into a high rise apartment complex in East Village called Spire San Diego.
They had an apartment on the 35th floor where they lived with their daughter. Zara Barker: If you saw Ali Abulaban on social media
and his beautiful wife, Ana, you would look at them and think, wow, they have it all.
They have a beautiful life. They have a beautiful home and a daughter. They seem to have it all together.
This case just proves that what you see online is not something you can believe.
There's always more to the story. narrator:<i> The picture-perfect</i> <i> relationship seen online</i>
<i> hit a far different and violent</i> <i> reality behind closed doors.</i> Taren Brast: Ali had hit Ana, punched her a couple times
in the face in July of 2021. She didn't report it to police, but she left him for a couple of days, told him
that he was wrong for what he did and he can't be violent with her like that. And he did make some admissions over messages
through Instagram where he apologized for losing control. And he won't do it again, and he'll change and get help.
That's a typical cycle of domestic violence where an abuser hurts the victim and then apologizes.
I love you, you know. Take me back. And so she took him back. narrator:<i> Fights between</i> <i> the couple-- once confined</i>
<i> to behind closed</i> <i> doors-- began playing</i> <i> out in the online world.</i>
Zara Barker: There was a point where he was live streaming fights that him and his wife
were having. What would usually be a private fight between two parents, between two partners, he was live streaming these fights
for the world to see. And he didn't seem to have any shame about it. narrator:<i> Ali was paranoid</i> <i> that Ana was cheating on him.</i>
- When Ali started live streaming the fights that him and Ana were having, this really
blurred the lines of his personal and his private life. Taren Brast: As he got more fame,
he thought he was invincible, that he could do whatever he wanted and there wouldn't be any repercussions.
- He's actually telling Ana that, you know, he's a internet star, and he called himself a god.
Zara Barker: The fame maybe really got to Ali's head. He was blurring the lines of who Jinn Kidd was,
who Ali Abulaban was, and his loyal fan base really seemed to maybe stroke his ego at the time.
Zara Barker: Ali had a lot of followers online. And even in the midst of his own personal decline,
his followers still seem to stay loyal to him. Summer Stephan: Unfortunately, with social media
now, it's very confusing. Kids don't know what's real and what's not real. They see so many examples of violence that
makes it seem cool and OK. Zara Barker: As we saw his marriage declining, it seemed that he cared more about his followers,
his fame and his presence online than he did about Ana. - Ultimately, things kept escalating
into August, and especially in September of 2021. She did report one incident to the police
on September 8 of 2021. Taren Brast: Ali had pushed her down in their bedroom. She hit her head on the bed.
She got some scrapes on her elbow and knee. At the same time, Ana was calling 911 on that date,
Ali was making a live stream on TikTok where he was essentially berating Ana and accusing her
of calling the police to rat him out when he's the one who brought her to this country.
Zara Barker: These were really disgusting and disturbing things for anyone to hear, especially for a husband to be
saying this about his wife. narrator:<i> These altercations</i> <i> escalate further and further,</i>
<i> but little did Ana know they</i> <i> would ultimately turn deadly.</i> [audio logo]
<i> In 2021, Ana Abulaban is living</i> <i> in San Diego with her husband,</i> <i> Ali, and their young daughter.</i>
<i> Ali is a viral</i> <i> TikTok star known</i> <i> as JinnKid, best known for his</i> <i> Tony Montana impressions.</i>
<i> Behind the scenes, however,</i> <i> he's abusing cocaine</i> <i> and behaving erratically.</i>
<i> Tensions at home escalate</i> <i> into violent arguments, some</i> <i> of which Ali even livestreams.</i>
Taren Brast: There were a couple other incidents of violence in September where Ana reported to a neighbor
that she was being hurt and where she reported to a friend that he had hit her. narrator:<i> Ali is paranoid</i> <i> that Ana is cheating on him,</i>
<i> when in fact, he is the one</i> <i> who has been unfaithful.</i> Christopher Leahy: In early October,
Ana confirmed that Ali had been having an affair with an 18-year-old girl that lived
in the condominium complex. That 18-year-old girl approached Ana and disclosed to her that she was under the impression that they had
separated, and that she had recently had sex with Ali inside their apartment. Zara Barker: She made a TikTok post about it
and he was not happy. He begged and pleaded with Ana to take that down. Christopher Leahy: And so at that point,
Ana told Ali, like, the relationship is over. So she does move out with their daughter
and they move in with one of her girlfriends, who also lived here in San Diego. - She told him she didn't want to be married to him anymore,
and he cheated and the relationship just disintegrated. Christopher Leahy: Ali started to kind
of tailspin in his life, decisions he was making, the drugs he was using. And so, ultimately, Ali's father had a very, very
good relationship with Ana. He loved Ana, he loved Ana's daughter, and he recognized that his son was spinning out of control.
Ali's father lived in Virginia, so his ability to intervene was only so much. Ultimately, Ana and her daughter flew out to Virginia
and stayed with Ali's father for about a week, and Ali's father encouraged Ana to move.
He offered to pay for an apartment for her, first and last month's rent, and get her started because he was fearful of what Ali
he might do. So he encouraged Ana. He's like, please just find a place. I'll pay for it.
You know, you need to move out. At some point, Ana and Ali make this arrangement.
Taren Brast: On October 18, Ana and Ali decided that she and their daughter would move back into the Spire Apartment
and he would move out so that their daughter could have more stable lifestyle. Christopher Leahy: Ali ends up moving
into a Holiday Inn, a hotel. It's a hotel up in Mission Bay, which is kind of near the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.
narrator:<i> Despite</i> <i> their separation,</i> <i> Ali was unwilling</i> <i> to accept it was over.</i>
Christopher Leahy: In the agreement that the couple made was Ali would turn over all of his electronic key cards, which
would allow him access into the building and into the apartment unit, that he would turn that over to management, which is
what he told Ana he had done. But he had gone to a store and had one of the keys duplicated,
so he had duplicated an electronic key card. narrator:<i> Behind</i> <i> Ana's back, Ali</i>
<i> made a duplicate</i> <i> of the key card</i> <i> so he could sneak</i> <i> into the apartment at any time.</i>
Zara Barker: On October 21, 2021, that morning, Ali had been scheduled to go to Los Angeles
to do something with his JinnKid persona, or some sort of comedy skit where he was meeting
up with other personalities. He had been scheduled to go on that trip for quite some time.
Before he went on that trip, he had decided that he was going to send over some groceries and
some Halloween goodies. He had those groceries delivered, and he waited by his phone and he didn't hear Ana say
thank you for the groceries. So, in what seemed to be a fit of rage, Ali drove to the apartment, went up to the 35th floor
of the Spire Apartments, went inside the apartment where he used to live. So he had a key card at that point.
He got into the apartment, saw the groceries there, and he ended up trashing the apartment.
He had bought daughter a pumpkin, threw it on the ground. There were flowers sprung all throughout the apartment.
After he had trashed the apartment with the groceries he had just bought her, Ali saw his daughter's iPad.
Now, Ali had been trying to catch his wife cheating on him, but he could never prove it during this time of separation.
So Ali saw his daughter's iPad, he immediately thought of the app Discord. narrator:<i> Discord</i> <i> is an app that lets</i>
<i> users chat and voice call.</i> <i> Ali decides to weaponize it</i> <i> and spy on Ana in her own home.</i>
Zara Barker: He hooked up the Discord app from that iPad to his phone, so that he could listen in on everything that
was going on in that apartment, all by the ease of his own iPhone. Taren Brast: Then he exited.
He threw some of her clothing in the trash chute. Then he called Ana on the phone,
Ali accusing her of cheating, and asking where she was and who she was with, and her just
constantly telling him to leave her alone, to stop contacting her. She wasn't with anyone else.
And that was about 9:45. So, Ali left the building. Zara Barker: When he got back to his hotel, he was tired,
hadn't slept at all the night before. And he was supposed to go to Los Angeles. But at this point, it seemed that he had kind of canceled
that trip because he was so determined that he was going to try and catch Ana with another man.
Ali went to sleep. He woke up to the sound of another man's voice and R&B music playing from the iPad to his phone.
narrator:<i> Ana is hanging</i> <i> out with her friend,</i> <i> Rayburn Cardenas Barron.</i>
<i> Ali had always been jealous of</i> <i> the bond between Ana and Ray,</i> <i> and constantly accused</i> <i> her of sleeping with him.</i>
Taren Brast: He hears that Ana came back with another man. They're giggling, laughing about him,
and so he was upset and angry. Zara Barker: He jumped up, grabbed his gun, took cocaine, and sped to the Spire Apartments.
Once he got to the Spire Apartments, he put his gun in his waistband and he went up to the 35th floor.
Taren Brast: He had a baggy sweatshirt on that covered the belt area and the holster,
so you couldn't see the gun. And then you see the elevator open on the 35th floor,
and Ali doesn't even wait for the elevator to fully open before he's running down the hallway
to where their apartment was. Zara Barker: He goes inside with the key card. He pulls out his gun, and he finds Ana and
Rayburn Barron on the couch. [audio logo] narrator:<i> October 21, 2021,</i> <i> TikTok creator Ali Abulaban,</i>
<i> known as JinnKid, enters</i> <i> a downtown San Diego apartment</i> <i> complex high on cocaine</i> <i> and armed with a gun.</i>
<i> He has been spying on his</i> <i> estranged wife, Ana Abulaban,</i> <i> through a social</i> <i> media app installed</i>
<i> on their daughter's iPad.</i> <i> Convinced she is sleeping</i> <i> with another man,</i>
<i> he enters the apartment</i> <i> and finds Ana on the couch</i> <i> with her friend,</i> <i> Rayburn Barron.</i>
<i> Moments later, he makes</i> <i> a chilling 911 call.</i> Christopher Leahy: 3:11 PM, our communications division
received a 911 call from Ali, where he is reporting that he has just found his wife,
and he says, another man. - He is starting to act upset and say it was so horrible,
he just found them. Christopher Leahy: And he's almost speaking as if he's in the apartment,
discovering the traumatic injuries that they had sustained. So the dispatcher is trying to confirm things
and is asking him questions. The dispatcher realizes that he's no longer at the scene,
so the dispatcher tries to encourage him to come back to the scene. Ali gets very agitated and angry,
and he terminates the call. narrator:<i> Emergency</i> <i> services are immediately</i>
<i> dispatched to the scene.</i> Ricardo Escalante: When it first came out, we were just listening to the radio.
And we heard that two people had been shot inside an apartment. And so, obviously, we started paying attention.
And eventually, when it was confirmed, we ended up having to drive four blocks down
and assemble out here. Christopher Leahy: Based on the limited information we had at the time, it sounded like it was very possible
that it could be just like a murder-suicide, because, Ali, the 911 caller, was reporting that there
were two deceased people inside of the apartment on the couch. And then once officers attempted
to establish communication with the folks inside the unit, when they got no response, they developed a tactical plan
to force entry into the unit. Ricardo Escalante: When I went inside, I observed items in the apartment basically thrown
all around on the ground. There was a pumpkin that was smashed. There was flower petals.
And then, of course, we observed shell casings, unfired rounds. And then Ray and Ana were on the couch.
They were, obviously, deceased. And you can see that they had gunshot wounds. Christopher Leahy: The officers cleared
the apartment, determined that there were no other subjects inside. narrator:<i> Investigators</i> <i> spread out</i>
<i> across the floor</i> <i> of the building,</i> <i> looking for witnesses.</i>
Christopher Leahy: They started interviewing neighbors. The neighbors, specifically Carolina and Daniel
who lived directly across from the Abulabans, Carolina said she heard six gunshots.
She believed she looked out her peephole, she saw Ali exiting the apartment, found
that very odd and peculiar. Moments later, sees him through the peephole returned to the apartment, sees and hears him screaming.
Christopher Leahy: And then sees him leave again. She called her husband, who was somewhat dismissive about what
she had reported to him. And then her husband, coincidentally, was just coming home and ends up
taking the elevator with Ali immediately after the shooting. And we got a statement out of him
about how Ali kind of seemed agitated and like something was wrong with him. narrator:<i> CCTV footage</i> <i> is gathered as evidence.</i>
<i> What it reveals is shocking.</i> Taren Brast: The Nest camera from a neighboring apartment
captures him running from the elevator bank down the hallway. And then he's out of view, but he's
running towards the hallway-- down the hallway to where their apartment was. And he's walking closer to his victims at that point.
Then he stands right in front of Ana-- you can hear her scream. Then he fires one final shot.
[gunshot] And at 3:02 PM, he calls his mother on his cell phone, which is also picked
up from that Nest camera. - And you can hear his mom screaming over the phone. And then ultimately, he leaves and goes down the elevator.
You can see him on the elevator looking at his cell phone. He looks at the photo of the bodies,
interacts with the neighbor, and then leaves the building at about 3:07 PM. narrator: <i> Investigators identify</i>
<i> Ali as their prime suspect.</i> <i> Armed and dangerous, they</i> <i> need to find him quickly.</i>
Christopher Leahy: They interviewed a security guard that talked about seeing Ali come and go.
And so a description of Ali's Jeep-- which was a really unique Jeep. It had Virginia license plates.
We're obviously in the state of California. There were a bunch add-on additions to the Jeep
that he had made to make it look more unique. The officers realized that there was a five-year-old girl that also lived in the condo
with them. She was unaccounted for. The information that they were able to get from management
was that she was enrolled at a nearby elementary school, so officers were dispatched to that area.
And as officers were responding to the school, they saw Ali's Jeep pulling away from the school
and getting onto the freeway. Thank goodness San Diego Police Department officers
see and recognize the Jeep getting onto the freeway, because had they not seen that, this
could have been a different outcome, potentially, for their daughter. The officers developed a tactical plan,
knowing that there was a five-year-old girl inside the Jeep with a potentially armed subject.
Once they got enough resources together, they initiated a high-risk vehicle stop on the freeway.
narrator:<i> Police pull</i> <i> Ali over on the freeway</i> <i> and arrest him at gunpoint.</i>
[chatter] Taren Brast: And Ali asked about his wife. He said, oh, you how's my wife?
Fully knowing that she was already deceased. He did admit that there was a gun in the trunk.
He had his safe in the vehicle that had multiple magazines, over 100 rounds of ammunition, a holster.
Christopher Leahy: Their daughter was recovered. She was taken into protective custody.
We coordinated with Rady's Children's Hospital to have a forensic nurse conduct an interview
of their daughter. She told the forensic interviewer that her daddy told her that he had hurt mommy
and that he was going to be going to jail for a long time. Their daughter made some disclosures
about some domestic violence incidents that she had witnessed between her mother and father,
describing Ali as the dominant aggressor in those incidents. And then we placed her in Child Protective Services
because at the time, we had no other family members here in San Diego to release her to.
Summer Stephan: Supporting children that are left behind from violence, and sometimes children who have sensed the violence--
like in this case, the murderer, her father, took her and had her with him in the car
after the murder-- so this child, she was terrified. narrator:<i> Now that</i> <i> their daughter</i>
<i> has been safely accounted for,</i> <i> investigators turn their focus</i> <i> back to their suspect.</i>
Christopher Leahy: Ali was transported back to San Diego Police headquarters. We collected DNA samples from him, gunshot residue samples
from him. We photographed him to document the existence or absence of any injuries that he might have.
During the forensic processing, he was making spontaneous statements to us that he did not intend to speak to us,
he didn't want to talk to us, which is his decision to make. But once we got into the interview room,
he seemed to just want to tell us his version of events. One of the most interesting things
about the interview with him was he interjected and interrupted us and asked, how's Ana?
What's her status? Was she alive? Did she make it? Detective Newquist told Ali, he's like, she did not make it.
She passed away. And then for close to a minute, he was just screaming and wailing in the interview room
and grabbing tissues and pretending to cry. I never saw a tear. But to me, after learning more about him
and his acting capabilities, I believe that's just what it was. narrator:<i> Ali Abulaban admits</i> <i> to murdering his wife Ana and</i>
<i> her friend, Ray,</i> <i> but investigators never</i> <i> expected the reasons</i> <i> he gave for such</i>
<i> a cold, calculated act.</i> [audio logo] narrator:<i> On October 21, 2021,</i> <i> TikTok creator Ali Abulaban</i>
<i> storms into a San</i> <i> Diego high rise</i> <i> and guns down his</i> <i> estranged wife</i>
<i> Ana Abulaban, along with</i> <i> her friend, Rayburn Barron.</i> <i> Hours later he is</i> <i> in custody, already</i>
<i> spinning a story where despite</i> <i> committing a double murder,</i> <i> he is the real victim.</i>
Christopher Leahy: He definitely seemed like he was trying to convince detective Newquist
and that he was the good guy in this whole thing. He essentially painted a picture of Ana
as a terrible person, that she was ruining his life. She was blackmailing him. She was threatening to call the police on him.
She was cheating on him. She was a cocaine addict, and painting a very terrible picture of her.
He told us that when he broke into the condo earlier that morning, he took all of Ana's--
and his words-- slutty clothing and threw them down the garbage bin. He spoke terribly of her friends,
talked about how they ruined Ana's life and brainwashed her. narrator:<i> Ali</i> <i> Abulaban is officially</i>
<i> charged with the murder of Ana</i> <i> Abulaban and Rayburn Barron.</i> <i> While preparations are</i> <i> underway for the trial,</i>
<i> investigators compiled</i> <i> digital evidence</i> <i> from the cell phone</i> <i> and social media</i>
<i> accounts of both the victims</i> <i> and the perpetrator.</i> Ricardo Escalante: One of the challenges
is that as digital evidence becomes more abundant, it is a lot to go through. These cases, when we have a case
with a lot of digital evidence, it could take months or years to really go through all the different pieces of evidence in a case.
Taren Brast: There was a significant amount of evidence in this case, with all that we gathered from the cell phones, from social media,
from the crime scene, the vehicle, and through friends and family. And so we knew that this was first degree murder,
but it was proving that to the jury. So we have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt,
and we had a lot of good evidence to be able to do that. narrator:<i> The trial takes place</i> <i> at San Diego Superior Court</i>
<i> in April of 2024.</i> Zara Barker: I've never seen a courtroom as packed as it was.
Because Ali had so many followers, that drew so much attention to this case from the beginning.
When you hear of a TikToker, a TikTok star-- whatever you want to call them-- on trial for murder,
it just adds so many layers to this. [cameras clicking] There were outlets and documentary crews.
And the courtroom was packed with not only local media, but national media and media from out of the country
as well. Ana's friends, Ray's family and friends, all packed the courtroom every single day,
and this was a really long trial. It lasted nearly a month. The key players in this case were actually
Ana's friends, who testified about the years of manipulation and abuse that Ali had put Ana through.
narrator:<i> Through Ana's</i> <i> friends and family,</i> <i> it came to light that</i> <i> the abuse started early</i>
<i> in the relationship,</i> <i> and the events</i> <i> that led up to Ali's military</i> <i> discharge in Okinawa in 2015</i>
<i> began to emerge.</i> Christopher Leahy: What we learned through talking with Ana's sisters
and later reviewing the military records, is that there was an incident at a bar in which Ali
assaulted Ana pretty badly. - He struck Ana and he struck another male who was trying
to intervene to help her. So that case was reported, and ultimately, Ali was discharged from the Air Force.
All of that was really important to paint the picture of who Ali was as a domestic violence abuser.
interviewer: You caused those injuries to Ana's face, right? Ali Abulaban: I did.
interviewer: You gave her a huge bump on her face, right? - Yes. interviewer: You gave her cut near her eye?
- Yes. interviewer: And you would convince her not to call 911 or the police to report your violence, tight?
- Yes. I just didn't think it needed to go there, with legal. I took responsibility in the sense
that I immediately apologized and I was willing to work away, you get past it, but--
interviewer: Also, an apology by you makes everything OK, right? - No, but it's a start.
Zara Barker: Ali had years to think about exactly what he was going to say on that stand, and the moment he
took the stand, when he got a chance to describe his point of view, he still turned it around
in a very narcissistic way. And in of apologizing for what he had done, his words were, "I couldn't believe
that Ana would do this to me." Ali Abulaban: I couldn't believe that she could do
that to me, to our daughter. And before I could stop myself, I just fucking snapped.
And my gun was in my hand, and next thing I'm shooting and-- and I can't stop. I mean, I'm like, I'm in the passenger seat of my own body.
I can't stop it, and I hear Ana screaming and crying. - Ali made that courtroom like it was his stage.
It seemed like he was putting on a performance. Even the judge had said that he didn't know if this was real.
He didn't know if this was true or a performance, either. And the judge even alluded to wondering
if his tears were real. If you saw JinnKid on social media, he knew how to capture people's attention,
and he maybe took those same skills into the courtroom. Christopher Leahy: Ultimately, his defense,
because we had eliminated all other potential defenses by just doing a thorough comprehensive investigation,
became heat of passion. Heat of passion is husband comes home from work, walks into the house, and finds his wife
in bed with another man. Completely unexpected, the husband is so overcome with emotion and rage and shock
that he grabs the golf club that happens to be just there. He's not searching for it.
It just happens to be right there. And he clubs the guy to death. In this case, Ali tells us that he suspected Ana was cheating.
We had established that they had separated. They were no longer together, OK. So, technically still married, yes, but they
were no longer together, and they were not getting back together. This isn't something like unexpected
where he walks in on his wife and everything's fine in the relationship. This is something totally different.
He doesn't live there anymore. He believes she was getting a restraining order against him.
So he's kind of seeing that her life is about to become more and more separated from his life.
So he installs this eavesdropping application, this listening app, secretes the iPad underneath Ana's bed,
and then he leaves and wakes up to the sounds of a male voice and Ana giggling. And then he gets into his Jeep and drives
approximately-- give or take-- 20 minutes straight down to the condominium with the firearm in the Jeep, and beelines
it straight for the apartment. So my point being is there's all these, like, logical steps that he was taking,
a very goal oriented behavior. The listening app, I want to confirm this. I need to know.
Now he's hearing a male voice in the apartment, I'm going to walk in and I'm going to find them having sex.
And they weren't having sex. They were sitting on a couch, fully clothed, and he still shoots both of them
within seconds of entering. narrator:<i> Alongside</i> <i> the building.</i> <i> CCTV footage, some</i> <i> of the most damning</i>
<i> evidence that</i> <i> showed premeditation</i> <i> came from Ali's own phone.</i>
- Ali actually had audio recorded the entire event. So he started recording on his phone, the shooting.
And you' actually hear Ana and Rayburn are screaming as they were being fired upon.
[gunshots] Then you see him coming out of the apartment, and then he places a phone call to his mom.
And you can hear the audio during the trial where he's actually notifying his mom that he had killed Ana.
Christopher Leahy: The jury, they saw him for what he is. He's a narcissist, a manipulator of truth.
And so they heard all the evidence, and they rejected that he had a passionate defense.
narrator:<i> The jury</i> <i> concluded that not</i> <i> only did Ali</i> <i> Abulaban deliberately</i>
<i> plan to murder his</i> <i> estranged wife, Ana,</i> <i> he also stole the life of an</i> <i> innocent man, Rayburn Barron.</i>
Taren Brast: It was just a feeling of relief that the jury made the right decision,
the right convictions. And I just felt for the families that they were so happy that they got their justice.
Of course, nothing would bring back Ana or Ray. Jury member: We, the jury, in the above entitled cause,
find the defendant, Ali Nasser Abulaban, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree--
[cheers] --of Rayburn Cardenas. Taren Brast: His sentence was two counts of life without parole, as well as 50 years to life in prison.
narrator:<i> Although Ali</i> <i> Abulaban dreamed of a career</i> <i> as a famous actor</i> <i> launched by social media,</i>
<i> it was the toxic</i> <i> side of online fame</i> <i> that ultimately led</i> <i> to his downfall.</i>
Zara Barker: There's a dark side to social media, and I think that's what we saw with the rise
and fall of JinnKid. This case is really unique because Ali documented every moment of his life
for years leading up to this murder. He used his platform to get a lot of followers,
and he quickly declined from his mental health into a cocaine addiction, into shooting, and killing his wife.
And we saw all of that play out on social media. Summer Stephan: This terrible murder
is at the top of the list of cruel murders, completely senseless. The image of Ana and Rayburn just laughing, giggling,
enjoying a little bit of happiness and friendship on a couch and having their life
end in this terrible, violent way, it's a case that stays with me. I'm going to use that pain from that case
to continue to forge forward. There's still a lot of work to be done. The tech companies can do more to prevent and
to alert law enforcement to the threat of domestic violence, a threat of an attack.
They can do more to help us stop bad things from happening before they happen, to prevent another Ana and
Rayburn from happening. [theme music] ♪ ♪

Ali Abulaban gained fame on TikTok for comedy videos, but his livestreams revealed his abusive behavior toward his wife, Ana Abulaban. After their breakup, Ali's obsession with fame led to deadly consequences.

This true crime series delves into real cases in the digital age, tracing social media clues throughout investigations to reveal how online footprints expose murder and reshape the pursuit of truth.

For More FilmRise Check Out Our Other Channels: FilmRise Television: https://www.youtube.com/⁨@UCVVXDVee0JZ2dlPYtpdTZVg FilmRise Movies: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseMovies Highway to Heaven - Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@HighwaytoHeavenFullEpisodes

Brief Summary

Ali Abulaban, a TikTok star, murders his wife Ana and her friend amid escalating domestic violence and jealousy fueled by social media.

Key points

The Rise and Fall of JinnKid. Zara Barker discusses the dark side of social media and the downfall of JinnKid.
Behind the Perfect Facade. Zara Barker reveals the truth behind Ali and Ana's seemingly perfect life online.
Public Fights. Zara Barker discusses the disturbing trend of Ali live streaming his domestic disputes.
Escalating Violence. Taren Brast explains how Ali's fame led to a dangerous mindset and escalating violence.
Paranoia and Betrayal. Narrator highlights Ali's paranoia about Ana's fidelity amidst his own infidelity.
Ali Abulaban's Arrest. Ali is arrested at gunpoint on the freeway after a high-speed chase with his daughter in the car.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

There's a dark side to social media.

Zara Barker reflects on social media's impact.

0:21WatchMar 30, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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