TikTok star accused of double homicide speaks to FOX 5 from jail

SAN DIEGO – Ali Abulaban is a husband and father widely known as a TikTok star. He is also accused of double homicide.

In an emotionally charged prison interview, 29-year-old Abulaban spoke to FOX 5 about what led to his estranged wife and boyfriend being shot dead in a high-rise apartment in the East Village that October day.

“Did you kill her?” we asked.

“Don’t ask me this, don’t ask me this,” Abulaban answered over the prison phone.

San Diego police vehicles are shown on Interstate 15 behind a vehicle driven by TikTok star Ali Abulaban on October 21, 2021. Abuluban, 29, was arrested by officers that day on charges of killing his estranged wife, Ana Abulaban, and her boyfriend, Rayburn Barron. (FOX 5 file)

Abulaban was booked into the George Bailey Detention Facility in San Diego on October 21st. It was the same day that his wife Ana Abulaban, 28, and her boyfriend Rayburn Barron, 29, with obvious gunshot wounds to the upper body in their 35th birthday, were pronounced dead by paramedics.

Prosecutors say Ana kicked Ali out of her home just days earlier, so he installed a bugging device on her daughter’s iPad and used it to spy on his wife.

He told FOX 5 that he was eavesdropping on the house that day when he heard Barron’s voice. Ali said he didn’t know whose voice it was, but when he heard it he said, “I freaked out.”

“Oh my god, I caught her, I caught her,” he said. “Oh my god oh my god. There’s a man, there’s a man. And then guess what I hear like a – nightmare? R&B music.”

“I drive my car and say, ‘Don’t have sex, Ana. Don’t have sex Ana. ‘ I say, ‘Don’t do it’ and I scream, ”he continued.

The screaming continued as he drove to the apartment, he said. When he arrived he said he went up and saw her. When asked what he saw there, he replied, “They were,” before pausing and blurting out, “Nothing. I didn’t see it, I don’t really know, it was blurry. “

‘This is my family’

Still emotional, he says he felt like a passenger in his own body and described what he felt and saw when he opened the door to his apartment.

“When I opened the door and saw what it was, this F- broke my heart,” he said, yelling while his left hand clutched the prison phone and trembled. “To see her kiss Ray on my couch, his feet on my table with my wife. My money. My apartment. My life. In the house where my daughter sleeps on the furniture I put together. What do you expect from a man?”

TikTok star Ali Abulaban appears in a TikTok video under his username @JinnKid, in which he portrayed Al Pacino’s Tony Montana character from “Scarface”. Abulaban is alleged to have shot and killed his estranged wife Ana Abulaban and boyfriend Rayburn Barron on October 21, 2021 in a high-rise apartment building on the 35th floor known as Spire San Diego. He denies the allegations. (Courtesy photo by @JinnKid)

He went on in a mocking voice before returning to a shout: “‘Well, I think this is the end of my marriage.’ No! This is my family. “

Prosecutors say Abulaban confessed to police and mother about killing his wife and Barron and accusing his wife of fraud. But at this point, prosecutors say Barron was just a friend. When asked, Abulaban denied having confessed to anything and could not explain why prosecutors claimed he had made a confession.

He has officially pleaded not guilty of any of the two first degree murder charges against him.

In the aftermath of the shooting, he was arrested with his 5-year-old daughter in a vehicle on Interstate 15. Prosecutors also claim he had a gun on him. He confirmed that he picked his daughter up from school early that day, but said he should drop her off in a safe place with his family.

He stated that he was the one who reported the deaths of his wife and Barrons and insists he has nothing to hide.

When asked what had happened when he found his wife and Barron in the apartment, he giggled slightly and shook his head.

In a 40-minute interview, Abulaban spoke in detail about his and Ana’s past and how he started making TikTok videos. He says they moved from Virginia to San Diego in February 2021. He repeatedly called her time in Virginia perfect, describing it as the life of the American dream. It was in Virginia that he said he started making TikTok videos as a hobby.

Known on the platform as @JinnKid, he has nearly a million followers who watch his videos depicting violent characters like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana from “Scarface”.

Ali tells us, “I miss doing my videos. It’s all i got It’s my baby I love what I do. “

He claims to want to be an actor, a dream he said was “right there” in front of him. The weekend before filming, he said he was at the comedy store in Los Angeles, about to have a talent agent, and spoke to producers.

The downfall

Abulaban says he and his wife split up after settling in San Diego. He blames her move and lifestyle choices for the failure of their marriage.

“That was part of the downfall,” he said. “My wife wanted me to bring her here with her friends, into a life where there is Tuesday taco, Wednesday women, Saturday party, Sunday bar.”

Ana Abulaban’s best friend, Cassie Conroy, told FOX 5 that Ali Abulaban was a “bad guy” and accused him of being “selfish”. Ali Abulaban was charged in the October 21, 2021 murders of Ana and her boyfriend Rayburn Barron.

Ali says Ana partied too much. But Ana’s childhood friend Cassie Conroy paints a different picture.

“He’s a bad guy,” said Conroy, Ana’s best friend for 15 years. “There’s nothing good about him. He is selfish. That’s all I can say – selfish. “

Ali’s cousin Louis Marinari also recalled an incident when Ali pulled out “like a full bag of cocaine”.

“Not like a little bag. A big bag, ”said Marinari. “And we’re like, what the fuck you know? ‘Are you trying to get us all in trouble?’ He says, ‘I am JinnKid. I can do what I want. Nobody can touch me. I’m Jinnkid, you know? ‘”

When asked about his family, who said that his fame on social media changed him, that he used cocaine and didn’t care about the consequences, he denied the claims. He said his family “doesn’t know” and accused them of not caring.

When asked again about cocaine use, he admits that the drug “messed up my brain.”

“That made me violent,” he says. “It made me aggressive when I was around, yes.”

Prosecutors say Ana is about to issue an injunction and Ali has a history of domestic violence. Conroy also confirms this detail. However, Ali denies ever beating Ana.

Ali Abuluban, right, his wife Ana Abuluban, left, and their 5-year-old daughter pose in this undated photo. Abuluban is alleged to have shot and killed his estranged wife Ana Abulaban and boyfriend Rayburn Barron on October 21, 2021 in a high-rise apartment building known as Spire San Diego. He denies the allegations. (Photo provided)

Now he tells FOX 5 that he is “broken” and “devastated”, that he has lost his wife.

“My goal was just to try to reach my family,” he said. “It slipped through my fingers. I am the loser here. I’ve lost, I’ve lost I’ve lost the love of my life, I’ve lost the love of my life. Everyone I spoke to when I was going through this problem when I couldn’t reach Ana: ‘Dude, you have to leave her, you have to leave her.’ I know I have to leave her, but I don’t want to leave her. “Dude, you look so good, you are famous on the internet. You could get any model. ‘ I know I can, but I don’t want to. I want my wife. “

But could someone else have Ana? “Not while she’s married to me,” he said.

Abulaban has been charged with two counts of first degree murder and faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Abulaban says his public defender knew he had made a decision to speak to FOX 5 prior to the interview and advised against it, but said it was his decision to continue the interview. Out of sensitivity to the families of the victims, we let Conroy see the story first. She represents Ana’s family. FOX 5 couldn’t speak to Barron’s family.

If convicted, prosecutors have the option to pursue the death penalty. His next trial is scheduled for early January.

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