Released on June 25, TikTok Star Murders by Peacock’s documentary details a tragic tale of fame run amok. The documentary is a window into the abusive and violent relationship between Ali and internet-famous couple Ana Abulaban. Ali, better known as @jinnkid, first gained attention for a series of humourous sketches and impersonations of famous people, including Tony Montana from Scarface and characters from Skyrim. Yet his journey into the spotlight was a dark one, one of violent possessiveness and jealousy that would come to an end in tragedy.
Ali and Ana met when they served in the Air Force in Okinawa, Japan in 2014. After Ali was released for an alleged assault on Ana’s friend, the couple went their separate ways briefly. Ana went back to the Philippines and Ali returned to Virginia. But they reconnected after Ali found out that Ana was pregnant with his daughter, Amira. He came to the United States on a visa, and together they were married.
A Growing Fame and a Fractured Marriage
As his followers increased, Ali pursued internet stardom. More of his personal life was shared, creating a picture of the Perfect Family. But then as Ana built her own following online, jealousy became stuff simmering under the surface. Ali came to California in 2021 at Ana’s suggestion and his jealousy became possessiveness, then abuse, verbal and physical.
The documentary plays out disturbing footage of their relationship, including recordings of arguments Ali posted publicly. And he would upload details of live streaming where he had accused Ana of infidelity, berated her, and said he used drugs. Friends and experts on Peacock’s TikTok Star Murders say Ali’s view of Ana as property was displayed in a pattern of abuse uncovered during the documentary.
The Tragic End
Eventually, Ana left Ali and went back to the couple’s shared San Diego apartment with their daughter, working it out with Ali. But on October 25, 2021, Ali went in using a copied electronic key to vandalize the apartment. He installed an app on their daughter’s iPad before he went, to monitor her conversations. Ana later that day found the wreckage, and, suspecting Ali, told a friend she planned to file a restraining order.
Then, she attracted a friend, Rayburn Barron, to help her clean. Since Ali had been jealous of Barron for such a long time, when he heard a man’s voice through the monitoring app, he went back to the apartment. Chilling audio of Ali breaking in and committing the murders is included in the documentary. Five hours later Ali confessed and was arrested with two first-degree murder charges.
A Chilling Courtroom and Social Media’s Impact
The first hearing in the case in January 2022 was turbulent. When a detective said that Ana and Barron looked like they might be something, Ali began to get angry. He blamed the situation on a stable family he lost for his daughter in a courtroom outburst. Ali later told local news in a later interview that the fame ‘snapped’ him, sending him to violent, aggressive behavior. We learn about how Ali has turned his priorities on his head since it seemed the greater loss was his loss of online fame than it was the loss of life.
In the documentary, Rolling Stone journalist Andrea Marks comments on the danger of getting obsessed with social media. In a piece arguing that social media has warped reality and is leading to toxic relationships with fame and feeding pathology, she argues that reality gets warped.
Final Days and Sentencing
Ali Abulaban was convicted May 29 on two counts of first-degree murder after a high-profile trial, with other charges of gun use and multiple murders. His obsession with control and fame came to a violent culmination on the trial and its chilling details exposed how his abuse of those around him got to such an absurd passion. The case left beholds who witnessed the testimonies, including moments in the courtroom where he showed little remorse. Ana and Rayburn’s friends and family mourned the deaths of the social media stargirls not simply as fellow father and son, but the direction Ali had taken social media stardom down.