TikToker Ali Abulaban Sent His Wife Numerous Derogatory Messages Before Her Murder
Ali Abulaban was physically and emotionally abusive towards his wife, who tried to escape their toxic relationship.
Published June 26 2024, 1:03 p.m. ET
While testifying during his trial, former TikTok influencer Ali Abulaban spoke about the days when he and his wife Ana first met. They were both in the Air Force and were stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
The couple usually spoke via Skype after Abulaban got off work and would often fall asleep together. "It was perfect when it was her and I talking," he said. He claimed that her friends weren't very welcoming and spoke about her robust social life, which was something he didn't have.
Without realizing it, Abulaban was describing the beginnings of a relationship Ana's friends would later describe as controlling, per Fox 5 San Diego. By all accounts, Abulaban preferred having Ana all to himself and was uncomfortable when her friends were thrown into the mix.
When she decided to leave him, Ana told people it was due to the emotional and physical abuse she endured. She no longer wanted to be Ali Abulaban's wife, and sadly, she paid the price for it.
Ali Abulaban was verbally abusive towards his wife.
Social media has given people the ability to craft whatever narrative they choose about their own lives. It is often used by people to create a false sense of reality, which usually involves a life virtually free of problems.
This was especially true for Abulaban and Ana whose TikTok videos told the story of a blissfully happy couple who were deeply in love. Unfortunately, that couldn't have been further from the truth.
Much of the trial centered around Abulaban's struggles with his mental health and an addiction to cocaine, which he claimed fueled his violent outbursts. According to the Daily Mail, the couple frequently argued about infidelity on both sides. During one fight, Ana told Abulaban that she had slept with one of his friends. He admitted to "snapping" and then punching her three times in the face.
Ana's friend Julia Stuntz testified that three months before she was killed, she saw Ana's face covered in bruises, per CBS 8. When Stuntz asked what happened, Ana said she and Abulaban were "laying in bed and they got into an argument, and he got on top of her and he just was hitting her and kept hitting her and kept hitting her."
A few weeks later Ana told her friend she was going to stay at a hotel and when Stuntz picked her up, Abulaban followed them in his car.
Audio messages Abulaban sent Ana after she asked him to move out were played during his trial, and he occasionally laughed at them.
"I’m a f------ god, I’m a sexy motherf-----, I’m a f------ Internet celebrity," he shouted in one. "I can't wait to divorce you so I can start my new life," he said in another. One of the last texts Ana sent to Abulaban read, "I want you out of my life, you’re abusive, you’re manipulative."
Ali Abulaban listened in on his estranged wife with Rayburn Cardenas Barron.
On Oct. 18, 2021, Ana asked Abulaban to move out of their apartment. Although she took his key, Abulaban had already made a copy without her knowledge. Three days later Abulaban returned to the apartment and used the copied key to enter and vandalize the residence.
While there, he also downloaded an app on his 5-year-old daughter's iPad that allowed Abulaban to "monitor live audio inside the apartment," reported CBS 8.
Later that day via the app on the iPad, he heard Ana speaking with a man who was later identified as 29-year-old Rayburn Cardenas Barron. Apparently, the two had been seeing each other, which enraged Alubaban.
He returned to the apartment, while their daughter was at school, and shot Ana and Barron repeatedly.
Immediately afterward, Alubaban took photos of their bodies and called his mother to tell her what happened. "I just shot and killed Ana," he told her, then sent the photo to her and a friend. The bulk of the trial was focused on Ana but another person died that day.
Barron's family started a GoFundMe after his murder to bring his body back to Mexico. They raised over $12,000, which surpassed the $5,000 goal. He was described as a loyal friend who always put his family first.
