Crimelines · Mode Podcast

Ali Abulaban: The TikTok Killer

March 5, 2026·32 min·2 clips

On October 21st, 2021, Ali drives to Anna's apartment with a gun after listening in through a secret app.

1. Crimelines covers the case of Ali Nasser Abulaban, a TikTok creator tied to a 2021 San Diego murder investigation. 2. The episode is presented by Crimelines host Criminologist, who narrates the investigation and courtroom record. 3. The central question is how Ali's online persona, surveillance, and abuse allegations connect to the October 21st, 2021 killings. 4. On September 8th, 2021, Anna Abulaban calls San Diego dispatch from 1475 Island Avenue to report that Ali is abusing her. 5. The call captures officers asking whether the fight is with a spouse or boyfriend, whether he hit her, and whether she is safe. 6. Police later respond to the Spire San Diego flat, where Anna says the argument began over a box and Ali pushed her. 7. Anna reports a knee injury and a head injury, and the officer photographs the apartment and mentions a restraining order. 8. The episode traces Anna's background in the Philippines and Okinawa, where she met Ali in 2014 while both were stationed in Japan. 9. It also traces Ali's background in the area between New York and Virginia, his Air Force service, and the couple's move to San Diego after returning to the United States. 10. Ali's online character, Jin Kid, becomes a focus because the episode says his Skyrim skits, Tony Montana impressions, and sketch humor helped him reach almost 940,000 TikTok followers. 11. The episode says Anna appears in some of his videos with friends and their daughter, presenting a high-rise family image in downtown San Diego. 12. Behind that image, the narrator says Ali became jealous, controlling, and increasingly hostile toward Anna. 13. Neighbors, friends, and police reports are cited as evidence that fights in the apartment escalated through 2021. 14. The episode says Ali accused Anna of cheating, recorded her without permission, and made public rants while also seeing other women himself. 15. The narrator says that between July and October 2021 there were several abuse-related calls to the home, but Ali was not arrested from those calls. 16. The episode describes Ali researching listening devices and remote monitoring before using a secret app on his daughter's iPad to hear Anna's apartment from a hotel room. 17. On October 21st, 2021, the episode says Ali leaves with a gun, drives to the Spire San Diego flats, rides the elevator to the 35th floor, and enters Anna's unit with a copied key. 18. The narrator says Ali shoots Rayburn Baron three times and then shoots Anna in the face before leaving the apartment and later calling 911 to report that he found them dead. 19. The tone is investigative and narrative, with recorded dispatch audio, police dialogue, and courtroom testimony driving the structure. 20. People who follow true-crime cases involving social media, domestic abuse, and digital evidence would likely engage with this episode, while listeners wanting light conversation or comedy would probably skip it.

As heard by us

A domestic tragedy told with patience and a steady procedural finish.

Ali Abulaban: The TikTok Killer traces a domestic collapse that becomes public after a fatal act is captured on video and then pieced together through police work, family conflict, and courtroom consequence.

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Why you'd press play

You want a grim true-crime case where jealousy, camera footage, and courtroom fallout all matter.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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