Ali Abulaban via Screenshot/TikTOk
- Ali Abulaban, known on TikTok as JinnKid, pleaded not guilty on Monday to the murder of his wife and another man.
- Prosecutors said he believed his wife was cheating on him after he eavesdropped on them through a listening app.
- Abulaban has 940,000 followers on TikTok, and is known for impersonations and his "Skyrim in real life" videos.
Ali Abulaban, 29, more widely known by his TikTok handle JinnKid, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder on Monday in San Diego Superior Court, according to local media.
Abulaban is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Ana Abulaban, 28, and another man, Rayburn Cardenas Barron, 29, in a high-rise building in San Diego on October 21.
Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast said during the arraignment that Abulaban believed his wife was cheating on him. On October 18, Abulaban checked into a hotel after his wife told him to move out of their 35th-floor apartment, Brast told the outlet.
But Abulaban secretly kept a key to the apartment and sneaked back into their home three days later, Brast said. There, he installed a listening app on their five-year-old daughter's iPad and left.
On Thursday, he used the listening app and heard his wife and a man talking and giggling inside the apartment, Brast said, per the Union-Tribune. Ali Abulaban rushed from his hotel to the apartment and shot Barron three times, before firing a bullet into his wife's head, according to Brast.
Abulaban later picked up his daughter from school, said Brast, and called his mother to admit he had killed his wife, per Fox 5 News. Brast said Abulaban also called police while driving on the highway and was arrested 45 minutes afterward.
Brast added that Ana Abulaban had planned to file a restraining order against her husband and had called police last month to report her husband after he pushed her.
The case is still under investigation. If Abulaban is found guilty, he faces a life sentence in prison without parole, per the Union-Tribune.
Ali Abulaban is known on TikTok for comedy skits and impersonations
On TikTok, Ali Abulaban is known for impersonating the film character Tony Montana from the 1983 film "Scarface" and for his videos mimicking the voices of famous people like former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine.
His account has amassed 940,000 followers and 12.1 million likes, and Abulaban also runs a YouTube channel with 170,000 subscribers.
His most popular clips are from his "Skyrim in real life" series, which went viral in 2019. In the clips, he parodies the hit 2011 video game "Skyrim" by poking fun at the game's mechanics and bugs.
He is currently being held without bail at San Diego Central Jail, per NBC San Diego.
Judge Kimberlee Lagotta also issued a protective order that prevents him from any contact with family members, including his daughter.