Who Was Rayburn Cardenas Barron? The Ana Abulaban Murder Case

Rayburn Cardenas Barron was a 29-year-old San Diego father of three who was shot and killed on October 21, 2021, inside a 35th-floor apartment at the Spire San Diego high-rise. He was killed alongside his friend Ana Abulaban, 28, by her estranged husband, TikTok creator Ali “JinnKid” Abulaban. In May 2024, a jury convicted Abulaban of two counts of first-degree murder, and in September 2024 he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Man His Family Remembers

Barron’s family described him as a devoted family man and a loyal friend. A GoFundMe memorial page organized by his brother Omar called him “the glue to his family, always reaching out to family to bring everyone closer.”¹ He had three children. Friends and relatives remembered him for an outgoing personality and generosity toward the people around him.²

At the sentencing hearing in September 2024, his sisters spoke about how his death has continued to shape their daily lives. Lizbeth Barron told the court, “The pain and trauma of losing our brother the way we did is so painful that we have difficulty living a normal and healthy life.” Another sister, Jordana Barron, said the sentence gave the family “a little bit of justice” because the man who killed him could never harm anyone again.³

His Friendship With Ana Abulaban

Barron was a friend of Ana Abulaban. According to evidence presented at trial and in a Peacock documentary about the case, Ana had asked Barron to come to her apartment to help her clean up after Ali Abulaban had broken in and vandalized the unit days earlier.⁴ Ana had already evicted Ali from the apartment, and by October 2021 he was living in a Mission Bay hotel.⁵

Ali Abulaban was convinced Ana and Barron were romantically involved, but throughout the proceedings Barron was consistently identified as her friend.⁶ Prosecutors said the jealousy was fueled in part by a comment Barron had once made about Ali being “lucky to have a wife as beautiful as Ana.”⁴

How He Was Killed

On the morning of October 21, 2021, Ali Abulaban used a secretly copied key to enter the Spire San Diego apartment at 1475 Island Avenue while Ana was away. He installed a listening application on the couple’s five-year-old daughter’s iPad and hid the device behind a bed.⁷ Hours later, monitoring the app from his hotel, he heard Ana and Barron talking and laughing inside the apartment. He drove to the Spire and entered the 35th-floor unit.

According to Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast, Abulaban shot Barron three times at close range, in the neck, cheek, and back of the head, before shooting Ana in the forehead.⁵ Audio of the gunshots was captured by the iPad app, and prosecutors later used the recordings at trial.⁸

San Diego police received a report of gunfire at 3:11 p.m. Both Barron and Ana Abulaban were pronounced dead at 3:31 p.m.⁹ Abulaban fled, picked up his five-year-old daughter from school, and told her, “I hurt Mommy.” He also called his mother and sent her a photograph of the victims’ bodies.¹⁰ Officers found him driving on eastbound State Route 94 near the interchange of Interstate 805 and Interstate 15. He pulled over and surrendered without incident, with the child and a weapon in the vehicle.¹¹

The Conviction and Sentence

Abulaban was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, with special-circumstance allegations for multiple murders and firearm allegations for personal use of a gun.⁸ The trial ran nearly a month in San Diego Superior Court before Judge Jeffrey Fraser.

The defense conceded Abulaban killed both victims but argued the shootings were not premeditated, pointing to childhood trauma, mental health struggles, and cocaine addiction. Abulaban testified that when he walked in on Ana and Barron he “snapped.”¹² Prosecutors argued the killings were “willful, deliberate and premeditated,” pointing to the spyware, the duplicated apartment key, and internet searches about disposing of a body. Brast told the jury: “He was so possessive and controlling of Ana that if he could not have her, no one could. And she couldn’t live, and any man she was with could not live, either.”³

On May 29, 2024, the jury found Abulaban guilty on both counts and found the special-circumstance and firearm allegations true.³ On September 6, 2024, Judge Fraser sentenced him to two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 50 years to life.⁸ Fraser told the courtroom, “The bottom line here is he will die in prison. He will never be a free man. He will take his last breath there.”¹³ As of the most recent public reporting, no formal appeal has been filed.

Memorial and Family

After the killings, Barron’s family organized two GoFundMe campaigns to cover memorial expenses and the cost of transferring his remains to Mexico. The first, organized by his brother Omar, raised over $12,500 from 133 donors.¹ A second campaign was set up in late 2022 by his sister Gloria to cover remaining funeral costs.² He was survived by his three children. In June 2024, Peacock released a documentary titled TikTok Star Murders, which included audio recordings from the iPad and interviews with people close to the case.⁴

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GoFundMe. Rayburn’s Celebration of Life
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GoFundMe. Laying My Brother to Rest in Peace
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NBC San Diego. San Diego TikTok Star Ali Abulaban Sentenced for Murder
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Time. TikTok Star Murders True Story
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Fox 5 San Diego. TikTok Star Accused of Killing Wife, Her Companion in High-Rise Shooting
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NBC San Diego. TikToker’s Wife Texted Him Hours Before He Killed Her
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CBS News. Ali Abulaban TikTok Star Pleads Not Guilty
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Times of San Diego. Former TikTok Personality JinnKid Sentenced to Life Without Parole for East Village Double Murder
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City of San Diego. Update on Double Homicide in East Village High Rise
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NBC San Diego. TikToker Accused in East Village Double Murder Testifies About Shooting
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NBC San Diego. Two Killed in Downtown Shooting
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Court TV. Ali Abulaban Trial Coverage
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Fox 5 San Diego. Former TikTok Star to Be Sentenced in Double Murder Trial