“TikTok Star Murders” is the heartbreaking story of an abusive relationship between a pair that was nearly hiding in plain sight — their worst moments had been captured on social media.
The married couple Ali and Ana Abulaban met in 2014 once they each served within the Air Pressure and had been stationed in Okinawa, Japan. In 2019, Ali began to realize consideration on-line beneath the identify @jinnkid. Ali turned web well-known, attracting hundreds of thousands of views for posting movies of himself doing sketch comedy and impressions of Tony Montana from “Scarface,” to which he went full methodology and would movie himself doing medicine — it wasn’t a bit.
Whereas the couple first tried to push ahead a false picture of a cheerful marriage, Ali started to get verbally abusive with Ana when he was jealous or felt insecure of their relationship. He recorded a lot of his berating to Ana.
Tragedy endured when Ali murdered Ana and her good friend, Rayburn Barron, on Oct. 21, 2021. Nevertheless, he really recorded the audio of him taking their lives; viewers can hear the gunshot.
The documentary, which was launched on Peacock on Tuesday, was additionally launched simply three days earlier than Ali will likely be sentenced for 2 convictions of first-degree homicide. He additionally faces a sentence of life in jail with no choice of parole.
Elizabeth Fischer, the present’s government producer, spoke with Selection and answered essentially the most burning questions, together with how they obtained all of the footage they used and if that cellphone name was edited.
How did you first hear concerning the story of Ali and Ana and suppose this could possibly be a documentary?
What fascinated us was the blatant proof — that what was portrayed on social media wasn’t actually the case. This was an exquisite couple that was placing forth this enviable life. Then, when the tragic homicides occurred, we needed to look into an apparent darkish underbelly beneath the floor. That’s the place we began and what first caught our consideration. As soon as we dug slightly deeper and found that Ali was recording his complete life and placing issues on the market that individuals wouldn’t usually put on the market, that opened up much more conversations and, after all, home violence being certainly one of them. One other factor that was actually fascinating to us was that after we first began researching the case, there was a variety of ugliness on-line, a variety of chats and arguments about whether or not or not this was justified. A variety of Ali’s social helps had been talking in his protection, which is totally their proper to do, however there was a variety of arguing occurring within the feedback of social media and a variety of Ana’s mates had been talking out for her, in order that appeared attention-grabbing to us, to say the least.
How had been you capable of get hold of the intensive footage used within the doc?
We had been lucky sufficient to have a variety of sources, and lots of people actually trusted us to inform this story. I hesitate to make use of the phrase lucky, as a result of every part concerning the state of affairs is unlucky. However we felt it was actually vital to get these insiders to present us first individual accounts. Due to the age of social media, too, a variety of that was put on the market — a variety of the proof is well obtainable. Ali was recording issues and saving issues to his cellphone and saving issues that most individuals wouldn’t need to doc and need to memorialize, simply a variety of fights and venom.
Was there any pushback to incorporate as a lot footage as there was?
We needed to guarantee that we had been telling the story by way of the lens of what was vital. Our message is about home violence and social media. We did a variety of our personal filtering, and our crew on this movie was very cautious about how we introduced this materials. The very last thing that we needed to do was to be gratuitous about it. Except one thing pertained to our bigger theme, and our bigger dialog, we didn’t embody it.
That cellphone name was simply heartbreaking to listen to. Was the recording edited in any respect?
No, the cellphone proof for the homicide itself isn’t edited — and it’s brutal. It’s very brutal and laborious to take heed to. It was particularly laborious to take heed to in courtroom and for Ray and Ana’s family members to listen to– that was heartbreaking. It was so vital for the bigger conversations about home violence, but additionally for the argument over whether or not or not this was a premeditated double homicide. It was actually vital to emphasize the period of time that happened between when he pressed document and rode up 35 flooring. Then the brief period of time between that and when he really fired on the man. It’s fairly rapid. So far as listening to her voice, there are issues we may have carried out to reinforce the audio, however we selected to not.
Was it difficult to get Ana’s mates on board to share their perspective on witnessing this abusive relationship?
Completely. We needed to acquire their belief, as a result of they didn’t need this to be gratuitous. They had been very guarded. As soon as we gained their belief, it was mutual and so they made the movie what it was. We’re very lucky for that. Not solely Ana’s mates, however individuals who knew all events and had been there. They’d a variety of very poignant issues to say — we couldn’t have carried out it with out them. So it was tough to realize their belief. However as soon as we had their belief, it felt like we had 100% of it.
What was the choice behind the narrator named Lucifer that’s in a black hoodie speaking all through the doc?
He’s a really guarded individual and refers to stay nameless. He’s simply a type of individuals who actually values privateness, in order that was a private determination. We’ve run into that earlier than with different documentaries, and it’s frequent nowadays. Persons are very hesitant to place themselves on the market for a wide range of causes.
How was it work with 50 Cent on this documentary, and the way did he grow to be hooked up to the undertaking?
We had been very lucky to have 50 Cent as certainly one of our government producers. It was simply a big collaboration between G-Unit Movies and Tv and Lucid Media and the very gifted folks at Peacock. We felt very lucky to have this distinctive collaboration. He was simply as fascinated on this case as we had been. Having somebody with an leisure background like 50 Cent, since this story could be very a lot about [Ali], who was an aspiring entertainer, helped us to have that perspective.
Have you ever heard from Ali’s household or mates about this story?
I’ve not. Ali could be very a lot an individual who loves to talk for himself, and we noticed that in courtroom when he spoke in his personal protection. We have now spoken with him off the document, and we did inform him and his household about this documentary from the very starting. He respectfully declined primarily based on his impending trial. Nevertheless, he’s very conscious of it. I haven’t heard from him because the launch was introduced. However his household could be very knowledgeable — a minimum of one member of the family is part of the movie. So I believe they’ll be watching.
Was there something that you just felt couldn’t make it within the closing minimize?
Sure. There was so much we needed to minimize out. We determined to maintain this movie at 90 minutes as a result of actually, it’s so heavy that we needed to be delicate to our viewer. So we did need to make a variety of editorial selections and preserve a variety of issues out which are compelling. This might simply have been greater than 90 minutes, however we felt that it was vital to maintain our message contained to 90 minutes in order that it was as impactful as attainable. Hopefully, the takeaway will likely be that primary, make certain you’re separating social media out of your actual life. Quantity two, if you understand somebody who’s experiencing home violence, hopefully this movie will assist push them in the precise route to hunt assist.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
