Thirty years ago, a brazen killing shocked the music industry: Grammy-winning Latin superstar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was shot and killed by the former president of her fan club.
The woman who pulled the trigger in a run-down Texas motel will now have the opportunity to plead for her release at a parole hearing later this month.
Yolanda Saldívar, a former nurse and manager of Selena’s boutiques and fan club, is serving a life sentence for the March 1995 murder of the “Queen of Tejano Music.”
The tragic shooting in Corpus Christi occurred during a confrontation between the two women after the singer accused Saldívar of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from her business.
Even after three decades, Saldívar claims she shot Selena by accident. According to a recent interview with The New York Post, Saldívar’s family believes the singer was partially responsible for her death.
As Saldívar’s March 30 parole date approaches, The Independent examines Selena, her murder, and the woman responsible.
The death of a beloved superstar
Selena Quintanilla, born in 1971, made her musical debut at the age of ten with the band Selena y Los Dinos, which included two of her older siblings. She performed Tejano music, a musical fusion style that draws on Mexican, American, Czech, and German traditions.
Quintanilla spearheaded the genre’s rise to popularity after winning the Tejano Music award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1987 (the first of nine wins).
At the 36th Grammy Awards in 1994, Selena won her first career Grammy in the now-defunct category Best Mexican – American Album, making her the first female Tejano artist to do so.
She became the highest-selling Latin artist of the 1990s, according to Billboard, which inducted her into the Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1995.
Selena died at the age of 23 due to an argument with Saldívar, a 32-year-old fan who was portrayed as manipulative.
The shooting occurred shortly before noon at the Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi, Texas. Quintanilla was shot once in the back before stumbling into the lobby, where witnesses watched in horror.
Before losing consciousness, Selena identified her shooter as “Yolanda Saldívar, room 158.” The young star was rushed to the hospital, where she died of her injuries.
Police found Saldívar in a pickup truck in the hotel parking lot, threatening suicide.
After an hours-long standoff, Saldivar surrendered, was arrested, and charged with Selena’s murder.
Who is Yolanda Saldívar?
Before Selena’s death, her killer was a devoted fan who had become an important part of her life.
According to Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them, an Oxygen True Crime docuseries that aired in 2024, after attending one of Selena’s concerts, Saldívar repeatedly contacted the singer’s father Abraham Quintanilla and insisted on creating a fan club in San Antonio.
Saldívar’s persistence led to his founding and presidency of Selena’s fan club, as well as management of two clothing boutiques.
Prior to the murder, Saldívar was fired from both positions after the singer’s family discovered she had been stealing money from the businesses.
In the docuseries, Selena’s father, Abraham, stated that his daughter demanded Saldívar return the company’s financial documents. The two women were meeting at a hotel to discuss this when Selena was shot.
Saldívar shared her perspective on the docuseries from behind bars. She remembered being confronted about the missing funds by Selena’s sister Suzette and father Abraham on March 9, just days before the March 31 shooting.
During Saldívar’s trial, prosecutor Mark Skurka claimed that Selena’s father discovered she had stolen $30,000 from the fan club, according to The Washington Post.
Saldívar was reportedly fired and banned from the family’s businesses following the confrontation. During the trial, Skurka described Saldívar as a disgruntled employee who lured Selena to the Days Inn before fatally shooting her.
Saldívar claimed she no longer wanted to work for Selena and that the singer tried to prevent her from quitting when they met at the hotel.
“Selena, when she came into the [hotel] room, she kept trying to put guilt in me for not continuing with her, and how everything was going to crumble,” Saldívar said in the docuseries.
“My emotions were running so high, and I was hurting.”
She went on to say that she had no idea how to use the gun she had brought with her to the hotel, and that she “just clicked it” before holding it to her own head and threatening suicide. However, the gun allegedly went off, striking the 23-year-old instead.
Saldívar said Selena begged her not to pull the trigger before attempting to exit the room.
“I told them not to close the door,” Saldívar said. “And pow! It went.”
Saldívar has claimed that the shooting was accidental.
“It startled me,” Saldívar stated in the docuseries. “I didn’t realize my gun went off. I didn’t realize it hit her. It scared her, and it scared me. There was never any intention to cause her harm.”
However, the jury tasked with determining her fate believed otherwise. On October 23, 1995, Saldívar was convicted of first-degree murder.
Saldívar, 64, was sentenced to life in prison in Gatesville, Texas, with parole eligibility after 30 years. She will soon find out if she has a chance at freedom.
Will Selena’s killer be freed?
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles began reviewing Saldívar’s parole eligibility in October 2024.
The parole board requires a case file, Saldívar’s recommendation letter, an interview with him, and letters from Selena’s family.
According to KSAT-TV, the parole board will consider several factors in their decision, including Saldívar’s good behavior and time served.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is scheduled to vote on Saldívar’s case on March 30.
Saldívar has unsuccessfully appealed her conviction three times and claims she is a political prisoner who did not receive a fair trial.
If parole is granted, a release date will be scheduled. If denied, the case may be reconsidered as early as next year.
A star’s legacy
According to The New York Times, Selena was often referred to as the Madonna of the Mexican-American music industry, and her enormous popularity persisted even after she died.
Her legacy was immortalized with the release of the English-language album Dreaming of You, which was recorded shortly before her death.
Selena continued to win awards. Time magazine reports that she was named best female vocalist as a teenager at the Tejano Music Awards twice after her death.
Selena is still depicted in murals throughout Texas, and a life-size bronze statue of her was erected in Corpus Christi in 1997, the same year the film Selena was released, starring Jennifer Lopez in the title role.
The Quintanilla family established the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi in 1998 to display her awards, concert outfits, and other memorabilia.
Then, in April 2022, a new Selena album featuring digitally enhanced vocals was released.
“What amazes me…is that 26 years later the public still remembers Selena,” her father said in an interview with NPR. “They haven’t let go of her.”
