Three decades after Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s murder, her convicted killer, Yolanda Saldívar, has been denied parole.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles announced via a statement obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, March 27, that Saldívar’s case was reviewed by a “parole panel of three” days prior to her parole eligibility date, which was on Sunday, March 30.
After careful consideration — which included reviewing “court documents, offense reports, support/protest information, criminal history, institutional adjustment and information/statements provided by the offender,” per to the institution — the panel made its ruling.
“It was the parole panels determination to deny parole to Yolanda Saldívar and set her next parole review for March 2030,” the board stated, explaining that the panel’s decision was due to “the nature of the offense.”
The statement continued: “The record indicates that the instant offense has elements of brutality, violence, assaultive behavior or conscious selection of victim’s vulnerability indicating a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others, such that the offender poses a continuing threat to public safety.”
This marks the first time Saldívar, 64, has been up for parole since her life sentence began in 1995.
Selena rose to fame in the early 1990s with hits such as “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” and “Como la Flor,” bringing Tejano music to the mainstream. Saldívar was the founder and president of the singer’s fan club and the manager of Selena’s clothing boutiques, but she was fired in 1995 after money went missing.
In March 1995, Selena and Saldívar were involved in a confrontation in Saldívar’s motel room in Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena was shot in the back, ran from the motel room and collapsed in the lobby. Although she was rushed to a nearby hospital, she was later pronounced dead at the age of 23. Saldívar, who claimed she had intended to kill herself rather than Selena, was arrested after a nine-hour standoff with police.
During Saldívar’s trial, prosecutors argued that she shot Selena after she was suspected of embezzling $30,000, while Saldívar’s defense attorneys alleged the gun accidentally went off. Saldívar was convicted of first-degree murder in October 1995 and sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years behind bars. She has been incarcerated at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit prison in Gatesville, Texas.
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As Saldívar’s first parole hearing approached, she and her family publicly advocated for her freedom.
“Enough is enough,” an anonymous relative of Saldívar told The New York Post in March 2024. “She feels like she’s a political prisoner at this point. She’s ready to get out of jail because she believes she has more than served her time.”
In the years since her conviction, Saldívar has continued to insist the shooting was accidental and claimed that Selena’s fame affected her sentence.
“I was convicted by public opinion even before my trial started,” she said in the 2024 documentary Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.
Despite Saldívar’s efforts to be released, former Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez, who prosecuted the case, warned against freeing her.
“Lord knows what will happen if she is released,” Valdez said, per KHOU. “Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it would be a serious mistake to grant her parole. I believe, I really believe, that the safest [place] for Yolanda would probably be where she is.”
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