On February 26, 1995, American singer Selena (born Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 1971–1995) performs at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo in the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas, while riding in a carriage. It was her final performance.
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Yolanda Saldivar, the woman convicted of killing Tejano music star Selena in 1995, is up for a parole review.
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The singer’s former fan club president shot the singer in Corpus Christi in March 1995 after being confronted about money missing from the singer’s business accounts.
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Saldivar’s case will be heard by the parole panel around March 30, 2025.
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Yolanda Saldivar, the woman convicted of killing Tejano music star Selena in 1995, is up for a parole review.
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The singer’s former fan club president shot the singer in Corpus Christi in March 1995 after being confronted about money missing from the singer’s business accounts.
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Saldivar’s case will be heard by the parole panel around March 30, 2025.
Later this year, the parole case of the woman convicted of killing Tejano music singer Selena thirty years ago will be reconsidered.
On March 31, 1995, Yolanda Saldivar, 64, was found guilty of shooting Selena Quintanilla-Perez at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi.
She is presently incarcerated for life.
What We Know: On March 30, 2025, Saldivar will be eligible for parole.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, after serving the necessary term and committing a crime that qualifies for parole, prisoners in Texas may be eligible for parole consideration.
About six months before they are eligible for parole, the process starts.
According to TDCJ officials, trial officials and registered victims are given notice as part of the procedure that enables them to participate. Saldivar will be interviewed by an institutional parole officer, and the file will be forwarded to the parole panel for voting.
What’s Next: The parole panel is anticipated to vote on Saldlivar’s case on or around March 30, 2025. She won’t be released before March 30 if her parole is granted.
The panel will set a fresh review date that is one to five years after the decision is issued if her parole is rejected. If Saldivar’s parole is rejected, the panel determines that time frame.
The Backstory Quintanilla-Perez was shot and killed in March 1995 in a Corpus Christi motel room.
According to court documents from Saldivar’s 1998 appeal, Salidivar had been the manager of Quintanilla-Perez’s apparel stores and president of her fan club. However, approximately two weeks before the shooting, he was removed from his position as president and removed from the singer’s commercial bank accounts.
Outside Selena’s family house, a crowd of fans honors Tejano singer Selena, who was shot dead by her former fan club president, Yolanda Saldivar. Barbara Laing/Getty Images photo
According to the prosecution, Saldivar shot the singer in the back as she was leaving the room after Quintanilla-Perez questioned him about money that was missing from the accounts.
After sprinting to the hotel lobby, Quintanila-Perez informed the motel workers that Saldivar had shot her before she collapsed and fainted.
That afternoon, the singer would pass away. Her age was 23.
After a nine-hour confrontation with police in the motel parking lot, Saldivar was taken into custody.
The “Queen of Tejano Music”
On March 1, 1994, Selena Quintanilla, a singer, won a Grammy Award at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, held at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York. (Image courtesy of Getty Images/Larry Busacca))
In 1994, Quintanilla-Perez was awarded a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album for “Live.” The category was won by a female Tejano musician for the first time.
At number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart were four tracks from Quintanilla-Perez’s fourth album, “Amor Prohibido”: “Amor Prohibido,” “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” “No Me Queda Mas,” and “Fotos Y Recuerdos.”
The album received a Grammy nomination and peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200.
Quintanilla-Perez’s English-language crossover album, “Dreaming of You,” peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 the year following her passing. “I Could Fall in Love” peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 list, while “Dreaming of You” peaked at number 22.
The Opposition: Saldivar has appealed several times.
Saldivar’s lawyers contended in her 1998 appeal that the trial had 17 errors, including the exclusion of jurors on the basis of race, the admission of irrelevant or biased evidence, the denial of a move for a new trial, and the denial of a motion for a mistrial.
Saldivar filed an appeal in 2019 on the basis that prosecutors had a black baseball cap and a pair of white sneakers that would have helped her during the trial but had never given them to the defense, despite having them during an interview in 2018.
Saldivar has not been successful in his appeals.
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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and appeals court papers provided the information used in this story.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and appeals court papers provided the information used in this story.
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