Selena’s Killer Is Up for Parole: Why She Thinks She Deserves to Get Out of Prison

Yolanda Saldívar was the founder and president of the Tejano star’s fan club

The woman sentenced to life in prison for murdering Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez is up for parole and says she believes she deserves to be set free.

Yolanda Saldívar, 64, who was the manager of Selena’s clothing boutiques, Selena Etc. and the founder and president of her fan club, shot and killed the 23-year-old Grammy Award-winning singer on March 31, 1995, at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Saldívar killed the “Queen of Tejano” after Selena’s family fired her over allegations she forged checks to embezzle more than $30,000 from the star’s fan club and boutiques.

On March 31, 1995, Selena went to Saldívar’s motel room to pick up business records she needed to file taxes, according to court testimony, the AP reports.

Saldívar pulled out a gun and shot the singer in the back when Selena ran from the room.

Saldívar followed her “in armed pursuit” to the lobby, where Selena collapsed, telling employees that Saldívar had shot her, according to 1998 appellate records.

For the next nine hours, Saldívar sat in her truck, where she threatened to die by suicide, before finally surrendering to police.

Selena was rushed to a local hospital where she died from loss of blood and cardiac arrest.

Saldívar was convicted in October 1995 and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 30 years.

Now that day has come. On Sunday, March 30, she will be eligible for parole.

At some point on that date or shortly after, she will go before The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles who will decide whether or not to release her, the Associated Press reports.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said the board is expected to vote around that time, though there’s no set date for when the decision will be announced. according to the AP.

Saldívar and her family say that she deserves to be freed.

“Enough is enough,” an unnamed relative of Saldívar’s relatives 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.”

Saldívar has maintained that the shooting was accidental and that Selena’s superstardom influenced the sentence she received.

“I was convicted by public opinion even before my trial started,” she said in the 2024 Oxygen documentary Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.

Meanwhile, former Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez, who prosecuted the high-profile case, said granting Saldívar parole would be “a serious mistake,” KHOU reports.

“Lord knows what will happen if she is released,” Valdez said. “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 for Yolanda would probably be where she is.”’

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s website, Saldívar is “currently in the Parole Review Process,” which she started in October 2024.

If approved for parole, Saldívar can be released no earlier than March 30, KHOU reports. If she is denied release, her next review will be from one to five years from the decision date.