Yolanda Saldívar, who shot and fatally wounded Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez almost 30 years ago, has been denied parole.
A statement from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said the reason for the denial was the nature of the offense.
“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,” the statement said.
Yolanda Saldívar has been serving a life sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Selena on March 31, 1995. This year marked the first time Saldivar, who is being held at Gatesville Prison, was up for parole.
Selena’s death sent shockwaves throughout Texas, the Latino community, and beyond. The singer was born in Lake Jackson and lived in Corpus Christi and known for hit songs such as “Como La Flor,” “Amor Prohibido,” and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.”
The parole board conducted confidential interviews as part of its process, and the majority of a parole panel of three was responsible for the decision of whether to grant or deny parole.
Saldívar, a former registered nurse, had been president of Selena’s fan club. She also managed some of the singer’s clothing boutiques, Selena Etc.
Weeks before the shooting, Saldívar was fired from her job at Selena’s store over accusations of embezzling funds, The Dallas Morning News reported in 1995.
The singer’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, told The News he and Selena confronted Saldívar over missing money. “She never denied it,” he said then. He also called Saldívar a “disgruntled employee.”
Saldívar and Selena met at a motel on March 31 in Corpus Christi, her father told The News. The former employee was supposed to return financial records related to the clothing stores.
Saldívar brought out a .38-caliber Taurus Model 85 revolver and fired a shot that hit Selena in the back as she attempted to leave, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Motel employees testified during Saldívar’s murder trial they saw Selena fleeing from Saldívar, who had a gun pointed at the singer. Selena collapsed in the lobby before being pronounced dead at a local hospital.
After the shooting, Saldívar staged an hours-long standoff in the hotel’s parking lot with police, threatening to take her own life.
Among the factors considered in an inmate’s parole decision are the seriousness of their crime, letters of support or protest, and participation in educational or vocational prison programs, according to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles’ website.
Saldívar has maintained that she did not intend to kill Selena. In talks with police negotiators, when she had refused to leave the Corpus Christi motel parking lot after the shooting, she said she meant to kill herself, The New York Times reported in 1995.
“It was an accident and my conscience is clear,” Saldívar told 20/20 in 1995, People reported.
In the Oxygen docuseries Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them, released last year, Saldívar said that she did not know her gun went off.
“I did not know that it hit her. It scared her, it scared me,” she said in the series, according to Fox News.
Saldívar’s next parole review date is set for March 2030.
—Uwa Ede-Osifo and Anna Butler, The Dallas Morning News, (TNS)
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