Selena's killer, Yolanda Saldívar, speaks out in Oxygen series about the murder case
Saldívar, the fan club president who murdered the singer, talks about the crime in 'Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.' She's up for parole in 2025.
The story of Selena's meteoric rise to fame and tragic death at the age of 23 has been told many times in movies, miniseries and books.
The Texas native and "Queen of Tejano Music" was gunned down by her fan club president in Corpus Christi on March 31, 1995.
Seven months later, a Harris County jury convicted Yolanda Saldívar of murder and sentenced her to life in prison. She will be eligible for parole on March 30, 2025 after serving 30 years.
The relationship between the star and her killer is the focus of an upcoming Oxygen series, "Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them."
"After so many years, I think it's time to set the story straight," Saldívar says in a clip from the true crime docuseries. Oxygen interviewed her family members who claim they've uncovered documents that shed new light on the case.
Chapter 1 The murder of Selena
Saldívar was a nurse in San Antonio when she contacted Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla, about starting a fan club for his daughter. She eventually became the fan club president and then moved to Corpus Christi to run Selena's boutiques.
After Quintanilla discovered that Saldívar had been stealing money from the fan club and boutiques, he convinced Selena to fire her.
The singer went to the Days Inn where Saldívar was staying to deliver the news. That's where she was shot by the woman who went from obsessed fan to friend to killer.
After a nine-hour standoff with police, Saldívar claimed the shooting was an accident, but the jury didn't buy her story.
She's currently serving time at a prison in Gatesville, southwest of Waco.
Chapter 2 Selena's early life and career
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was born in Lake Jackson, south of Houston, on April 16, 1971.
She started singing as a little girl and her father said he recognized her star quality from the beginning.
Selena and her older siblings performed in their father's Tex-Mex restaurant until it closed in the 80s and they moved to Corpus Christi for a fresh start.
Quintanilla began promoting his children's band as Selena y Los Dinos. They played at weddings and quinceañeras to help support the family, but it was Selena's solo career that made her a star.
She was 16 when she won her first of many Female Vocalist of the Year awards at the Tejano Music Awards in 1987.
The year before her death, Selena became the first female Tejano artist to win a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album with “Selena Live."
Her album “Amor Prohibido” was nominated in the same category in 1995 with hits including "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom," "No Me Queda Más" and "Fotos Y Recuerdos.”
That was the same year Selena performed to a record crowd at the Houston Rodeo in her iconic purple jumpsuit. More than 61,000 thrilled fans packed the Astrodome, never dreaming it would be one of her final concerts.
Chapter 3 Never forgotten
Just three months after she was killed by fan club president Yolanda Saldivar, Selena’s English crossover album “Dreaming of You” was released. It became the first predominantly Spanish-language album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard.
The star's life story later became a movie that helped launch the acting career of Jennifer Lopez. The actress even lived with Selena’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, in Corpus Christi to prepare for the role, according to Grammy.com.
Netflix released a drama about the singer's life called “Selena: The Series” in December 2020.
In between, fans often waited in long lines to scoop up anything with her name: from fashion to makeup to dolls and even drinking cups.
Selena herself, who would have turned 53 this April, summed up her all-too-brief life in a favorite quote of hers, shared by her sister: “The goal isn’t to live forever, but to create something that will...”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story indicated that Selena would have been 50 this April. It's been corrected to say that she would have been 53.