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Thirty years after pop singer and Tejano legend Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was murdered, her killer has been denied parole.
Yolanda Saldi?var, 64, is currently serving a life sentence for her murder. The crossover star died nearly 30 years ago to the day, March 31, 1995, at 23 years old in Corpus Christi, Texas.
According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, Saldívar was eligible for parole on March 30, but a three-person parole panel determined after "thorough consideration" that Saldívar should not be granted release on parole due to the nature of the offense, according to a Thursday press release issued by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In 1995, she was convicted on the charge of murder with a deadly weapon.
Here's what to know about Selena's death and Saldi?var's parole bid.
Known by fans simply as Selena, Quintanilla-Pérez was a beloved Tejano musician turned crossover superstar. In 1986, she was named female vocalist of the year at the Tejano Music Awards − a title she'd go on to earn 10 more times. She won the Grammy for the best Mexican American album in 1994. Selena's tracks like "Como La Flor" (1992) and "I Could Fall In Love," released posthumously in 1995, endeared her music to Spanish and English-speaking audiences alike.
Saldívar was the former president of the Selena fan club and a manager of Selena's clothing boutiques.
On March 31, 1995, Saldívar, then 34, fatally shot Selena at a Days Inn Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas, after the singer learned that Saldívar had been embezzling money. The singer was pronounced dead just two weeks before she would have turned 24.
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In 1997, Warner Bros. released the film "Selena" on the life, career and death of the pop star, starring Jennifer Lopez in what would be her breakout performance. The film helped launch Lopez into stardom, after her TV debut as a Fly Girl dancer in the Wayans family sketch comedy "In Living Color" and going on to star in a handful of smaller films, including "My Family" and "Money Train."
Saldívar was eligible for parole for the first time. If parole had been granted, she would have been released to serve the remainder of her sentence in the community under supervision. Victims' family members are notified in advance of an offender's parole eligibility.
She will have another chance for a parole review in March 2030, per the press release.
The panel's decision was based on her parole review file, which included confidential interviews, court documents, criminal history, information both in support and protest of her parole, "institutional adjustment" and a statement provided by Saldívar.
"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 press release stated.
In 2019, Saldívar filed an appeal challenging her conviction and sentence, according to federal court records. According to documents from the denied appeal, a pair of tennis shoes worn by the victim at the time of the murder were not admitted into evidence during Saldívar's trial. Saldívar asserted that if the prosecution had admitted these shoes as evidence, the defense could have potentially discredited the argument that Saldívar shot Quintanilla-Pérez intentionally.
Saldívar's appeals have not been successful.
Some of Selena's biggest records include "Como La Flor," "I Could Fall In Love" and "Dreaming of You." Selena and her family, who performed as Selena y Los Dinos before she went solo, released a dozen albums, 24 singles and seven promotional singles.
"Dreaming of You," her fifth and final solo album released four months after her death, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and became the first predominately Spanish album to top the Billboard 200 chart.
