Yolanda Saldívar, the woman who was sentenced to life in prison for killing Selena Quintanilla, is hoping to soon be released.
Saldívar, 64, was a close friend and business associate of the “I Could Fall In Love” singer before fatally shooting her at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1995, just two weeks ahead of what would have been Quintanilla’s 24th birthday.
A family member of Saldívar told The New York Post that she believes she should be freed from prison when she becomes eligible for parole in March 2025, as Saldívar claims that the shooting was accidental.
“Enough is enough,” one of Saldívar’s relatives, who went unnamed, told the outlet. “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 allegedly killed Quintanilla after the Grammy Award-winner learned that Saldívar had been embezzling money from her clothing boutiques. Two days after Quintanilla confronted her, Saldívar applied for a permit to purchase a gun in San Antonio, witnesses testified during her trial, per the Associated Press.
After the murder, Saldívar held police at bay while she sat in her pickup in the motel’s parking lot, threatening to kill herself, The New York Timesreported. She later surrendered and was charged with first-degree murder.
During the trial, Saldívar pleaded not guilty to murder, and her defense attorneys argued that the fatal shooting was a tragic accident and Saldívar was trying to kill herself and not Quintanilla, per CNN.
Yolanda Saldivar is escorted by a court officer to an afternoon session of her change of venue hearing, Friday afternoon, Aug. 4, 1995, at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas. Attorneys for Saldivar, who is accused of murdering Tejano music star Selena, contend that Saldivar could not get a fair trial in Corpus Christi.
AP Photo/Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Tom Fox
In subsequent interviews, Saldívar has since maintained that the shooting was “an accident,” telling ABC’s “20/20” in 1995: “They made me out to be a monster, and I just want to say, I did not kill Selena. It was an accident, and my conscience is clear.”
She also shared in a prison interview in the Oxygen docuseries Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them that she “was convicted by public opinion even before my trial started,” per the Post.
Since being convicted of murder in October 1995 and sentenced to life, Saldívar has reportedly claimed there is a “bounty on her head” in jail, according to ABC 13.
Selena.
Arlene Richie/Getty
Saldívar has now applied for parole, for which she will become eligible on March 30, according to online records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Quintanilla was killed before the completion of her highly anticipated English album Dreaming of You. The album posthumously debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart on Aug. 4, 1995 and remained on the list for 49 weeks.
Her song of the same name peaked at No. 22 on the Hot 100 on Nov. 24, 1995 and charted for 20 weeks.
Jennifer Lopez later starred in a movie about the music star in 1997 that earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
