Yolanda Saldívar, the woman convicted of killing Selena Quintanilla in March 1995, is speaking out in a new documentary nearly 30 years after the Queen of Tejano Music’s death.
In a two-part Oxygen True Crime docuseries, Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them, 63-year-old Saldívar details from prison the series of events that led to Selena’s killing and maintains that the shooting was an accident.
“I was convicted by public opinion even before my trial started,” Saldívar begins in the doc. “They have been fed a narrative that is not correct, that I was an embezzler, that I was an assistant. My right as a citizen of the United States to be innocent until proven guilty was reversed on me. I was guilty and needed to prove my innocence.”
Saldívar fatally shot Selena at a Days Inn hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 31, 1995, just two weeks before she would have celebrated her 24th birthday on April 16, 1995. Saldívar killed the Grammy-winning singer after the Quintanilla family learned that she had allegedly been embezzling money from Selena’s fan club and clothing boutiques.
“They’ve never proven me that I stole a single cent from her. If I was an embezzler like [Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla] claimed, why didn’t he ever press charges on me? He didn’t because he never had that evidence,” Saldívar states.
According to Saldívar, she purchased the gun she used to kill Selena following a March 9, 1995 meeting with Selena, Selena’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, and Abraham. During that meeting, Saldívar claims that Abraham accused her of embezzling money.
“I didn’t feel safe. It was my own self-defense that if anything came my way, I was going to protect myself. I was fearful,” she says.
However, Saldívar claims that “at no point did I mean to hurt anyone.” She alleges, “I did not know when my gun went off. I did not know that it hit her because I thought that she just ran. It scared me, it scared her. All I can say is that there was never, ever any intention to do her any harm.”
Saldívar was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in October 1995. She is eligible for parole in 2025.
“I know that people were hurting, I know. And I know that they loved her, no doubt. And I know that the people till this day still hurt for her. I do, too,” Saldívar notes in the docuseries. “And I think that Abraham took advantage of that sentiment, that sympathy, and used it for his benefit to poison their minds and continues to do that.”
Of why Saldívar decided to participate in the Oxygen project, she says, “My family were devastated from the very beginning. My parents had all my belongings, they had all my property, they had all my files, they had everything, and they, for months, put it all together. My sister, my brothers, and my parents said, ‘We’re going to vow to tell the truth, but you have to tell us the whole truth, no matter who it hurts. We have to get justice for you. We cannot let lies and untruths stand.'”
In the doc, Saldívar also claims that authorities wrote her confession incorrectly because it was late and they wanted to go home. “I said, ‘This is not my confession, this is yours.’ And he wouldn’t let go of that,” she alleges. Eventually, Saldívar says she signed it “to get it over with.” Authorities denied her claim.
“I am so sorry she’s gone,” Saldívar says. “I’m so sorry that all her family is hurting and I’m so sorry my family is hurt.”
Part one of Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them premiered on Oxygen True Crime on Feb. 17, followed by part two on Feb. 18.
