Selena's murderer, Yolanda Saldivar, is eligible for parole in 2025
It only seems like yesterday that we heard the news that Selena, the undisputed Queen of Tejano, had been murdered.
And now comes the news that Selena's murderer could be set free in less than four years.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Yolanda Saldivar is eligible for parole on March 30, 2025, which is 30 years after she was given a life sentence for the killing. They said that an inmate's parole eligibility is determined by the laws in effect on the date the offense was committed, the offense of conviction, and the sentence.
Several incidents led up to Saldivar pulling the trigger and ending the life of the beloved singer.
Saldivar started the Selena Fan Club in 1991 and eventually worked her way up to running the singer's clothing boutiques and even controlled the singer's business checking accounts.
According to an article published in Texas Monthly, Saldívar’s apartment was “like a shrine” for the singer, as she seemed obsessed with Selena.
At some point, Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla, found evidence that Saldivar was embezzling money from the singer’s boutiques and fired her.
“Yolanda wanted to kill Selena because Selena was firing Yolanda. She wouldn’t exist if she didn’t have Selena. And if she didn’t work for Selena, she didn’t want to work for anybody,” Carlos Valdez, a district judge in Nueces County, Texas who served as the lead prosecutor in Saldívar subsequent murder trial, told A&E.
A few weeks later, Selena met up with Saldivar on March 31, 1995 at the Days Inn in Corpus Christi to pick up some documents that she wanted. Saldívar finally turned them over, but as Selena left the room, Saldívar pulled out the gun she had bought days earlier and shot Selena.
While bleeding, the singer managed to run to the hotel lobby and identify Saldivar as her killer.
Saldivar is currently serving her life sentence at Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
