A woman who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Tejano music legend Selena in 1995 has submitted documents to seek her release next year, with inmates reporting that there is “a bounty on her head” within the prison. A representative from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice stated that the killer, Yolanda Saldívar, who is now 64, has no issues in her record that would prevent the parole board from holding a hearing in March to consider her release. On March 31, 1995, Saldívar shot the 23-year-old superstar known as the “Queen of Tejano,” Selena Quintanilla-Perez, during a confrontation in a hotel room in Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena suspected that Saldívar, the founder of her fan club, had embezzled over $60,000 and intended to dismiss her.
Currently housed at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas—which also accommodates women on Death Row—Saldívar has consistently claimed that she did not intend to kill Selena and that the tragedy was accidental. According to the New York Times, inmates where Saldívar is incarcerated state that she is frequently targeted, which has led to her being kept in protective custody. In 2018, Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, revealed to Univision’s Primer Impacto that other inmates had issued threats against Saldívar’s life.
“To this day, we still receive letters from women who are in the same prison where they say they are waiting for her,” he said at the time. “They say that they are going to kill her. There are bad women in there. Women who have murdered other people in the past. That is why they are in there. They have nothing to lose.”
Saldivar asserts that she intends to stay with her family and seek employment if released.
