Houston (AFP) – A woman sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Mexican-American pop star in a Texas motel was denied parole on Thursday, almost three decades after the killing. Yolanda Saldivar was president of Selena’s fan club and had claimed she accidentally shot the singer on March 31, 1995 at a motel room in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The 23-year-old star, whose full name was Selena Quintanilla Perez, was wildly popular in the Mexican-American community of Tejano music — an upbeat mingle of Texan and Mexican sounds — and on the verge of breaking through to a larger mainstream audience when she was killed.
“After a thorough consideration of all available information, which included any confidential interviews conducted, it was the parole panel’s determination to deny parole to Yolanda Saldivar and set her next parole review for March 2030,” the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole said in a statement. According to the board, the decision was based on the “brutality, violence, assaultive behavior or conscious selection of the victim’s vulnerability” of the murder, which indicated Saldivar “poses a continuing threat to public safety.”
The singer’s family welcomed the decision. “While nothing can bring Selena back, this decision reaffirms that justice continues to stand for the beautiful life that was taken from us,” her family and widower Chris Perez said in a joint statement.
Saldivar, now 64, was a personal assistant to Selena and an employee at her boutique when she fatally shot the star in the back after meeting her at a motel. The singer had reportedly confronted Saldivar about more than 30,000 dollars missing from her fan club and two of her boutiques. Witnesses told police that Selena identified Saldivar as her killer before she collapsed and died.
Listed by Billboard magazine as one of the greatest Latin artists of all time, Selena won a Grammy in 1993 and received a posthumous award in 2021. In 2017, she was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
© 2024 AFP
