Yolanda Saldívar

Yolanda Saldívar
Status	Currently serving life sentence
Height	5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)
Criminal charge	First-degree murder
Penalty	Life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years

Yolanda Saldívar (born September 19, 1960) was convicted in 1995 for the murder of Tejano music singer, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, which occurred on March 31, 1995. She is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Gatesville, Texas and will not be eligible for parole until 2025.

Life with Selena and the murder

Saldívar was a registered nurse from San Antonio, Texas who had met with Selena after a concert in 1990. After a short time, they became friends and Selena offered her a job as her fan club's president and working at Selena's boutique.

After an unspecified amount of time, Selena and Saldívar began to grow apart, and the Quintanilla family uncovered evidence of embezzlement and fraud being perpetrated by Saldívar in February 1995 from both the Selena Fan Club and Selena’s boutiques. The Quintanilla family confronted Saldívar to request missing paperwork, and she was allowed time to try to find the missing records, but on March 12, 1995, Selena fired Yolanda Saldívar. Although she was fired, Yolanda continued to work because there was still paperwork missing. According to a police report, Saldivar had taken more than $30,000 from the fan club and the money was from a fan who wanted a picture of Selena.

On March 30, Selena went to the Corpus Christi Days Inn motel where Saldívar was staying in to get the missing paperwork. When Selena and her husband Chris later examined the paperwork, they found out that some of the papers were still missing. Early the next morning Selena went to the hotel to confront Saldívar a final time to try to retain the last of the missing paperwork on her way to a rehearsal. Saldívar told her she had been raped in Monterrey, Mexico and needed to go to the hospital. Selena took her to the hospital and the doctors found no evidence of rape. After about an hour, Selena and Saldívar returned to the motel and argued. At 11:48 am, Saldivar pulled out a gun and pointed at herself, threatening to commit suicide if Selena fired her. As Selena turned and was about to head out the door for help, Saldivar turned the gun on Selena and shot her once in the back with a .38 caliber pistol. Selena sprinted for more than 100 yards before she stumbled into the hotel lobby, leaving a trail of blood behind her the entire way. As Selena curled into a fetal postion on the floor, the hotel manager and other personnel tried to comfort Selena and stop her from bleeding. As she lay dying, Selena was asked what happened. She told them, crying "She shot me! The lady in room 158! Yolanda Saldivar!". Afterwards, while the hotel called for an ambulance, Selena lost consciousness. Medics arrived less than five minutes after being called and rushed Selena to the hospital, but it was too late. She was pronounced dead on arrival at 1:05pm. Selena was 23 years old.

Trial and imprisonment

Saldívar's trial for the murder of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was followed closely by the Latino community in the United States. The trial venue was moved to Houston, Texas after Saldívar's lawyers successfully argued that she could not receive a fair trial in Corpus Christi, Selena's hometown. Before the start of the trial, CNN reported that prosecutors were expected to introduce a controversial police confession signed by Saldívar in which she claimed she shot Selena "during an argument over accusations from the singer's father that Saldívar is a lesbian and stole money from Selena's accounts". The defense was expected to introduce testimony from Texas Ranger Robert Garza that "he overheard Saldívar claim the shooting was accidental, and that she objected when police failed to include it in her statement".

Although the defense attorney argued for Saldívar's claims that the shooting was accidental, the prosecution raised the issue that Saldívar, a trained nurse, neither called 911 nor tried to help the victim after she was shot. The judge presiding the case chose not to give jurors the option of the lesser charges of manslaughter or negligent homicide, instructing jurors that they must either convict or acquit Saldívar on the sole charge of first-degree murder.

The jury deliberated for just two hours. She was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on October 23, 1995, with parole eligibility set for thirty years; this was the maximum prison term for the state of Texas. She is serving her life sentence at the Murray Unit in Gatesville, Texas. Because of multiple internal death threats from incarcerated Selena fans sent to Saldívar, she had to be placed into isolation. Saldívar spends 23 of her 24 hours in her 9x6 prison cell alone, without contact from other visitors. She can purchase a radio from the commissary, and she can have a two hour visit with family or friends each week. Her projected release date states that could be paroled on March 30, 2025, the day before the 30th anniversary of Selena's death.

After the conviction

Saldívar has never offered a motive for the murder, claiming instead that it was an accident. In later years, she stated that she had been the protector of the singer's private life. When interviewed by journalist María Celeste Arrarás, Saldívar claimed to have in her possession a diary, a letter, and a video as evidence of Selena's infidelity to her husband Chris. She also claimed to possess a suitcase with clothes Selena had asked her to keep days before her death, claiming Selena had planned to run away with her supposed lover, Ricardo Martínez. Martínez was a chief financier of Selena's clothing business and has expressed outrage at Saldívar's claims, saying, "This woman [Saldívar] continues doing harm. I don't know how they can continue to believe a murderer."

These claims by Saldívar were discussed in the 1998 VH1 documentary program, Behind the Music, although the program did not describe the nature of the claims. When interviewed for the program, Saldívar answered most questions with, "I just did not like that woman." She also insisted that she could direct the interviewer, Jim Forbes, to a bank where a safe-deposit box held items that could have harmed Selena's reputation. After an exhaustive investigation that included a trip to Mexico, Forbes concluded, "There was no safe-deposit box, nor tapes, nor diary, nor evidence."

Saldívar allegedly used similar claims of a safe-deposit box in January 1997, this time with financial documents, to gain an evidentiary hearing in Houston for the purpose of obtaining a new trial. Later that month, State District Judge Mike Westergren decided a new trial was not in order because the records that Saldívar claimed were missing were never admitted into evidence.

The gun used to kill Selena had been lost for a time after the trial, but was discovered in a court reporter's home. It was later destroyed and its remains thrown into Corpus Christi Bay.

Saldívar was portrayed in the movie Selena by Lupe Ontiveros.

Saldívar has requested that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals review a petition that challenges her conviction. She claims the petition was filed in 2000 with the 214th District Court but was never sent to the higher court. Her request was received on March 31, 2008, the 13th anniversary of Selena's death.

References

Template:Persondata