Selena's Killer Yolanda Saldívar Denied Parole, Will Not Be Released from Prison

The woman who murdered Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez in 1995 was denied early release from prison on Thursday, March 27.

In 1995, Yolanda Saldivar was convicted of murder with a deadly weapon and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years.

Her parole eligibility date is March 30, 2025.

In a statement sent to PEOPLE on the afternoon of Thursday, March 27, the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole said, “After a thorough consideration of all available information, which included any confidential interviews conducted, it was the parole panels determination to deny parole to Yolanda Saldivar and set her next parole review for March 2030.”

The reason provided by the panel for denial was the “nature of the offense,” according to the board.

“The record indicates that the instant offense has elements of brutality, violence, assaultive behavior or conscious selection of victim’s vulnerability indicating a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others, such that the offender poses a continuing threat to public safety.”

Saldívar, 64, who was the manager of Selena’s clothing boutiques, Selena Etc., and the founder and president of her fan club, shot and killed the 23-year-old Grammy Award-winning singer on March 31, 1995, at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Saldívar killed the “Queen of Tejano” after Selena’s family fired her over allegations she forged checks to embezzle more than $30,000 from the star’s fan club and boutiques.

On March 31, 1995, Selena went to Saldívar’s motel room to pick up business records she needed to file taxes, according to court testimony, the AP reports.

Saldívar pulled out a gun and shot the singer in the back when Selena ran from the room.

Saldívar followed her “in armed pursuit” to the lobby, where Selena collapsed, telling employees that Saldívar had shot her, according to 1998 appellate records.

For the next nine hours, Saldívar sat in her truck, where she threatened to die by suicide, before finally surrendering to police.

Selena was rushed to a local hospital, where she died from loss of blood and cardiac arrest.

Saldívar and her family say that she deserves to be freed.

“Enough is enough,” an unnamed relative of Saldívar’s relatives told The New York Post in March 2024. “She feels like she’s a political prisoner at this point. She’s ready to get out of jail, because she believes she has more than served her time.”

Saldívar has maintained that the shooting was accidental and that Selena’s superstardom influenced the sentence she received.

“I was convicted by public opinion even before my trial started,” she said in the 2024 Oxygen documentary Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.

The parole board felt differently. “As with any other initial review of an offender for parole, approximately six months prior to her parole eligibility, she went into the parole review process,” the board said in the statement.

“An Institutional Parole Officer prepared her file for submission to the parole panel responsible for rendering the discretionary decision,” according to the statement.

“Within that confidential file there is a plethora of information including but not limited to: court documents, offense reports, support/protest information, criminal history, institutional adjustment and information/statements provided by the offender. The file was then sent to a parole panel of three. A simple majority was required to either grant or deny parole.”

Before the parole board announced its decision, former Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez, who prosecuted the high-profile case, said granting Saldívar parole would be “a serious mistake,” KHOU reports.

“Lord knows what will happen if she is released,” Valdez said. “Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it would be a serious mistake to grant her parole. I believe, I really believe, that the safest for Yolanda would probably be where she is.”