Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s killer, Yolanda Saldívar, is eligible for parole at the end of this month, and a family member is sharing new details from Saldívar.
In an interview with The New York Post, an unnamed member of Saldívar’s family said, “[Yolanda] knows what she did was wrong and she takes responsibility for it. But she was reacting to the way she was confronted.”
According to the family member, Saldívar says, “[Selena] came at her really aggressively. She was so thrown off with how forceful Selena was being; everything happened so fast. If Selena had confronted her differently, this never would have happened.”
Representatives for the Quintanilla family and Selena’s husband, Chris Pérez, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Saldívar fatally shot Quintanilla-Pérez, better known as simply Selena, on March 31, 1995, after the Latin pop star discovered she had embezzled a reported $30,000 from her clothing boutiques. She still denies ever stealing from the pop star.
In February 2024, Saldívar sat down for a new prison interview featured in an Oxygen docuseries, “Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.”
During the docuseries, Saldívar claims she had no intention of killing Quintanilla-Pérez, but instead, she insisted she wanted to end her own life. However, in a series of unfortunate events, the gun allegedly went off and hit the 23-year-old instead.
“It startled me,” Saldívar said. “I did not know my gun went off. I did not know that it hit her. It scared her, it scared me. There was never ever any intention to do her any harm.”
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“My decisions were my decisions, and the consequences were also mine,” she said. “I’m regretful for all of that. If I could turn back time, if I could turn the clock, I think a lot of things wouldn’t be as they [are]. And I want the people to know I miss Selena just like they do. So much. But I know I will see her again in heaven. I know I will. She didn’t deserve to die.”
“I am so sorry that she’s gone,” said Saldívar. “I’m so sorry that her family is hurting. And I’m so sorry that my family is hurt. At no point did I mean to hurt anyone.”
The documentary sparked backlash at the time of its release from fans and the singer’s family.
Her father, Abraham Quintanilla, told TMZ that the documentary contained “nothing but lies.”
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“No one’s gonna believe what she has to say anyway,” the Quintanilla patriarch told the outlet at the time of its release. “Everyone knows there’s zero truth to anything that comes out of her mouth.”
In the documentary, Saldívar said she had been “convicted by public opinion” before her trial.
Saldívar filed for parole, and according to a representative for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, is currently in the parole review process. Her eligibility date is March 30, 2025.
Her family member told The Post, “She has a place to live. We have never forsaken her. But I don’t know where she’s going to get a job. Who will hire her?”
The outlet also previously spoke with inmates at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas – where Saldívar is being held – who said she has been housed in protective custody due to being a heavy target among inmates.
“Everyone knows who Yolanda Saldívar is,” Marisol Lopez, who served time alongside her from 2017 to 2022, told the outlet. “There’s a bounty on her head, like everyone wants a piece of her. The guards keep her away from everyone else, because she’s hated so much. If she were out [in general population], someone would try to take her down.”
Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan-Ramirez and Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
