Yolanda Saldivar Finally Speaks About The Night She Killed Selena
Nearly 30 years after she killed Selena Quintanilla, convicted murderer Yolanda Saldivar speaks out regarding the night she gunned down her former employer.
In a brand new Oxygen True Crime docuseries, Saldivar reveals her side of the tragic story. Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them. The former president of Selena’s official fan club claims that everything regarding the case isn’t so clear cut.
According to a press release from Oxygen, “Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them marks the first time in over two decades that Saldivar has been interviewed extensively in English and on camera. In a series of wide-ranging interviews from prison, Saldivar details her working relationship and friendship with Selena, and she’s not alone,” the press release reads. “For the first time, members of Yolanda’s family discuss the two women and share never-before-revealed documents and recordings in an effort to show there was more to the tragedy than the public knows.”
The Night That Yolanda Saldivar Killed Selena
In addition to running Selena’s fan club, Yolanda Saldivar was also tasked with managing Selena’s boutiques as well. When Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, confronted Saldivar over accusations of embezzling money from Selena, Saldivar became defensive.
According to case documents, in March 1995, Selena fired Saldivar for stealing from her. Two weeks later, the pair met in a hotel room to clear the air. “Appellant [Saldivar] shot complainant, Selena Quintanilla Perez, in the back as complainant walked toward the door of appellant’s room at the Corpus Christi Days Inn,” the records read. “Complainant ran from the room toward the lobby of the motel, screaming. Appellant followed her in armed pursuit. Upon entering the lobby, complainant collapsed. Before passing out, complainant told motel employees that appellant shot her.”
Despite being convicted of murder, Saldivar maintained that the shooting was an accident. Three decades later, Saldivar says that there is more to the story than people know. “I knew her secrets,” Saldivar said in the trailer for Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them. “And I think the people deserved to know the truth.”
Yolanda Saldivar Would ‘Play So Many Mind Games’
Carlos Valdez, a district judge in Nueces County, Texas, served as the lead prosecutor in Saldivar’s murder trial. He spoke to A&E Real Crime regarding his thoughts on the case. “Yolanda wanted to kill Selena because Selena was firing Yolanda. She wouldn’t exist if she didn’t have Selena,” Valdez said. “And if she didn’t work for Selena, she didn’t want to work for anybody.”
Martin Gomez, a designer who once shared an office space with Saldivar, spoke about her propensity for anger. “She was very vindictive. She was very possessive of Selena,” Gomez told The Washington Post in 1995. “She’d get, like, very angry if you crossed her. She would play so many mind games, say people had said things they hadn’t said,” he explained. “So many things would happen to the clothing I was working on. I knew that I had finished a certain piece, but I would come back from a trip to New York and the hems would be ripped out. It was very strange.”
“The last call I had with Selena, the last call, I told her to be careful,” Gomez recalled of his conversation. “It was very weird. I was very afraid of Yolanda. But I never thought she would hurt Selena. I never thought it would come to this.”
The series premieres with back-to-back episodes February 17 at 8 p.m. ET and concludes February 18 at 7 p.m. Will you be tuning in?
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