What happened to Selena? Revisiting the singer’s tragic murder (and where her killer is now)

Key Points

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was a hugely popular Tejano singer who was murdered in 1995 at the age of 23.
Her killer, Yolanda Saldívar, had previously been the president of Selena’s fan club.
A new documentary about Selena, Selena y Los Dinos, is now streaming on Netflix.

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was dubbed the “Queen of Tejano Music” before her tragic death at age 23. Now, 30 years on, a new Netflix documentary is revisiting the singer’s life and career.

Directed by Isabel Castro, Selena y Los Dinos offers a 360-degree portrait of Selena’s life, from her childhood recitals to her collaborations with family to her crossover success as a Latin pop star on the American charts. Consider it an accompaniment to Selena, the 1997 biopic in which Jennifer Lopez plays the singer, and Netflix’s Selena: The Series, which came out in 2020 and stars Christian Serratos.

Selena’s parents, siblings, husband, and bandmates lend their insights to the documentary, which features never-before-seen footage of Selena that, per a synopsis, reveals her in a “new light as a sister, daughter, and wife.”

Selena y Los Dinos is a warm-hearted remembrance, but her 1995 murder nevertheless casts a shadow over the story. Below, we revisit the details of Selena’s death.

Who was Selena Quintanilla-Pérez?

Courtesy of Netflix

Selena y Los Dinos

Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Tex., in 1971. Her father, Abraham, was a singer on the Tejano circuit in the 1950s and 1960s, and he encouraged his family’s musicality. After his Tex-Mex restaurant closed in the early 1980s, Abraham focused his efforts on managing Selena y Los Dinos, a group led by Selena and rounded out by her siblings, Suzette and A.B. Jr.

After releasing six albums, an 18-year-old Selena was signed by EMI alongside her band in 1989. A series of solo albums followed, including 1993’s Live!, which topped numerous charts and won the Grammy for Best Mexican-American album, making Selena the first Tejano musician to receive the honor.

Billboard went on to declare Selena the “top Latin artist of the ’90s,” noting how she placed 20 songs on the Hot Latin Tracks chart and seven No. 1 singles.

Selena was also an entrepreneur, opening a pair of boutiques in South Texas called Selena Etc.

The singer was on the verge of releasing her first English-language album before her death in 1995. ”[She] was about to take center stage as the first Tejano performer to attempt a full-scale crossover,” Cameron Randle, a VP at Arista/Texas, told Entertainment Weekly following her murder. ”And she was robbed of that opportunity.”

How did Selena die?

Courtesy of Netflix

A fan holding up a poster of Selena, as seen in ‘Selena y Los Dinos’

On March 31, 1995, Selena was shot and killed at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Tex., by Yolanda Saldívar, a 34-year-old who had previously managed Selena’s fan club.

Selena brought Saldívar on to help run her Texas boutiques, but she and her family soon discovered evidence that Saldívar was allegedly embezzling money. As EW reported in 1995, Saldívar shot Selena with a .38-caliber revolver when the singer confronted her about the alleged embezzlement.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Saldívar sat in a pickup truck in the Days Inn parking lot for 10 hours with a gun held to her head, according to the New York Times. Eventually, she surrendered to police.

During her trial, Saldívar admitted to shooting Selena, but claimed it was an accident, per celebrity.land. Her defense failed to win over a jury. She was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility for parole after 30 years.

Where is Yolanda Saldívar now?

Saldívar is currently serving her sentence at the Patrick O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas, per PEOPLE.

In March 2025, Saldívar was eligible for parole for the first time since her sentencing in 1995.

She was denied, however, with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles announcing that her “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 won’t be eligible for another review until 2030.

“Today, we are grateful that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has chosen to deny parole for Yolanda Saldívar,” reads a statement released by Selena’s family. “While nothing can bring Selena back, this decision reaffirms that justice continues to stand for the beautiful life that was taken from us and from millions of fans around the world far too soon.”