Yolanda Saldívar, the convicted murderer of Tejano superstar Selena, has begun the parole review process in Texas.
Saldívar was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years for killing Selena Quintanilla-Perez, and she officially becomes eligible for parole on March 30. The review process, however, begins six months prior to that, and online records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice state that Salvídar is “currently in the Parole Review Process.”
A representative for the Selena estate did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Saldívar was convicted of murdering Selena after shooting the singer once in the back in a Corpus Christi, Texas hotel room on March 31, 1995. At the time, Saldívar was working as both the president of Selena’s fan club and as the manager of her line of clothing boutiques, Selena, Etc. The shooting occurred after Selena confronted Saldívar with claims that she’d been embezzling money from Selena’s business ventures.
Saldívar has maintained that she shot Selena by accident and that she planned to use the gun on herself. In a recent interview for the docuseries Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them, which came out last year, Saldívar also disputed the embezzlement claims. She argued instead that she was ready to stop working for Selena and that the singer was trying to convince her to stay during their hotel room confrontation.
“Selena, when she came into the [hotel] room, she kept trying to put guilt in me for not continuing with her, and how everything was going to crumble,” she said. “My emotions were running so high, and I was hurting.”
The Selena estate is currently gearing up for the premiere of a new documentary, Selena y Los Dinos, which is set to debut at Sundance later this month. Directed by Isabel Castro, the film will explore Selena’s remarkable rise and legacy and feature an array of never-before-seen footage from her family’s archives.
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