Selena’s killer, Yolanda Saldívar, says singer ‘partly to blame’ for own death: Report

  • Yolanda Saldívar convicted in murder of Tejano singer Selena
  • Saldívar up for parole after nearly three decades behind bars
  • Former police officer says Saldívar's claims are 'nonsense'

(NewsNation) — Yolanda Saldívar, convicted in the 1995 murder of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, believes the singer is partly responsible for her own death, family members told the New York Post.

Saldívar, 64, officially filed for parole in January. She shot Selena during a confrontation in a Texas hotel room.

While Saldívar “knows what she did was wrong and she takes responsibility for it,” a family member told the New York Post she said she was “reacting to the way she was confronted.”

Yolanda Saldívar claims Selena came at her aggressively

“She says that (Selena) came at her really aggressively,” says the family member. “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.”

  • A picture of the late pop star Selena.

Former Corpus Christi Police Commander John Houston, who was the first law enforcement officer on the scene of the crime, told “Banfield” on Friday that this is “nonsense” and a “continuation of the lies” Saldívar has told.

“What kind of negative attention do you want to bring to yourself two weeks before your hearing?” Houston asked.

Yolanda Saldívar originally blamed Selena’s father

Houston also said that, at the time, Saldívar had claimed that it was accidental and that it was also the fault of Selena’s father for trying to interfere with their business relationship.

During his interview on Banfield, Houston said that Selena’s father had allegedly figured out that Saldívar was stealing money from Selena, and he didn’t want Selena to continue having a business relationship with her.

“She’s been a liar since day one… so, this doesn’t surprise me,” Houston said. “She belongs in jail. She needs to stay there.”

Banfield

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Trending on NewsNation