The woman convicted of the legendary murder of Tejano music was denied parole after spending decades behind bars after fatally shooting a young singer at a Texas motel in 1995, the state's parole board announced Thursday.
Yolanda Saldívar will continue to serve life in prison at the Gateville, Texas prison after a panel of three members of the Texas Amnesty Committee voted not to release her.
In a statement describing the denial, the board said the panel found that Sardiva continues to pose a threat to public safety and that the nature of the crime indicates “a conscious neglect of others' lives, safety or property.”
Her case is eligible for review again for parole in 2030.
The singer, known to her fans as Simple Serena, was one of the Mexican-Americans and one of the first Mexican-Americans to enter the mainstream music scene, continuing to cross the English pop market when she was killed.
Saldívar founded Selena's Fan Club and served as manager of singer's clothing boutiques, Selena, and others until she was fired after the money was discovered to have been lost in early March 1995.
Serena, a native of Corpus Christi, was 23 years old when she was shot in the back with a .38 caliber revolver on March 31, 1995 at the Days Inn Motel in Corpus Christi.
She was able to run to the lobby of the fallen motel and was declared dead in the hospital an hour later.
A motel employee testified that Serena named “Yolanda” as the attacker in “Room 158.”
“I wasn't going to do that. I wasn't going to kill anyone,” sobbing Sardivar said during a nine-hour confrontation with the police.
She told police she bought a .38 caliber revolver to kill her.
On April 3, 1995, just 13 days before her 24th birthday, more than 50,000 people lined up to see Serena's body the day before she rested at Seaside Memorial Park on April 3, 1995.
Saldívar's trial was moved to Houston for publicity surrounding the case.
Saldívar testified that he intended to kill him during his conflict with Serena, but the gun misfired.
On October 23, 1995, a Houston ju umpire was convicted of first-degree murder in Sardivar.
She was sentenced to life in prison 30 years later for the possibility of parole.
While in prison, former nurse Sardivar received a paralegal and associate degree in criminal justice, according to court records, and filed several civil rights complaints alleging abuse by the state's prison system.
She also helped other inmates file the petition.
In court documents filed in 2016, Sardivar said she was being held in protective custody, meaning that she was isolated from other prisoners because she was concerned about her safety due to the “famous” nature of her lawsuit.
She filed several complaints of her conviction, but all were denied.
Serena – “The Queen of Tegiano” – was promoted to a Grammy Award and won a Grammy Award during the Tegiano music boom in the early 1990s.
Her hits include “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”, “Como la Flor”, “Amor Aphhibido”, “No Me Queda Mas” and “Tu Solo Tu”.
“Dreaming of You” Her English crossover album was released a few months after her death, breaking through the Billboard 200 and featured “I Con Can Fall in Love” and “Dreaming of You.”
Jennifer Lopez She played the singer in the 1997 biopic “Serena.”
The Grammy Awards awarded Serena the Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
