Justice Served: Inside Selena Murderer Yolanda Saldívar’s Sad Prison Life
Nov. 18 2019, Updated 6:27 p.m. ET
Selena Quintanilla’s murderer Yolanda Saldívar has been fighting to get out of prison with multiple petitions for a new trial ever since she was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995. And it’s easy to see why the killer is so desperate to be freed from behind bars, as RadarOnline.com can exclusively expose her sad prison life.
Saldívar, 58, is serving a life sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Correctional Institutional Division at the Mountain View Unit. She is eligible for parole in March 2025.
According to the Public Information Officer for the facility, Saldívar’s prison job is to “pass out food trays from a cart to other offenders in her cell area.”
Back in April 2016, Saldívar filed a lawsuit against three prison employees and a contractor company after she was allegedly denied medical attention.
“The Plaintiff was assigned to an unsafe cell which included a top bunk bed with rungs that the Plaintiff knew and had reported to prison officials that she would/did have difficulty climbing up and down,” the complaint obtained from District Court of Texas Western Division read. “Prison officials refused to listen and on May 26, 2015, she fell hitting her right side of her head, hip and ankle sustaining a hematoma to her head.”
Saldívar claimed that she complained of headaches and feeling off-balanced, but was denied medical treatment because personnel “admitted” they had no providers available.
In the Plaintiff’s More Definite Statement filing, she explained how a nurse saw her in her cell, but she did not see a physician until 10 days after the incident.
“On June 4, 2015, the Plaintiff had a throbbing headache, nausea and felt off-balanced, which continued through her visit that day,” the court papers read.
After a neurological evaluation and CT scan, she was diagnosed with a concussion.
She asked for $250,000 for compensatory damages and $250,000 for punitive damages.
The claims against the contractor company were dismissed without prejudice and the claims against the Defendants are dismissed with prejudice.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Saldívar requested a new trial on March 28, 2019.
In court papers obtained from the United States District Court’s Waco Division, Saldívar filed a Second Writ of Habeas Corpus, claiming prosecutor Carlos Valdez had and has held exculpatory material evidence, which is evidence favorable to the Defendant, without disclosing it to the defense or the jury during the trial. She claimed after 23 years, he presented the evidence to the public in a Spanish media interview.
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The case was dismissed without prejudice because the Petitioner filed the petition in district court and must seek permission from the Fifth Circuit.
Saldívar was the founder of Quintanilla-Pérez’s fan club. She also helped manage the singer’s Texas-based boutiques.
The “I Could Fall In Love” singer’s father began hearing complaints from fan club members that they did not receive items they paid for. He also heard from employees that she had been stealing money from the San Antonio store.
On March 31, the “Bidi Bidi Bum Bum” singer met with Saldívar, who claimed she’d been raped. Quintanilla-Pérez took her to the hospital for an exam, but the hospital wouldn’t perform a full examination on her because she was not a resident of Corpus Christi and was not in the jurisdiction of the alleged attack.
When they returned to the Days Inn after leaving the hospital, Quintanilla-Pérez asked for financial records. While she was leaving, Saldívar shot her in the back.
Quintanilla-Pérez made her way to the lobby. She named Saldívar as the shooter as she collapsed, motel staff claimed. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving to the hospital. She was 23.
Saldívar then threatened suicide in an over nine-hour long standoff with police before she was arrested.
She pled not guilty and maintained the shooting was accidental. She was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.