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Yolanda Saldivar Today: What Selena Quintanilla’s Killer Looks Like Almost 3 Decades After Murder
It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 27 years since the incredibly talented Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was murdered. Her former fan club president turned killer Yolanda Saldívar still sits behind bars at the Mountain View Unit prison in Texas, but many fans are curious what she looks like today.
Yolanda was 35 years old when she was arrested for Selena’s slaying. To this day, she swears she has a “clear conscience” because the shooting was an “accident,” but many fans (and the courts) disagree. Now, she’s 62 years old. She looks very similar, still small in stature at 4-feet, 8-inches, with brown eyes. Her years are showing in the wrinkles around her eyes, and her once-brown hair is getting more gray.
There have been many fake stories about Yolanda over the years that she has been in prison. One, in 2015, claimed that Yolanda had been found dead in her prison cell. Later reports cleared up that she was still very much alive. Then in 2014, a “parody” news site reported that she would be released in 2015, and many people believed it and were outraged. In reality, Yolanda will not be eligible for parole until 2025, 30 years after the killing.
Perhaps people are so curious about Yolanda’s current appearance because Netflix‘s Selena: The Series part two premiered on May 4, 2021. Selena also received the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Grammys on March 14.
“Selena would have been very excited for this honor, just like she was when she won her Grammy back in 1994,” her father, Abraham Quintanilla, told People. At the time, the “Enamorada de Ti” star won the Grammy Award for best Mexican-American album for Live.
“Selena’s life was cut short, but her fans have carried her throughout the years and her legacy is being passed on from generation to generation,” he noted to the outlet. “That in itself is incredible.”
In 2018, a Spanish-language biographical series called Secret of Selena premiered on TNT. Actress Damayanti Quintanar opened up about the preparation it took to play the killer, and it had dramatic negative effects on her health. She told Expansion that she developed thyroid problems and elevated levels of triglycerides from gaining 40 pounds for the role.
“Four months before recording the series, I started to go up and I felt alone in the process,” she said in the interview, which has been translated from Spanish. “I knew there was a reason, but it was not put into practice, and I was very desperate, I felt very bad. Cholesterol is in order, but triglycerides and thyroid, no, although they are already accommodating.”
Selena’s music continues to reach new audiences almost three decades after her death. Her estate released a remixed version of her 1988 hit, “Como Te Quiero Yo A Ti,” in July 2022. One month later, Selena’s posthumous album, Moonchild Mixes, was made available to fans.
“I’m more than sure that the fans are going to love it,” Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., told Billboard at the time of the album’s release. “If you listen to it, it’ll move you emotionally and take you back to as if Selena was recording it this morning.”
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