HOUSTON (AP) — The woman convicted of killing Tejano music legend Selena Quintanilla-Pérez has been denied parole and will continue serving a life sentence for fatally shooting the rising young singer at a Texas motel in 1995, the state’s parole board announced Thursday.
Yolanda Saldívar, 64, was up for parole for the first time since the killing of the singer, known to fans as simply Selena.
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FILE - Suzette Quintanilla, center, sister of the late singer Selena Quintanilla, holds a replica of Selena's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as she poses with, from left, Selena's husband Chris Perez, her brother A.B. Quintanilla III, and her parents Marcella Ofelia Samora and Abraham Quintanilla Jr. during a posthumous ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Nov. 3, 2017. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - A portrait of the late singer Selena Quintanilla is seen in the crowd following a posthumous star ceremony for Quintanilla on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla performs at the Astrodome during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Feb. 26, 1995. (John Everett/Houston Chronicle via AP)
FILE - A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the late singer Selena Quintanilla is pictured following a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
In this undated photo provided by Texas Department of Criminal Justice is prison inmate Yolanda Saldívar, who is serving a life sentence at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit prison in Gatesville, Texas, after being convicted of killing Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-Perez. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
This combination of photos shows Yolanda Saldívar, who is serving a life sentence at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit prison in Gatesville, Texas, left, and Tejano music star Selena posing in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 7, 1995. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP, left, and Paul Howell,/Houston Chronicle via AP)
One of the first Mexican American artists to break into the mainstream music scene, Selena shattered barriers for women in Latin music. She was 23 years old and on the verge of crossing over into English-language pop superstardom when she was killed.
The singer's family and Chris Pérez, her widower, expressed gratitude to the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles.
“While nothing can bring Selena back, this decision reaffirms that justice continues to stand for the beautiful life that was taken from us and from millions of fans around the world far too soon,” they said in a statement posted on social media.
In explaining the decision to deny parole, the board said in a statement that the panel found that Saldívar continues to pose a threat to public safety. It also said the nature of the crime indicated “a conscious disregard for the lives, safety, or property of others.”
Saldívar, who is serving her sentence in a Gatesville prison, will be eligible to be reviewed again for parole in 2030.
Saldívar founded Selena’s fan club and was the manager of the singer’s clothing boutiques, Selena Etc., until she was fired in early March 1995 after money was discovered missing.
Selena, a Corpus Christi native, was shot in the back with a .38-caliber revolver at a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi on March 31, 1995. She was able to run to the motel lobby, where she collapsed, and she was pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later.
Motel employees testified that Selena named “Yolanda” in “room 158” as her attacker.
“I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean to kill anybody,” a sobbing Saldívar said during a nine-hour standoff with police. She told officers she had bought the .38-caliber revolver to kill herself.
More than 50,000 people lined up to view Selena’s body the day before she was laid to rest in Seaside Memorial Park on April 3, 1995, just 13 days before her 24th birthday.
Saldívar’s trial was moved to Houston because of the publicity surrounding the case. Saldívar testified that she had intended to kill herself during the confrontation with Selena but the gun misfired.
On Oct. 23, 1995, a jury convicted Saldívar of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
While in prison, Saldívar, a former nurse, obtained her paralegal and associate degree in criminal justice. She has filed several civil rights complaints alleging mistreatment by the state’s prison system, according to court records, and she also helped other inmates file petitions.
In court documents from 2016, Saldívar said she was being held in protective custody — meaning she was segregated from other inmates — because prison officials were concerned for her safety due to the “high profile” nature of her case. She filed several appeals of her conviction, but all were rejected.
Known as “the Queen of Tejano,” Selena rose to stardom and won a Grammy during a Tejano music boom in the early 1990s. Her hits included “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” “Como la Flor,” “Amor Prohibido,” “No Me Queda Mas” and “Tu Solo Tu.”
She opened the floodgates for a new generation of contemporary artists of Latin descent who would go on to enjoy huge popularity with mainstream American audiences. She often sang in Spanish and spoke in English, reflecting a cross-cultural identity that resonated with listeners.
“Dreaming of You,” her English-language crossover album released a few months after her death, topped the Billboard 200 and featured the hits “I Could Fall in Love” and “Dreaming of You.”
Jennifer Lopez played the singer in the 1997 biopic “Selena.”
The Grammys awarded Selena a posthumous lifetime achievement award in 2021.
Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at juanlozano70.
FILE - Suzette Quintanilla, center, sister of the late singer Selena Quintanilla, holds a replica of Selena's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as she poses with, from left, Selena's husband Chris Perez, her brother A.B. Quintanilla III, and her parents Marcella Ofelia Samora and Abraham Quintanilla Jr. during a posthumous ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Nov. 3, 2017. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - A portrait of the late singer Selena Quintanilla is seen in the crowd following a posthumous star ceremony for Quintanilla on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla performs at the Astrodome during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Feb. 26, 1995. (John Everett/Houston Chronicle via AP)
FILE - A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the late singer Selena Quintanilla is pictured following a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
In this undated photo provided by Texas Department of Criminal Justice is prison inmate Yolanda Saldívar, who is serving a life sentence at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit prison in Gatesville, Texas, after being convicted of killing Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-Perez. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
This combination of photos shows Yolanda Saldívar, who is serving a life sentence at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit prison in Gatesville, Texas, left, and Tejano music star Selena posing in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 7, 1995. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP, left, and Paul Howell,/Houston Chronicle via AP)
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic as a crackdown on demonstrators has led to hundreds of deaths.
Trump said late Sunday his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act before then as reports of deaths mount and Iran's government continues to arrest protesters.
“Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Iran did not acknowledge Trump’s comments immediately. It has previously warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has accurately reported on past unrest, said at least 599 people have been killed, including 510 protesters and 89 members of security forces. It said over 10,600 people have been detained during two weeks of protests. The group relies on supporters in Iran cross-checking information.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
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The top diplomats for Iran and Britain have traded sharp statements after speaking by phone.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that Iran must halt the violence aimed at its people. She wrote on X that the killing and repression of peaceful protesters is “horrific.”
Araghchi responded by saying the U.K. should stay out of Iran’s internal affairs. He also criticized security at the Iranian embassy in London, where a demonstrator on Saturday scaled a wall and replaced the Islamic Republic’s flag with the banner flown before the Western-backed shah was overthrown in 1979.
“If the U.K. cannot uphold its duty to protect diplomatic missions, Iran would be left with no choice but to consider evacuating our personnel,” Araghchi said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told reporters that airstrikes are among the “many, many options” that President Donald Trump is considering but that “diplomacy is always the first option for the president.”
Trump on Sunday said Iranian officials have reached out for talks. He has threatened to take military action against the Islamic Republic for its crackdown on the protests.
“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” Leavitt said. “However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”
The U.S. last year bombed Iranian nuclear sites when it inserted itself into the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
The executive secretary of Russia’s Security Council has condemned what he described as foreign interference in Iran’s internal affairs.
The council said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that Sergei Shoigu spoke by phone Monday with his counterpart Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.
The statement said Shoigu also expressed condolences over the numerous casualties, without elaboration.
Iran has alleged foreign influence in the protests.
The ban was announced Monday by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
“This House will not aid in legitimizing this regime that has sustained itself through torture, repression and murder,” Metsola wrote on X. She also praised protesters who “continue to stand up for their rights and their liberty.”
— The Iranian government seems to be publicizing the killing of demonstrators for the first time to dissuade others from joining in, said Kamran Matin, an associate professor of international relations at the University of Sussex in England and an expert on Iran. “It’s broadcasting some of the footage, both of those killed but also of the actual protests. It seems to be intended to intimidate protesters from returning to the streets.” He also said that Trump’s primary aim is to change the behavior of the Iranian regime, not necessarily the regime itself.
— Although some observers have speculated that Venezuela may provide a template for creating a new Iranian government, the situation in Tehran is very different, said Iran expert Siavush Randjbar-Daemi at the University of St. Andrews. He said there is no similar figure in Iran to interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, who took over after U.S. forces arrested Nicolás Maduro. “There’s nobody who the Americans can really talk to like that,’’ he said.
A senior Turkish official voiced opposition to foreign interventions in Iran, warning that such actions could worsen the country’s crisis.
Omer Celik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, acknowledged on Monday that Iran faces internal challenges but stressed they must be resolved through “its own dynamics and the will of the state.”
“We would never wish for any chaos to emerge in our neighbor Iran,” Celik said, adding that outside interference would only produce “worse outcomes.”
He cautioned that regional instability could escalate further if external involvement is driven by what he described as “Israeli provocations.”
Video circulating online purports to show dozens of bodies in a morgue on the outskirts of Iran’s capital.
People with knowledge of the facility and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Monday that the video shows the Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Center.
People are seen walking by bodies in body bags laid out in a large room, attempting to identify them. Another video, widely shared by activists, purportedly shows people gathered around a television monitor at the morgue, looking at images of corpses’ faces. Outside, people can be heard wailing in grief. The footage matches other images of the facility online.
—- By Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem
A witness told the AP that the streets of Tehran empty at the sunset call to prayers each night.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, addressed “Dear parents,” which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
—- By Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Iran drew tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators to the streets Monday in a show of power after nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy.
Iranian state television showed images of demonstrators thronging Tehran toward Enghelab Square in the capital.
It called the demonstration an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger in the country over the nation’s ailing economy. That sparked the protests over two weeks ago.
State television aired images of such demonstrations around the country, trying to signal it had overcome the protests, as claimed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day.
China says it opposes the use of force in international relations and expressed hope the Iranian government and people are “able to overcome the current difficulties and maintain national stability.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that Beijing “always opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs, maintains that the sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law, and opposes the use or threat of use of force in international relations.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned “in the strongest terms the violence that the leadership in Iran is directing against its own people.”
He said it was a sign of weakness rather than strength, adding that “this violence must end.”
Merz said during a visit to India that the demonstrators deserve “the greatest respect” for the courage with which “they are resisting the disproportional, brutal violence of Iranian security forces.”
He said: “I call on the Iranian leadership to protect its population rather than threatening it.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday suggested that a channel remained open with the United States.
Esmail Baghaei made the comment during a news conference in Tehran.
“It is open and whenever needed, through that channel, the necessary messages are exchanged,” he said.
However, Baghaei said such talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”
The semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on Monday began calling out Iranian celebrities and leaders on social media who have expressed support for the protests over the past two weeks, especially before the internet was shut down.
The threat comes as writers and other cultural leaders were targeted even before protests. The news agency highlighted specific celebrities who posted in solidarity with the protesters and scolded them for not condemning vandalism and destruction to public property or the deaths of security forces killed during clashes. The news agency accused those celebrities and leaders of inciting riots by expressing their support.
Canada said it “stands with the brave people of Iran” in a statement on social media that strongly condemned the killing of protesters during widespread protests that have rocked the country over the past two weeks.
“The Iranian regime must halt its horrific repression and intimidation and respect the human rights of its citizens,” Canada’s government said on Monday.
Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday that “the situation has come under total control” after a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in the country.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran’s foreign minister alleged Monday that nationwide protests in his nation “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim, which comes after over 500 have been reported killed by activists -- the vast majority coming from demonstrators.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran has summoned the British ambassador over protesters twice taking down the Iranian flag at their embassy in London.
Iranian state television also said Monday that it complained about “certain terrorist organization that, under the guise of media, spread lies and promote violence and terrorism.” The United Kingdom is home to offices of the BBC’s Persian service and Iran International, both which long have been targeted by Iran.
People attend a rally in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)
A picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set alight by protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Shiite Muslims hold placards and chant slogans during a protest against the U.S. and show solidarity with Iran in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Activists carrying a photograph of Reza Pahlavi take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Activists take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
