Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s death lingers with her fans.
It’s been 30 years since the beloved singer was killed at age 23 by the former president of her fan club Yolanda Saldívar in what was ruled first-degree murder, though Saldívar has insisted the shooting was an accident.
Due to the level of public interest in Selena’s passing, a rush autopsy was done just three hours after her death, which confirmed the Queen of Tejano music died from a bullet wound to her lower right shoulder.
Coroner Lloyd White wrote of her cause of death, according the original 1995 report obtained by Us Weekly, “It is my opinion that Selena Quintanilla Pérez, a 23-year-old woman, came to her death as a result of an exsanguinating internal and external hemorrhage, in other words massive bleeding, due to a perforating gunshot wound of the thorax.”
The report concluded, per the outlet, that after entering Selena’s back, the bullet’s path could be traced from her ribs to the upper lobe of her lungs before “puncturing the chest wall” and exiting her body.
The path of the bullet, the coroner concluded in the doc, severely injured her subclavian artery, contributing to her death.
Despite pleading not guilty to first-degree murder, Saldívar was convicted in October 1995 and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. (Her request for parole was denied in March 2025, with her next eligible to seek parole in 2030.)
Now, decades after Selena’s untimely passing, her life is being revisited in the Netflix documentary Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy, streaming now. The project was helped about by both Selena’s husband Chris Pérez and her sister Suzette Quintanilla, who partnered together to bring the film to life.
For Chris, it’s been another way to remain close with the family of his wife all these years later.
“Things like this project bring us together,” he explained to E! News in an exclusive joint interview with Suzette. “Even when things are good or everything is just flowing, to be able to work on a project like this together, even though you're close, it just brings you closer.”
After all, they have a unique shared experience.
“I'm in the room,” he added, “with somebody like Suzette that understands me in a way that nobody else does, and that's a special bond.”
And while the family has experienced challenges over the years, Suzette noted nothing can take away their bond.
“Like everything, family has disagreements about certain things, but we're past that,” she added. “I will always consider Chris family, and I know that he feels the same way about me, and that's it.”
For a look back at Selena’s life, read on.