How did Selena Quintanilla die?

• How did Selena Quintanilla die?
• The queen of Tex-Mex was murdered by the president of her fan club.
• What did Selena’s autopsy reveal?

Twenty-seven years after singer Selena Quintanilla’s tragic murder, many questions still arise about how she died and what information her autopsy showed. Despite the time that has passed, Selena’s memory is alive with her fans who have passed her music down from generation to generation.

On March 31, 1995 at 1:05 p.m., Selena Quintanilla was declared dead after being shot by Yolanda Saldívar, president of her fan club and manager of her stores. She had been meeting with her to discuss financial matters.

How did Selena Quintanilla die?

Saldívar, who called herself Selena’s best friend, met the queen of Tex-Mex at a Corpus Christi hotel after the singer and her father, Abraham Quintanilla, discovered that Saldívar was embezzling funds from the fan club, according to Debate.

Selena met her killer in room 158 of the Days Inn Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. After an argument between the two women, Saldívar took a gun out of her bag and, when Selena tried to flee, Saldívar fired the weapon hitting Selena in her shoulder. The bullet pierced an artery and caused significant bleeding.

Photographs of the room showed traces of blood

Selena managed to get to the reception desk to ask for help and said that Yolanda Saldívar was the person who had shot her. After being rushed to the hospital and undergoing surgery for about an hour, doctors were unable to save her life and Selena was pronounced dead at 1:05 p.m. on March 31, 1995.

Saldívar hid in a truck for 10 hours threatening to commit suicide, before being arrested, according to El Universal. It was reported that some people took pictures of room 158 where there were still traces of Selena’s blood.

What did Selena’s autopsy reveal?

According Selena Quintanilla’s autopsy: «The bullet entered the upper right part of her back, near her scapula, passed through her chest cavity, severed the right subclavian artery and exited through the upper right part of the thorax.”

Selena died of cardiorespiratory arrest and as a result of the massive loss of blood. They also indicated that if the bullet had it hit just a millimeter below or above, the singer could have been saved.

27 years after Selena’s death

The black coffin in which Selena was buried was surrounded by 5,000 white roses brought from Holland at the request of the singer’s family. The local media of Corpus Christi reported an escalation of violence after her death, a triple murder and a suicide were recorded in 72 hours.

Since her death there have been various activities to remember her, such as two wax figures made by the Madame Tussaud Museum, one in Hollywood and the other in New York, as well as a special fashion line by Forever 21, with images of the singer.