Selena Quintanilla‘s cause of death has been revealed, 30 years after her tragic death.
The Nueces County, Texas, Medical Examiner’s Office has officially ruled the 23-year-old singer‘s death a homicide.
The star died from a gunshot wound at the hands of Yolanda Saldívar, a fan and later business partner of the Dreaming of You singer.
According to Us Weekly, which recently obtained the autopsy report, coroner Lloyd White wrote, “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 (chest).”
Due to strong public outcry, the autopsy was performed a mere three hours after the Grammy Award winner’s death.
The star’s demise is receiving renewed attention this week in the light of Netflix releasing a documentary on the incident this week titled Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy, featuring never-before-seen footage and interviews with her family.
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Selena, as she was known, was fatally shot at a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 31, 1995 by Saldívar.
Saldívar worked as a nurse while being a fan, later convincing the 23-year-old’s father to run her fan club in San Antonio.
She later worked her way into taking on management duties at the family’s boutique in Corpus Christi, but was fired in early 1995 when the Quintanilla family discovered thousands of dollars seemingly embezzled from both the fan club and the business.
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Saldívar was fired from the boutique and removed from her fan club position that March, and in the weeks following, she bought, returned, and repurchased a Taurus Model 85 revolver.
On March 30, she checked into the Days Inn in Corpus Christi and called the singer to her room, claiming that she had been raped and also needed to hand over business documents. Quintanilla arrived with her husband, Chris Pérez, but Saldívar didn’t hand over the records.
The next day Quintanilla visited alone, first taking Saldívar to get examined after her claim of being raped, before being turned away from the clinic and returning to the motel.
It was there the singer asked again for the documents, but was met by the revolver Saldívar pulled out and fired.
The singer managed to make it to the lobby for help, with paramedics taking her to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries at about 1:05 p.m.
At the same time, Saldívar had barricaded herself in her truck in the motel parking lot and threatened to harm herself, coming out 10 hours later to surrender to the FBI.
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When she was charged with first-degree murder, she pleaded not guilty, claiming the shooting was an accident.
A jury convicted her in October 1995, with the former fan sentenced to life in prison. She is now 64 years old and is continuing to serve her sentence in a women’s prison Gatesville, Texas.
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