Yolanda Will Always Be Hated
Killers — who are they? Who do they want to be? Who do we think they are? Questions asked, but never fully answered ,only raising more questions. True crime fanatics like myself have delved into the world of mystery and wonder. Famous stories of murderers and their victims — Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer, Jack the Ripper, Richard Ramirez, and Aileen Wuornos just to name a few — all share one thing in common: they’re somebody who killed average people and now their victims will forever be remembered as their victims. These murderers were famous for their crimes and actions; numerous podcasts, documentaries, and articles have been made about them. I would be lying if I said I didn’t watch, listen, or read them and enjoy them as any other true crime fanatic would. But, what happens when a nobody kills a somebody?
Most of us are familiar with the story of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a promising young singer who left her legacy behind after her unfortunate passing. As the story goes, Selena was gunned down and killed by one of her employees/friends, Yolanda Saldívar, after a financial dispute that included Saldívar embezzling money from Selena’s business. Or at least, that is how the story was told.
On the weekend of Feb. 17, a new documentary was released by Oxygen True Crime streaming services, following up almost 30 years later with Saldívar — who is now behind bars to share her side of the story titled “Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.” I took the liberty of watching the documentary on its release date. The first thing I noticed was that the entire documentary was commented on by Saldívar and her family. Later on, Abraham Quintanilla (Selena’s father) tells TMZ that the entire show is “nothing but lies” and says, “No one’s gonna believe what she has to say anyway.”
The purpose of this series (which consisted of two episodes roughly three hours long all together) was to expose the secrets between Saldívar and Selena. Those being that Saldívar was hiding Selena’s affair with a doctor as well as sending checks to herself to pay for airfare for Selena to meet with said doctor (allegedly). Throughout the series, there was a lot of condescension between what Saldívar, her family, and the investigators were saying. The investigators paint this picture of Saldívar being obsessed with Selena and going as far as to call Abraham Quintanilla over 10 times to ask permission to run a fan club dedicated to Selena. However, Saldívar and her family claim that her and Selena were very close friends and would go out just for the fun of it.
I noticed that even before the series was released, it was already getting backlash from fans of Selena on social media (which was how I originally heard of the show). I wanted to give it an opportunity and watch it for myself (unbiased and with no opinion), and I can say for a fact that this was all heavily one-sided in favor of Saldívar and her family. The truth has come out. Saldívar has confirmed that she did indeed pick up an armed weapon and aim it at Selena, which was all fans needed to hear to close this case, regardless of what else she had to say. I will admit that even after I heard that statement, I lost interest in the rest, as it seemed pointless.
This documentary is significantly different from anything we have seen before, and I believe it is because of who Selena was. She was a star in the making; she was humble and charismatic. She never forgot where she came from and strived to make everyone feel included. It is no surprise that her killer, happened to be the president of her fan club, an employee of hers, and her ‘friend’ is one of the most hated woman in Mexican-American culture.
A documentary like this was just an excuse to feed into a true crime obsession, but it seemed like no one was falling for it, and I don’t blame them. The show was biased against Selena’s legacy and her story, and because of this, we may never know what truly happened.
Photo courtesy of Oxygen
