Who are Selena Quintanilla’s parents? All about the late singer’s family amid the documentary release 

Selena Quintanilla’s influence continued long after her death, sustained largely by her immediate family, her father, Abraham Quintanilla; her mother, Marcella Ofelia Quintanilla; and her siblings, A.B. Quintanilla III and Suzette. Her relatives continued to protect her legacy through various projects. Abraham served as an executive producer for the 1997 film Selena, while A.B. and Suzette participated in producing Netflix’s 2020 Selena: The Series. A.B. later oversaw Selena's Moonchild Mixes album in 2022, and Abraham published a memoir reflecting on her life.

“In my mind, she’s still alive, because you get involved with all her things and doing things for her every day that sometimes I forget that she’s not here with us anymore,”

Abraham told Entertainment Tonight in 2017.

“So in a sort of way, it’s hard to explain, in my mind, she’s alive," he added.

Abraham reportedly met Marcella in Tacoma, Washington, while stationed at McChord Air Force Base. They got married on June 8, 1963, and welcomed their first child, Abraham Isaac “A.B.”, later that year on Dec. 13. Suzette was born in 1967, and Selena Quintanilla followed in 1971. The family settled in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Quintanillas returned to public discussion with the release of Selena y Los Dinos on Netflix, a documentary revisiting the singer’s life and her murder by Yolanda Saldívar.

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Chris Perez recalled his early romance with Selena and the pain of losing her:

Chris Perez said he continued to think about his late wife, Selena Quintanilla, “every day.” Selena, the chart-topping “Queen of Tejano Music” who was also referred to as the “Tex-Mex Madonna,” met Chris in 1990 after he joined Selena y Los Dinos as a guitarist. The pair developed a relationship but kept it hidden because they believed her father, Abraham Quintanilla, would disapprove.

“We were friends first, so I got to know her on that level,”

Chris told People in November 2025.

“I worried her dad would kill us, but when she wanted something, she was determined,” he added.

They eloped in April 1992, three years before Selena Quintanilla was murdered by Yolanda Saldívar on March 31, 1995. Netflix’s Selena y Los Dinos, released on Nov. 17, chronicled Selena’s rise through interviews with family and band members, including Chris. He acknowledged to People that revisiting her death remained “difficult.”

“As time has gone on, you romanticize it even more, my most prized possessions are her love letters. I hope that her fans, or the people who watch the documentary, understand how lucky I feel to even have that," he shared.

Chris said he remembered the first moment he saw her, describing her as “beautiful and talented” in a 2018 interview with Entertainment Tonight.

“I’m a shy person by nature, and there was something about her that was just able to pull me out,” he said.

Although they kept a professional distance early on, their connection deepened during a trip to Acapulco, which Chris described in his 2013 memoir To Selena, with Love. The trip, sponsored by Coca-Cola, allowed Selena to be “truly free to be herself,” he wrote. They spent dinners seated next to each other, and their feelings became unmistakable on the flight back to the U.S.

Selena held his hand through heavy turbulence, he said on the Anything for Selena podcast in 2021.

“[I thought], ‘Maybe she was just being [a friend], she knows I’m freaking out from the turbulence,’ at the same time, I knew there were sparks,” he recalled.

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From devotion to destruction: The relationship that ended Selena Quintanilla’s life

Us Weekly noted that Selena Quintanilla was only 23 when she was killed in March 1995 at a Corpus Christi motel. Yolanda Saldívar had been more than an employee; she had been a constant presence in the singer’s world, first as a devoted fan, then as president of her fan club, and eventually as a manager at the family’s boutique. By early 1995, however, the relationship had disintegrated. The Quintanilla family uncovered missing funds and removed her from both roles.

Just hours after the shooting, medical examiners conducted an autopsy amid public pressure, determining the death was homicide despite Yolanda Saldívar's insistence that the gun had been fired by accident. The findings outlined the intensity of their final dispute.

In the weeks before the killing, Yolanda Saldívar bought and returned a Taurus Model 85 .38-caliber revolver at a San Antonio gun range, later buying the same model again. On March 30, she checked into the Days Inn and called Selena Quintanilla, claiming she had been raped and needed to hand over business records. Selena Quintanilla arrived with her husband, Chris Pérez, though Yolanda Saldívar had pushed for a private meeting. The papers were not provided.

Selena Quintanilla later told business associate Leonard Wong that she intended to return for perfume samples and the correct records. During that second visit, she agreed to take Saldívar for a hospital exam, only to be told the test had to be conducted elsewhere, and then they returned to the motel.

There, the confrontation reignited. When Selena Quintanilla again asked for the records, Yolanda Saldívar produced the .38-caliber revolver and shot her. Selena Quintanilla managed to run to the lobby as Saldívar followed, yelling. The singer was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 1:05 p.m. on March 31.

Outside the motel, Yolanda Saldívar remained in her truck and refused to surrender, leading to a nearly 10-hour standoff with police. She threatened to harm herself before finally giving up to the FBI agents. She was later charged with first-degree murder, found guilty in October 1995, and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

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Selena Quintanilla’s journey is a powerful symbol of cultural pride and enduring inspiration that continues to unite and uplift generations.