entertain guests. During an interview with Saldívar in 1995, reporters from The Dallas Morning News said her devotion to Selena bordered on obsession. Saldívar told employees at Selena Etc. she wanted to "be like Selena". According to an unnamed former employee, Saldívar was "possessive" of her relationship with Selena, and tried to distance Selena from the other employees. This person believed that Saldívar's goal was to "have more control over [the employees] and over Selena". Saldívar said her reason for distancing the employees from Selena was to "shield" the singer from the "petty issues" of managing her boutiques. Along with the responsibility of running the boutiques, Saldívar accompanied Selena on trips and had keys to the singer's house. When Saldívar became a business associate, their relationship began to deteriorate. In September 1994, Selena met Ricardo Martinez, a doctor who lived in Monterrey, Mexico. Selena wanted to expand the number of boutiques by opening a Selena Etc. store in Monterrey. Martinez said he had contacts in Mexico who could help her grow her business. Martinez became a business adviser to Selena, though her family said he was simply a fan who posed in several pictures with her. Saldívar became envious of Selena's dependency on Martinez. He began sending flowers to Selena's hotel room. Saldívar warned the singer that Martinez might have unprofessional intentions. Selena began visiting Monterrey more frequently, often in disguise. Sebastian D'Silva, Martinez's assistant, would pick up Selena at the airport; he said he noticed she was wearing wigs and using her husband Chris Pérez's surname so others would not identify her. According to Martinez, he had lent several thousand dollars to Selena because she was short on cash. Saldívar's termination of employment Starting in January 1995, Quintanilla Jr. began receiving telephone calls and letters from angry fans who claimed to have paid their enrollment fees for the fan club, but had not received the promised memorabilia. Meanwhile, at both of Selena's boutiques in San Antonio and Corpus Christi, employees noted an influx of unpaid or overdue bills arriving in the mail, for which Saldívar could provide no plausible explanation. Upon investigation, Quintanilla, Jr. discovered Saldívar had embezzled more than $60,000 using forged checks from both the fan club and the boutiques. Saldívar's brother, Armando Saldívar, supposedly contacted Gomez and "made up a story" that Saldívar was stealing money from the fan club. Gomez then contacted one of Selena's