Who Is Abraham Quintanilla? Slain Singer's Father Mourns Relatives Killed In Harvey

The father of slain singer Selena Quintanilla, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., has said that six people found dead in a car while escaping the flood waters in Houston were related to him.

"The family that drowned in Houston, Texas, were related to me. Manuel Saldivar, his wife Belia and four of their grandkids, left their flooded house to go somewhere where there was safe. When they crossed a bridge, a wave of water swept the van and pushed them into the bayou. The driver was saved, but Manuel, his wife, and four grandkids drowned..." the father of wrote the "Queen of Tejano music" wrote in a Facebook post.

The van in which the Salvidar family was traveling was found inundated Aug. 30, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. The incident took place Aug. 26 when Houston was covered with rainwater due to Hurricane Harvey.

Sammy Salvidar was driving the van that was packed with his elderly grand parents, Manuel, 84, and his wife, Belia, 81; and their four great-grandchildren, Devy, 16; Dominic, 14; Xavier, 8; and 6-year-old Daisy.

Manuel and Belia would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October, according to KTLA 5, a CW-affiliate.

The family escaped their home in northeast Houston after the water level began to rise.

Sammy's relatives told CNN as the vehicle plunged into water, Sammy managed to squeeze through the driver's side window, but the other family members could not make it.

However, the van with the dead family members was discovered only on Aug. 30. when the level of floodwater receded enough to make the upper part of the van visible, reports said.

“Manuel’s mother Carolina was my father’s 1st cousin,” reports said quoting Quintanilla Jr.'s post. “My condolences to their family.”

In another post, Quintanilla Jr. confirmed his immediate family was safe and his daughter's museum was also not damaged, E!Online reported.

The Quintanilla family built the museum in 1998 after receiving thousands of letters from Selena's fans who said they wish to have her memory shared with the public. Selena was killed in 1995.

The museum displays her red Porsche, awards, stage outfits, and other memorabilia, according to its website.

Quintanilla Jr. worked as a singer-songwriter and producer and also managed Selena's band, Selena y Los Dinos, which also featured his other children. During the late 1950s, he was a singer for the band named Los Dinos, with whom he performed for many years; then he joined a multinational chemical corporation, Dow Chemical, full time to support his family.

After this, he also opened a restaurant named PapaGayos where the Selena y Los Dinos would play on the weekends. It was during this period that Quintallinato Jr. started writing original Spanish-language songs for the band to perform.

Selena's first language was English and to sing Spanish ones, she had to learn the words to the Spanish songs syllable by syllable. The family band garnered many local fans; however, the restaurant didn't work and eventually closed down. Following the failure of the restaurant, Quintanilla Jr. moved the family to his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas, to start over again.

Quintanilla Jr. was involved with his daughter's career during her life and afterwards. He worked as a producer on his daughter's 2003 Greatest Hits album — a collection of English songs by his late daughter — and on her 1997 eponymous biographical film.

Quintanilla Jr. met his wife, Marcella Samora, after being drafted into the military; they had three children.