Betty Broderick, the woman convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his wife in their bed on Nov. 5, 1989, has died at 78.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Officials at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told NBC News that Elizabeth A. Broderick — her full name — was transported from the California institution where she was incarcerated to a medical facility on April 18. She died the following Friday.
The medical office listed her initial cause of death as natural; the San Bernardino County coroner will conduct an official examination.
Broderick was convicted of second-degree murder in 1991 for the deaths of Daniel Broderick III, 44, and Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, and was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
She and Daniel Broderick married in 1969. In the late 1980s, Daniel began an affair with Linda Kolkena. He filed for divorce in 1985, setting off a four-year battle for custody of their children and the family home. Daniel was awarded custody; Betty received visitation rights.
In 1989, she used a key from her daughter and snuck up to her ex-husband’s bedroom. Using a five-shot revolver, she shot Daniel and Linda in bed.
After two trials — the first ending in a hung jury — she was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 15 years to life, plus two years for illegal use of a firearm.
At trial, Betty Broderick admitted to firing the gun while maintaining that a bitter divorce and custody dispute had driven her to it.
Her story has since been retold in multiple films and books.
At a 2010 parole hearing, all four of her children spoke. Two said they believed she should remain imprisoned. Her son Dan said his mother was a good person who had “got lost along the way.” “Releasing a lost person into society could be a dangerous mistake,” he said. Her parole was denied.
Broderick was denied parole a second time in 2017.
