Convicted Murderer Betty Broderick Dies After Serving More Than 30 Years for Killing Ex-Husband and His Wife

Betty Broderick, born Elizabeth A. Broderick, died at 78 while serving a sentence for murdering her husband, Daniel Broderick, and his new wife in 1989.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the convicted murderer died at 3:00 a.m. local time, and a doctor preliminarily ruled the death natural. She was transported to an outside medical facility on April 18, 2026, from the California Institution for Women in Chino, "for a higher level of care."

The San Bernardino County Coroner has yet to determine the cause of her death.

Following his mother's passing, Rhett Broderick, the youngest child of Betty and Dan, said his mother died "with three of her children at her bedside, and the other was FaceTiming."

"We were all able to come and be with her," he told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Rhett confirmed that several weeks ago, the convicted murderer fell in prison and later developed an infection, due to which she contracted an infection that turned to sepsis. "We always try to remember her as her best self – an amazingly fun and smart mother – and she will be missed," he added. "We are saddened that our time with her as our mother was so short."

In 1991, Broderick was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and was ordered to serve a 32-year sentence. Her arrest stemmed from the murders of Daniel T. Broderick III and his new wife, Linda Kolkena, on November 5, 1989.

Daniel and Betty first met in 1965 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and later married on April 12, 1969, in New York. The couple welcomed four children: Kimberly, Lee, Dan Jr. and Rhett.

During the 1980s, Betty suspected that Dan was having an affair with Kolkena, whom he had hired as his legal assistant in 1982.

Although Dan denied her suspicions, he went on to divorce her in 1985 and marry Kolkena in 1989.

One morning at around 5:30 a.m., around seven months after their wedding, Betty drove to the couple's Hillcrest home, entered the home using a key from her daughter, entered the couple's room and shot them with a revolver. Broderick was 44, and Linda was 28 at the time of their death.

Betty, who was eligible for parole, was denied twice, once in 2010 and in early 2017, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

"My whole world fell off its axis," said Betty during her first parole hearing, adding, "I had one choice: to shoot them or myself. I couldn’t let them win."

At the time, then-Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs called Broderick an "unrepentant woman," and claimed she had "no remorse and zero insight into the killings … She just basically said they drove me to do this."

In 2017, Betty stated that she had met all criteria for parole and claimed that her release date was originally 2010 in a letter to Murder Made Me Famous producers.

"I have no one to speak for me. This was a case of domestic abuse: a pattern of coercive control that lasted throughout our marriage until the day I killed them. Now I am only a political prisoner. They have no reason to deny my parole," she added.

However, San Diego Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs agreed to the parole board's decision and called Broderick "completely unrepentant, and in complete denial that she murdered two innocent people. She just doesn’t see any of her own part in this at all, and turns around and blames it on them."

Meanwhile, the Broderick family shared a statement addressing Betty's passing.

"We loved both of our parents, and it was a complicated relationship with our mom for obvious reasons, and with her being incarcerated the last 37 plus years. We will always remember her as an amazingly fun, smart, engaging and loving mom," the statement read.

Betty Broderick is survived by four children and seven grandchildren, her family confirmed.