Betty Broderick, convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his new wife in bed, dies at 78

Betty Broderick, the woman convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his wife in their bed on November 5, 1989, has died at age 78.

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Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told NBC News that Elizabeth A. Broderick – her full name – was transported from the California facility where she was incarcerated to a medical facility on April 18. She died the following Friday.

The doctor’s office said the initial cause of his death was natural; the San Bernardino County Coroner will conduct a formal review.

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, sparking a four-year custody battle over their children and the family home. Daniel was granted custody; Betty was granted visitation rights.

In 1989, she used a key from her daughter and sneaked into her ex-husband’s bedroom. Using a five-shot revolver, she shot Daniel and Linda in bed.

After two trials – the first resulting 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 a gun while claiming that a bitter divorce and custody dispute had driven her to it.

His story has since been told in several films and books.

At a parole hearing in 2010, his four children took the stand. Two of them said they thought she should remain imprisoned. Her son Dan said his mother was a good person who got “lost along the way”. “Releasing a person lost in society could be a dangerous mistake,” he said. His parole was denied.

Broderick was denied parole a second time in 2017.