Betty Broderick: A Woman Scorned?

Betty Broderick at her first trial in November 1990.

Welcome to the Murder and Mayhem Podcast, where we delve into the darker side of human nature. In today's episode, we delve into the captivating and controversial case of Betty Broderick, who’s story grip the nation and sparked, intense debates about justice, revenge, and the complexities of marital relationships.

THE SCENE

In the early morning hours of November 5, 1989; the tranquility of the Marston Hills neighborhood in San Diego was shattered by five shots in quick succession. The outside of the Broderick home appeared as normal. The wrought-iron gates and stately architecture fit in well with the rest of the homes in the very affluent neighborhood. The inside of the home though, told a very different story.

On the second floor of the house, the master bedroom bored witness to the gruesome slayings that had occurred. Out of the five shots, two had lodged into various furniture and the walls. The other three were found in the bodies of Dan and Linda Broderick. Dan, a prominent figure in the San Deigo Law Community, had been struck in the chest. His injuries included fractured ribs and a punctured lung, with the latter ultimately leading to his asphyxiation. His body was found on the floor with his arms outstretched towards where their phone would have normally been plugged into the wall. Linda, a paralegal and his wife, was struck twice. She was hit once in the chest, and one in the head. The second shot killed her instantly. Blood pooled beneath the both of them, furniture was knocked around, gun smoke still lingered in the air. A room once full of love and closeness turned into one of absolute horror.

By the time officers arrived at the scene, the killer had fled. curiously, during her escape, she had actually stopped to call friends and family and confess what she had done. Not long after the manhunt for her began, she turned herself into the police with little fanfare. They had many questions, but the burning one was: who was Betty Broderick and why did she kill Dan and Linda?

Betty and Dan Broderick on their wedding day in 1969

Love at First Sight

Our story begins in 1965 at a football weekend in Notre Dame, Indiana. Daniel Broderick was a charming, ambitious, soon-to-be doctor when he met Betty Bisceglia. His connection with the pretty, young blonde was immediate. It sparked a romance that would alter the course of their lives. They had a lot in common. They had both come from affluent, Catholic families. They were both well-educated, with Betty actually studying education and Dan getting ready to move to NY to study at Cornell Medical School in the Fall. Coincidentally, that was not far from where Betty lived and attended school. In his own words, Dan would be moving "dangerously close to Betty."

A year after Dan moved to New York, he finally gathered up the courage and asked Betty out. After two years of dating, Dan proposes. In 1969 the couple is married after just four years of knowing each other. The marriage was admittedly rock at first. Betty actually testified and wrote about some of their early struggles. attributing them mainly to their upbringing. Neither of them was used to managing a home, a family, or even basic personal responsibilities to some degree. Their beds were made for them. Thei laundry was always cleaned, folded, pressed and put away for them. Both homes actually used maids and other help growing up also. So, Betty was not ready to become the head of a household by any means. They both were a bit underprepared and - quite frankly - immature. For example, Betty and even a few tv shows talk about a specific time that became evident to her. While on their honeymoon Dan reported turned housekeeping away for almost the entirety of the trip. When Betty questioned him about it, he reportedly answered that he didn't need the and he also didn't have to sleep in an unclean room...Betty was his wife now. She would handle everything for him.

Dan, Betty and Kim circa.1974

Regardless of how underprepared they were - in true Catholic fashion - they welcomed their honeymoon baby girl, Kim, in 1970. Things were hard. During the majority of the pregnancy Dan and Betty were living in Dan's college dorm. They both had to take on multiple jobs, but Betty took on the bulk of the financial responsibilities with Dan having such heavy academic ones. Even once they got an apartment, the financial situation remained very close to dire every month. Dan continued to work and study hard, which pays off when he graduates from Cornell Medical School in 1971. That same year they also grow their family by one more and welcome another baby girl named Lee.

The growing Broderick family

Unbeknownst to Betty, Dan had begun to resent his career choice. He no longer wanted to be a doctor. His new, grand plan was to become a medical malpractice attorney. He could use his knowledge and connections he made in medical school to really dominate that particular legal space. Dan had applied to Harvard law and was accepted, which was no small feat. Regardless of how huge and accomplishment this was, Betty was quite apprehensive about the idea of law school at first. She eventually made the move with Dan, and their growing family, to Boston. Dan began school yet again, Betty picked up multiple jobs, the girls settled into their new life. This time was just a bit different though. Dan's father had subsidized the first degree and refused to pay or another, especially when Dan hadn't even physically practiced as a doctor before making that decision. With their elevated financial responsibilities, student loans and young children to care for; they fell back into their routine of very late nights and early mornings. Betty was actually quite vocal about the fact that at one point, at they were on Food Stamps. Times were hard, Betty unfortunately was having a rough time. She had suffered a miscarriage in 1973 while Dan was on a ski trip with some law school friends. Around this same time Dan graduates from Harvard law and begins looking for a job. It didn't take long before he was offered a position with the prominent law firm Gary, Cary, Ames and Frye. And with that, the growing family leaves behind the dreary cold of Boston for the warm skies and hope of San Diego, California.

Building the Broderick Lifestyle

Dan and Betty seemed quite happy with their move. It wasn't long before they made friends within the San Deigo law community. Dan started making a steady income. They began to attend galas and society balls. They started taking ritzy vacations, buying cars, jewelry, designer clothes; it's like they thought their happiness was directly tied to the number of material things they owned (especially Betty). Around this time, they welcomed their third child - and first boy - Daniel IV.

Life was really going great for the family. Dan had even begun to build a real reputation within the law community and was becoming somewhat of a breakout star. Betty recognized this, but it really became solidified for her when Dan "hit his first gong." For those of you that don't know, hitting a gong is a term lawyers use when they've succeeded at getting a million-dollar settlement. Not long after this, Betty

began pushing for Dan to start his own practice, and he does so. Admittedly he does so with a lot of help and support from Betty, she even helped with the interior design.

Daniel Broderick poses for a photo in his office in 1978

Dan got his firm up and running in 1978. He started out a relatively small firm, but over the next five years it would grow into a major success. During those five years they also welcomed their final child, Rhett. According to friend and family, it's around this time that the cracks in the marriage had started to show. A rift had begun to form between the couple. And countless friends and family didn't hesitate to give their perspective to news reporters and court officials when the time came. Kim, the oldest, even went as far to say to the LA times that "mom was mad at dad all the time." From 1979 to 1983, the problems only grew in intensity and frequency, and Dan's business only grew alongside it. Everything seems to come to a head when Dan meets a beautiful young blonde receptionist who works in his building.

Linda Kolkena circa 1985

The Beautiful, Young Blonde

Linda Kolkena was 21 years old when she met Dan. The former flight attendant hadn't been hired as a receptionist for very long before the two struck up a conversation. Linda's friends said it started small, flirting glances, small talk. After a few months they had become what some considered friends. So, when Dan was looking for an assistant at his law office, Linda was definitely within the applicant pool. While Dan and Linda grew closer every day, Dan and Betty were getting worse. Regardless of whether anything physical had happened between the two co-workers yet, Betty was convinced Dan was cheating.

While cheating is awful, and absolutely a bad choice. In a perfect world everyone would keep their promises and honor their commitments, but we don't live in a utopia. Hurt happens and it's our responsibility as humans to confront that hurt and move on. No one has the right to become judge, jury and executioner of another human being. The legal system may be fucked, but it's our legal system and we have to abide by it.

Back to 1983, by November of that year Betty was ready to explode. She had given Dan an ultimatum once she learned of Linda's position in the office. He had a month to fire her or get out of the house. That had not gone in her favor, and Linda was still employed. By the time Dan's birthday, things had hit a turning point. On the suggestion of a friend, Betty was going to rekindle the spark in her marriage. She got dressed up and headed down to Dan's office with champagne in hand. She was excited for give him a birthday surprise, but when she got there no one was at the office. She walked through the near deserted space with the remnants of a very happy party scattered around. Absolutely enraged, she goes home on the war path. Betty screams and cries. She kicks the babysitter out and begins to clear all of Dan's high-end clothes out of the closet. According to Betty's testimony, she then doused the pile in lighter fluid and dropped a match. When the flames went out, she even went as far as to dump black paint on anything that wasn't fully burnt. With her destruction done, she waited for her husband to come home. When Dan returns, he's greeted with the smokey scene. He tried to explain to Betty that while it was his birthday, and he did have lunch with close friends (including Linda); he still had to work. The justice system didn't care it was his birthday. He was scheduled to be in and out of hearings and depositions all day. This event was talked about at length by friends and their children during the trial, especially Kim.

Dan sticks it out until 1985, presumably for the children. About a year and a half after the incident with the clothes, Dan decided to move out. At the time the family owned the Coral Reef house, which would become a big sticking point in terms of the divorce. The couple wanted a remodel and was actually living in another property they owned at the time. Dan came home from work one night to the property and sat Betty down for a talk. He was fed up. He had decided he was going to stay in the Coral Reef house while it was being remodeled. According to Betty, he had not discussed separation at this point. He was just "taking some time for himself." We of course have no way to truly corroborate this claim as the only other person involved is now dead. Aroun d this same time family and friends of Dan reports seeing Dan and Linda around town. They were out to dinner, at the bar, walking downtown hand-in-hand, hanging out on the beach; you name it. Linda was also alleged to have talked a lot around the office - and sometimes the courthouse - about her and Dan's growing relationship. Dan denies it all repeatedly only Betty confronts him, and this only escalates the situation.

Betty Broderick circa. 1985

The "Calm" Before the Storm

A few months after Dan moves out, Betty's mental state and actions really begins to deteriorate. She even goes as far as to drop the children off at Dan's house; just leaving them at his house with no idea where Dan was or when he'd be back. She often did these drop offs at night, and with multiple children at a time so she did this more than once (the four children were divided into two trips). Betty would later claim she wasn't abandoning the children. Instead, she was "reminding Dan that life wasn't about fun, and he had responsibilities." It was then that Dan decided to make the responsible move, and files for emergency SOLE custody of the children. Within a few months of that, Dan had also filed for divorce.

The Broderick family in the early 1980s

If you do not have any experiences with the Catholic faith, depending on how devout you want to go, divorce is similar to death. The rules for women (and families but mainly women) are that you obey and support your husband, you raise your kids right, be a good mom and eventually a good grandma. If you follow these rules, you'll be rewarded in this life and the next. Betty thought she had followed all the rules, and she was entitled to all the rewards that came with. She wanted Dan, the kids, the money. She wanted it all and divorce took everything from her. In the midst of all this chaos, Dan sells the family home. If you aren't super clear on what a bi-furcated divorce is, it has different rules in terms of property division and settlement. This is what allowed Dan to be able to sell the home when he did and just notify Betty of the sale. So, on top of the sting of the sale Betty also didn't see it coming. She had been her typical stubborn self during the discussions. She had thought she had severely delayed it and the best case would be that she stopped it entirely. This was not the case.

The Coral Reef house.

Once she found out about the sale, she couldn't contain herself. She hopped in her truck and sped to Dan's. At some point along the way she came to the decision she was going to ram her truck through the front of his new house. And she did. Thankfully she only really damaged the front door area. Her children and Dan were home at the time. Once the police arrive, they made the decision to take Betty to get placed under an involuntary psych hold for the weekend instead of jail. This was, of course, seen as an egregious and evil act committed against her. After nearly a year of what felt like absolute war, the divorce is finalized, and Dan is free. One would think this was the end of it. In another universe Betty would have taken the time to work on herself, go to therapy. She would realize that that was the end of it and choose to be happy, either with herself or someone else. You'd think she would let go of the anger and chose to be a mother to her children. Nothing like this would happen.

Betty's violence and harassment only escalated. She was alleged to have broken into his house and trashed it multiple times. She actually took a pie out of the kitchen and smeared it everywhere. She left long, curse-filled voicemails on the machine; hours upon hours of them. It got so incessant that Dan instituted a fine system, with the approval of the courts in 1986. Betty was be fined $100 for each obscene word she left on his voicemail. She was fined $250 for every time she stepped foot onto his property without asking him first. Lastly, she was charged $00 for every time she entered the house at all. The money was deducted from her $9,000 a month support check. This punishment did nothing to stop Betty, in fact I think it only fueled her. One month she reportedly owed Dan $1,300 dollars because she had blown threw her entire check.

Things continue like this, causing Betty to complete a jail stay or two. In June 1988, she had violated multiple court orders and was remanded to the San Diego County Jail. At that same time, Dan Brodrick was across town in a bar surrounded by family and loved ones proposing to Linda Kolkena.

The "new" Brodericks

A little under a year later, and after countless more antics from Betty, they planned to be married in their backyard on April 22, 1989. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Betty stole the seating chart/guest list. She even spoke a lot to people around town about her experience as an intramural sharpshooter in high school, and even threatened to shoot Dan and Linda. Linda took her threats quite seriously, but Dan felt she wouldn't kill the golden goose. Linda talked dan into hiring armed security for their wedding, and for him to wear a bullet proof vest. The day went beautifully by all accounts, and thankfully Betty was nowhere near the ceremony.

The happy couple

Friends of the couple who talk about that day talk about how beautiful it was and how in love they were. Everyone was overjoyed to be there and witness the union of two people they loved very much. Dan and Linda went from a beautiful wedding to a fantasy honeymoon in the Carribean. Dan and Linda were allowed to enjoy just a few months of wedding bliss, just enough to pan a future and maybe a new addition to the family, before Betty bought a gun.

The Storm

The day of November 4, 1989, started about the same as any other would but within twenty-four hours two people would be dead. The kids went to school, Linda and Dan went to work. According to Betty's testimony she spent the day in alternating states of depression and anger. She had read back through memories, including a booklet that the ex-couple had filled out during a form of marriage counselor through their church. Betty sat and reread all the promises she felt Dan had made to her. She spent hours pondering what had happened to her happy life and according to her, she was going to make Dan listen to her. She wanted him to understand all the pain he had caused her and their family.

Kerry Wells with the murder weapon

In the early morning hour of November 5, she grabbed her .38 caliber and went to his house with the intention of ending her life. She would say her peace and blow her brains out right in front of the newlyweds. She had stolen her oldest daughter's keys and used them to enter through the back door. This would be a sticking point for the prosecution because she had to try multiple doors to find the one that the key would work with. Betty went up the stairs and stood there for a moment. According to testify she "just tensed" when Linda woke up and yelled "call the police." She shot the gun off four more times into the dark and fled the scene, stopping at a payphone in Claremont, California to make some calls. Betty called a laundry list of people. Forst eth called her youngest daughter Lee, then some friends and colleagues of Dan's, then finally her dad. She gave varying degrees of the story, but the consensus was "it was dark, and she didn't know if she had hit anyone." Betty then drove over to Lee's apartment and waited a few hours before turning herself in just as the manhunt for her had started.

Betty Broderick at trial

The prosecution argues that Betty's testimony is ALL a lie. That night she never came there to talk, or even to kill herself. She only cam there that night to kill the couple in cold blood. The ploy of "just tensing" wasn't even close to remotely plausible unless the gun was an automatic...and it was not. Even at that, she had to have changed her aim, and make a conscious decision to pull the trigger as many times as she did. Betty' first trial was in November of 1990, and it seemed to have ignited a sort of fanbase for her. Through pout the trial she testifies about all the ways Dan and Linda had wronged her. The story of a woman being "used and abused" resonated with a lot of people. Individuals would send her fan mail, socks, artwork, candy, gifts, money for commissary. The list goes on. Newspaper reporters would interview people about the case and one woman was quoted as saying "the next Dan Broderick would think twice". The media and the general public tried to vilify Dan and Linda. They painted the couple out as greedy, sex-crazed adulterers that brought on their own demise, but that wasn't the case at all. People latched onto the idea that this might be a case of well-deserved prairie justice. The persona of a woman who just snapped at the hands of her abusive ex-husband hit the jury hard and despite the effort from prosecutor Kerry Wells, the first trial ended in a hung jury.

Betty being escorted into court.

The second trial was no easy for the famous "woman scorned." The prosecution learned from their mistakes in the first trial and made sure to corner Betty on the witness stand. She was not questioned on anything that actually occurred in the bedroom on November 5, 1989. They cornered Betty on the witness stand. A juror said in an interview that what really swayed the jury was a recorded phone call between Betty and her son Danny. She can be heard berating her son while he pleads with her to just move on. He begs for her to be better so he and his brother can come live with her. She gives him nothing but hate and venom in return. That interaction was what pushed the hold outs over the edge. And with that, Betty was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder and was sentences to 32 years to life. Her conviction sparked a conversation about the rights of divorced woman, what could be deemed as abuse, and when does it all go too far. She is still often hailed as the patron saint of divorced women.

The "32 to Life"

Broderick's current inmate photo

Betty Broderick is still alive as of this episode and blog post, and she is kicking it comfortably in The California Institute for Women in Chino, California. She has been up for parole twice; once in 2010 and again in 2017. And twice the parole board voted unanimously against her release.

Around 2003, corrections officers went through her cell and found love letters from a boyfriend she actually had at the time of the murders. It was as shock to everyone on general, let alone when you think about eh fact that he's held onto his murderous girlfriend all this time.

The loving grandmother.

Betty even still keeps in touch with her kids. She held a grudge against Kim for a long time because she felt she had betrayed her with her testimony. All four have grown up and a few have families of their own now. Betty is reportedly the model grandmother when they come to visit, nothing but full of love.

Thank you all for tuning in and checking out what we had for you all today! If you want to learn more about eh case, please check out our Instagram and make sure to follow us on most major podcast platforms. If you're more of a tv person, I recommend Dirty John season 2 on USA. they do a great job of representing the case and drawing you into it. That's it everyone! Remember, don't murder anyone and don't get murdered.