Infamous Double-Murderer Dies Serving Life Sentence

Betty Broderick, whose violent end to a high-profile California divorce turned her into a true-crime fixture, has died in state custody at 78. Prison officials say Broderick died early Friday at an outside medical facility, reports USA Today. She had been there since being moved from the California Institution for Women on April 18. The county coroner will issue a final ruling, but son Daniel tells TMZ that his mother suffered a series of septic infections as well as a serious fall in prison last month.

Broderick was serving 32 years to life for the 1989 second-degree murders of her ex-husband, powerhouse San Diego malpractice attorney Daniel Broderick III, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick. She shot them both in bed. The killings followed a bitter, years-long divorce and custody fight that began after Betty suspected Daniel was having an affair with Kolkena, then his legal assistant.

Once a well-known La Jolla homemaker and socialite, Broderick's case drew national attention, spawned books and TV dramatizations, and fueled debate over divorce, domestic conflict, and the criminal justice system. She was convicted in 1991 and had been repeatedly denied parole. In 2017, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs described Broderick as "completely unrepentant," per People.