The murderous tale of Betty Broderick is being retold as Dirty John returns for season 2 of the Netflix true crime series.
Rather than focus on the tales of the victims like the first, this season focuses on two sides of the story – Betty’s, and her ex-husband Daniel’s.
Daniel, and his new wife Linda, were shot dead in their bed on November 5, 1989, after months being tormented by Betty and her increasingly erratic behaviour towards them.
Discovering they had been having an affair, Betty was left broken and vowed revenge on the pair, which increasingly took a toll on her mental health before eventually she turned to murder.
But how can a housewife and loving mother-of-four snap so violent and commit such a horrific murder?
Here’s the full story of what really happened…
When did Betty and Daniel Broderick meet?
Elisabeth Anne ‘Betty’ Bisceglia met Daniel T Broderick III while she was studying at the University of Notre Dame and he was at Cornell.
They married in Tuckahoe, New York in 1969 in an intimate ceremony consisting mainly of their joint, large Catholic families.
During their marriage, they had five children – daughters Kim (1970) and Lee (1971) and two sons named Daniel (1976) and Rhett (1979). Their third son died just two days after being born.
In the early years, Betty worked in order to finance the family, as Dan completed his medical degree at Cornell, and then changed careers to become a lawyer.
They later relocated to California when Dan was offered a job in which he quickly rose through the ranks, leaving Betty to become a full-time housewife who would sell Avon products for extra cash.
Why did Betty and Daniel Broderick split?
Dan Broderick started having an affair with Linda Kolkena, then 21, after she joined his firm as a receptionist/legal aide in 1982.
It’s not known when their affair started, but Betty was suspicious of the pair’s close relationship from late October 1983, but Dan consistently denied any wrongdoing.
He left the family home in February 1985, despite Betty’s protests, and later confessed to his affair as he went public with his relationship with Linda.
In the bitter legal battle that followed, Dan was given custody of the four children after Betty dumped them on his doorstep, intent to show him that he couldn’t handle them by himself.
The divorce case, Broderick Vs Broderick, became infamous as it focused on what Betty was owed as a housewife after putting him through two different types of school with her own money.
Her argument was that she was owed part of his income as he wouldn’t have got his career without her being there to look after the kids and bankroll him, whereas he argued what he owed in his career was his.
Betty’s case was hindered by the fact that Dan by this point was a very prominent lawyer of the area, and president of the San Diego Bar Association, meaning hiring a lawyer to represent her became difficult.
During this time, Betty’s behaviour became more violent, which supported his claim for sole custody of the children. This included driving her car into his front door when he refused to speak to her, resulting in her being sectioned for three days.
Betty would also leave foul-mouthed rants on their answering machine, causing Dan to charge her for every expletive she used from the allowance he was giving her.
She claims that the mental warfare came from both sides though, alleging Linda would taunt her for her age and send her make-up supplements and ads in the post to further stoke her anger.
The divorce was finalised in 1989, and Dan married Linda that April.
What happened on the night of the murders of Daniel and Linda Broderick?
On 4 November, 1989, Betty drove to Linda and Daniel’s home in San Diego, California, with a gun she had purchased eight months prior.
Letting herself into the house with a key she had stolen from her daughter, Betty made her way into the master bedroom and removing the phone from their nightstand so they were unable to call for help.
At 5.30am, she unloaded her gun at them.
Linda, who was 28 at the time, was killed instantly with bullets hitting her in the head and chest.
Daniel, 44, was shot once in the chest, with two other bullets hitting the wall and nightstand, but he remained conscious, even talking to Betty while he bled out.
After the bodies were found, Betty turned herself in to the police after encouragement from her daughters.
At trial, she claimed that it was never her intention to kill either of them, but instead shot in retaliation to Linda waking up and demanding Dan call the police.
Her defendants fought that she had been subjected to years of mental and emotional abuse at the hands of Dan.
She was sentenced for 15 years to life imprisonment for two counts of second degree murder.
Is Betty Broderick still alive?
Betty Broderick is now 72 years old and remains in prison, currently at the California Institution for Women in Chino, California.
She has been denied parole three times – in 2010, 2011 and 2017 – because every time she was interviewed for release, she didn’t show enough guilt or remorse for what she has done.
In fact, Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs labelled her ‘unrepentant, unremorseful, and callous’ following her 2017 hearing, as she continued to blame the victims.
Her next parole hearing is slated for 2032, but can be brought forward for a number of factors including good behaviour.
Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is available now on Netflix.
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