After years of hardship, the woman finally attained a comfortable and affluent life. However, those beautiful days didn’t last long.
The case of Betty Broderick was once a divisive topic in New York, USA. Some saw Betty as a cold-blooded and ruthless murderer, while many others even expressed sympathy for what she had gone through, viewing it as a result of injustice.
The Perfect Couple
Betty Broderick was born in the town of Eastchester (Westchester County, New York, USA), the third child in a well-off family with six children. She grew up in an ambitious family where her parents worked tirelessly to provide a fulfilling life for their children. They taught her to become a good wife and mother in the future.
In 1965, at the age of 18, Betty met Dan Broderick at a party after a football match. Dan, 21 at the time, was a student at Notre Dame University while Betty attended Mount Saint Vincent College.
They became a couple after Dan moved to New York to study medicine at Cornell University. The pair got married on April 12, 1969, in a ceremony organized by Betty’s mother.
Shortly after returning from their honeymoon, Betty became pregnant with their first daughter. She continued working until the day before giving birth. Afterward, she temporarily halted some of her work to take care of the family and fulfill her role as a mother, which Betty always considered her ultimate goal.
The birth of their daughter coincided with Dan completing his medical studies. He continued his education in law at Harvard University. During this time, the young couple’s life with their newborn daughter was often financially strained. Betty juggled taking care of the baby with various jobs to support the family, even selling household items door-to-door in the winter cold.
In 1973, after Dan graduated from law school, the family moved to La Jolla, San Diego, where he began his legal career specializing in medical malpractice. Here, Dan quickly achieved success.
After years of sacrifice and effort, the Broderick family finally enjoyed a comfortable and affluent life thanks to Dan’s high income. Three more children were born to the couple in succession. Betty finally could stop working to fully care for the family and raise their four children. They became the perfect family in the eyes of those around them.
Cracks in the Marriage
However, with time, their marriage began to show signs of strain. Betty constantly complained about Dan’s frequent absence from home, spending too much time working and socializing with colleagues. Betty became resentful, feeling like a single mother of four children.
In the early 1980s, Dan hired a 21-year-old girl named Linda Kolkena as a receptionist, who later became his assistant.
Linda Kolkena was the youngest in a family of four sisters. When Linda was 11, her mother passed away from cancer, and her father remarried shortly after. At the age of 20, Linda Kolkena became a flight attendant but was fired the following year for inappropriate behavior.
After a brief stint working for a lawyer in Atlanta, Linda followed a friend to San Diego, California. It was there that the 21-year-old girl met Dan Broderick.
Linda was described as a much younger version of Betty. It was from this point that the protracted battle between Betty and her husband began.
The Marriage Falls Apart
As early as October 1983, Betty Broderick suspected her husband Dan when she overheard him casually remarking to a friend at a party about how attractive his new employee, Linda, was.
The marriage took a turn for the worse when just a few weeks later, Dan hired Linda as his legal assistant. Betty continuously questioned her husband as to why he hired Linda as his assistant when she didn’t have a college degree, and she didn’t even know how to type.
However, Dan denied the affair. Betty eventually issued an ultimatum to her husband, demanding that he either immediately dismiss Linda or leave their home.
But Dan took no action to dismiss Linda. Meanwhile, he continued to deny having any romantic involvement with the beautiful blonde girl, whom many believed to be a younger version of Betty herself.
Betty tried to push aside her suspicions, convincing herself that her husband was going through a midlife crisis. On her husband’s 38th birthday, she wanted to surprise him by visiting his office unannounced to celebrate.
However, there Betty learned that Dan and Linda had been absent almost the entire day. His desk was littered with liquor bottles, pastries, and balloons. Betty drove home in a rage and proceeded to burn all of Dan’s expensive tailored suits.
The Divorce Battle
Their once-happy marriage finally came to an end in 1985 when Dan chose his mistress. He moved out, bought another house, and filed for divorce. To Betty’s surprise, Dan was willing to take custody of their four children. Betty was devastated and deeply wounded. From this point on, their hostile and protracted divorce battle began.
After Dan left Betty and their family, Betty was consumed by anger. She left vulgar messages on Dan’s answering machine, vandalized her ex-husband’s new home, even drove her car into Dan’s front door while their children were inside, telling everyone about her husband’s infidelity. These actions led to criminal charges against Betty, resulting in her being detained for 3 days.
The official divorce took place in 1986, becoming one of the messiest divorce cases in New York state. At that time, Dan was living with Linda Kolkena, paying Betty $9,000 in alimony initially, and later $16,000 per month, while Betty still hoped for Dan to come to his senses and return.
Their divorce was finally finalized in 1989, four years after Dan filed. The trial lasted 8 days and was completely sealed off, with the courtroom windows covered in paper. Dan was granted custody of the children, the house, and had to provide Betty with a financial settlement. Betty was utterly devastated and felt that her life had come to an end.
Meanwhile, Linda was ecstatic when Dan proposed to her in 1988. On April 22, 1989, ten days after the 20th wedding anniversary of Dan and Betty, Dan and Linda’s wedding took place.
The Lavish Wedding
Prior to the wedding, Linda expressed concerns about Betty potentially harming them, so she suggested Dan wear a bulletproof vest, which he declined. Dan hired secret security personnel to protect their wedding.
In the end, Betty didn’t attend, and their lavish wedding proceeded smoothly. Dan and Linda’s honeymoon in the Caribbean afterward was the same. But it only lasted for six months.
One month before Dan’s wedding to Linda, Betty purchased a .38-caliber revolver, citing the need for self-defense as she was living alone. Betty attended shooting classes and always carried it with her.
Early on Sunday morning, November 5, 1989, two days before Betty’s 42nd birthday, she woke up while her two sons visiting her for the weekend were still asleep. Betty recalled the letter she had just received from Dan’s lawyer accusing her of being mentally unstable and threatening her with jail time. Betty had received similar letters before, claiming she was irresponsible, incompetent, unreliable…
Not wanting to wake her sons, Betty gently dressed, took her wallet, checked the .38-caliber revolver, and left the small apartment she had moved into after the divorce. It was 5:30 a.m.
The Bloody Murder
After a drive, Betty stopped in front of her ex-husband’s mansion with its cute windows, winding path, well-manicured lawns, and trimmed bushes. She approached the front door, using the key she had obtained from her daughter, who had dropped it at her place a few months earlier.
Once inside, Betty went upstairs, into Dan and Linda’s bedroom, with the gun in hand. Linda woke up, and as she began to scream, Betty fired two shots, hitting her in the head and chest, killing her instantly.
Awoken by the commotion and seeing his ex-wife standing in front of him with a smoking gun, Dan attempted to roll out of bed but received another bullet from Betty in his back. Before dying, Dan exclaimed, “Okay. You shot me. I’m dead.” Betty fired a total of five shots.
The woman quickly yanked the telephone cord off the wall and fled the scene. A few hours later, after contacting her daughter, Betty surrendered herself and was charged with murder. Betty did not deny squeezing the trigger.
The case quickly became the focus of public attention. While some viewed Betty as a cold-blooded murderer, others saw it as the outburst of a scorned woman, the victim of a bitter divorce.
The Perfect Wife
Betty didn’t deny squeezing the trigger, but during the trial, she explained that she never planned to kill Dan and Linda. Betty stated that her initial intention was to commit suicide in front of her ex-husband and his new wife. According to Betty, Linda’s sudden scream startled her, causing her to react immediately by firing the gun.
Defense attorney Jack Earley claimed that Betty had been pushed to the brink after years of psychological, physical, and emotional abuse by her philandering husband. He stated that Betty had sacrificed a lot to become a perfect mother to their four children and a perfect wife to her successful husband.
Through witness testimonies, including Betty’s own, Jack Earley argued that Betty had held down five different jobs in the early years of their marriage to support her husband’s medical and later law school education. Jack Earley argued that without Betty’s help, Dan would have never been able to become the successful lawyer he was today. Many witnesses attested that Betty was indeed a good mother, a faithful wife, and hardworking.
However, according to Jack Earley, Dan Broderick callously deceived his wife for three years, having an affair with his young mistress Linda and ultimately divorcing Betty, taking custody of their four children, and then marrying Linda. After years of abuse, Betty committed the murder without premeditation.
Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist and criminologist, stated that Betty suffered from dramatic personality disorder and narcissism.
The Divisive Verdict
On the other hand, the prosecution described Betty as a cold-blooded, selfish killer who had planned to kill her ex-husband for quite some time. The prosecution presented terrorizing messages that Betty left on Dan and Linda’s answering machine as well as evidence showing Betty had vandalized Dan’s house multiple times. Betty’s two children testified to how angry and unremorseful their mother was after the murder. The prosecutor asserted that Betty was a dangerous and ruthless woman.
The first trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict. However, in the retrial in 1991, Betty was convicted on 2 counts of second-degree murder and one count of unlawful use of a firearm.
In February 1992, Betty was sentenced to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 32 years before parole eligibility.
Betty applied for parole in 2010 and 2017 but was denied both times, as she still didn’t admit to her wrongdoing and showed no remorse.
Betty’s four children were divided on their mother’s sentence. Two of Betty’s children spoke at her parole hearing, expressing hope that their mother would be released. Meanwhile, the other two children told the parole board that their mother still justified the murders and remained a danger.
Betty will be eligible for parole consideration again in 2032, at the age of 84. Betty’s case has been the subject of numerous TV shows, plays, and literature.
