Betty Broderick obit

Convicted killer Betty Broderick dead at 78

 

She was not on the list.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Betty Broderick, one of San Diego's most notorious killers, died Friday morning, ABC10 News confirmed with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

 

She was 78 years old.

According to the CDCR, Broderick was pronounced deceased at 3:40 a.m by a medical doctor "who determined the initial cause of death to be natural." The San Bernardino County Coroner will determine her official cause of death.

On April 18, 2026, Broderick was transported from the California Institution for Women to an outside medical facility for a higher level of care.

The La Jolla socialite was serving a 32-year-to-life sentence for the 1989 murders of her ex-husband, prominent local attorney Dan Broderick, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick.

On Nov. 8, 1989, Broderick entered the home of her ex-husband and his new wife and shot and killed them both while they slept in bed.

While the case appeared on the surface to be a revenge killing driven by adultery, local real estate broker Kimberly Dotseth offered a different perspective.

"This is the curiosity that I had. Everybody knows what happened. Everybody knows about the murders and what happened after the murders. I wanted to know what happened before and I had a slight idea that it was more than just infidelity," Dotseth said.

Dotseth said she reviewed public records from the county recorder's office and corresponded with Betty Broderick by mail and email from 2020 to 2023. She said she analyzed Betty, Dan and Linda's real estate purchases and how they might have impacted their relationships.

Dotseth said she sensed an emotional urgency in Betty that never faded, even through their written exchanges.

"She is a misunderstood person. She cared deeply about her family and I sense just sort of a franticness in her that just culminated in a terrible action, but that franticness stayed all the way through our correspondence," Dotseth said.

The Broderick family released a statement following her death.

"She passed from natural causes and her children were with her bedside. We loved both of our parents and it was a complicated relationship with our mom for obvious reasons and with her being incarcerated the last 37 plus years. We will always remember her as an amazingly fun, smart, engaging and loving mom," the family said.

Betty Broderick is survived by 4 children and 7 grandchildren.