SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY — Elizabeth A. Broderick, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 1991 for the killings of her ex-husband and his second wife, was transported from the California institution where she was incarcerated to a medical facility on April 18, 2026, and died the following Friday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The San Bernardino County coroner will conduct an official examination into her death, which the medical office initially listed as natural.

Broderick was 78. She had been moved from the California Institution for Women three weeks before her death to seek a higher level of care.

Broderick was sentenced to 32 years in prison after her conviction, receiving two consecutive terms of 15 years to life, plus two years for illegal use of a firearm. Her first trial ended in a hung jury before she was retried and convicted.

The killings of Daniel Broderick III, 44, and Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, occurred in 1989 in the Balboa Park neighborhood of San Diego. Betty Broderick used a key from her daughter to gain access to her ex-husband's bedroom and used a five-shot revolver to shoot the couple in their bed. She pulled the phone out of the wall and left it in the hallway, out of reach of the victims. She surrendered to police on November 5, 1989.

Betty Broderick and Daniel Broderick III married in 1969 and shared four children before divorcing on January 30, 1989. Daniel Broderick III, a medical malpractice attorney, filed for divorce in 1985, initiating a four-year battle for custody of their children and the family home. He was awarded custody of the children, and Betty Broderick received visitation rights. Daniel Broderick III married Linda Kolkena, his legal assistant, on April 22, 1989.

In the period before the killings, Betty Broderick bombarded her ex-husband with calls, smeared Boston cream pie on his clothes, and drove her truck through the front door of his home. At trial, she admitted to firing the gun while maintaining that a bitter divorce and custody dispute had driven her to it. She claimed at both trials that she was emotionally and psychologically abused by her ex-husband.

At a 2010 parole hearing, all four of her children spoke, with two saying they believed she should remain imprisoned. Her parole was denied at that hearing and again in 2017. She is survived by her four children: Kim, Lee, Daniel, and Rhett.