Betty Broderick

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Elisabeth Anne "Betty" Broderick née Bisceglia (born on November 7, 1947 in Eastchester, New York) is a former San Diego socialite convicted of the November 5, 1989 murder of her former husband Dan Broderick and his second wife, Linda Kolkena. She was convicted on December 11, 1991 of two counts of second-degree murder, and later sentenced to 32-years-to-life in prison, with her first possible parole date in March of 2010.

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[edit] Biography

Betty was the third of six children born to devout Roman Catholic parents, Marita and Frank Bisceglia, a social-climbing Irish-American mother and an Italian father who had founded a plastering firm with his brothers. She attended and later graduated from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, a small Catholic women's college in Riverdale, New York, where she earned a BSN in nursing. Betty met her future husband, Dan Broderick, eldest son in another large Catholic family, at a football game between the University of Southern California and the University of Notre Dame, where Dan was an undergraduate. They dated for some time and became engaged later. Dan's family was initially charmed by Betty's beauty, graciousness, and sophistication.

When the couple became engaged, Dan was attending the Cornell University Medical School (located in New York City rather than Ithaca, New York. The couple were married on April 15, 1969, at the Immaculate Conception Church in Eastchester in a lavish ceremony planned by Betty's mother. They honeymooned on a Caribbean cruise and later stayed with friends in St. Thomas. Both Betty and Dan experienced doubts about the marriage during the honeymoon, Betty later complaining about their first sexual experiences among other problems. She returned from her honeymoon pregnant with her first child, daughter Kim, and continued to work as a nurse until the day before she gave birth. Afterwards, she quit her job and devoted herself to home and motherhood, which, she stated, had always been her only ambitions. She later gave birth to four more children: a daughter called Lee, two sons named Daniel and Rhett, and an unnamed boy who died four days after birth.

After Kim's birth, and after completing his medical degree, Dan announced that he didn't want to proceed with his medical training and that he intended to combine it with a law degree. He enrolled at Harvard Law School while Betty held down a variety of jobs to support his studies. Later, the family moved to San Diego, where Dan became a success in the field of medical malpractice. The couple was well known within San Diego social circles, though never at the highest levels, and enjoyed a life of increasing affluence. At the same time, the already-problematic marriage was further deteriorating. Eventually, after Dan hired Linda Kolkena, a former airline attendant who had become a receptionist, as his assistant, he began an affair with her.

Betty long suspected the affair, although Dan denied it for some time. After he finally moved out of the family home (eventually taking custody of the children when Betty demanded that he do so), and following a lengthy and complex divorce settlement in which Betty felt that she was unfairly treated owing to Dan's extensive legal connections and influence, she became obsessed with her anger towards her ex-husband. Among other behaviors that later worked against her in court, she repeatedly left obscene messages on his answering machine and frequently abused him and his new wife in recorded telephone conversations with her children. Following her receipt of legal threats from Dan's lawyer, Betty purchased a revolver and gained entry to her ex-husband's home in Marston Hills with a key that she had stolen from her elder daughter, Kim Broderick. She murdered Dan and Linda while they slept. Dan's last words were, "Okay, you shot me. I'm dead."

Linda and Dan Broderick are buried together at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego, California.

Betty's first trial ended in a hung jury when two of the jurors held out for manslaughter rather than a murder verdict. Prosecutor Kerry Wells was more successful in the second trial, when the jury returned a verdict of two counts of second-degree murder. Betty Broderick was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 15 years to life plus two years for illegal use of a firearm. Broderick is currently serving out her sentence at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California, where she is known as prisoner W42477. She will have to serve a minimum of 21 years before being eligible for parole.

Her story was turned into a Lifetime Television film, called (Part 1) "A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story" and (Part 2) "Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, The Last Chapter (1992)". Meredith Baxter received an Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Broderick.

[edit] Psychology

Betty's murderous actions are believed to have been caused, in part, by Narcissistic Personality Disorder.[1]

[edit] Court Cases

Betty Broderick was involved in numerous court cases due to the double homicide she committed and for other reasons. William Eddy, noted therapist/mediator/lawyer, points to people with "High Conflict Personalities" such as Betty with her Narcissistic Personality Disorder as being involved in a disproportionate number of court cases clogging US courts.[2]

[edit] External links

[edit] Books

  • Ludwig, Robi; Matt Kirkbeck, Nancy Grace, Larry King (2007). Till Death Do Us Part: Love, Marriage, and the Mind of the Killer Spouse. Atria, 23-35. ISBN 0743275098. 
  • Taubman, Bryna (2004). Hell Hath No Fury: A True Story of Wealth and Passion, Love and Envy, and a Woman Driven to the Ultimate Revenge. St. Martin's True Crime. ISBN 0312929382. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ *Ludwig, Robi; Matt Kirkbeck, Nancy Grace, Larry King (2007). Till Death Do Us Part: Love, Marriage, and the Mind of the Killer Spouse. Atria, 31. ISBN 0743275098. 
  2. ^ Eddy, William (2006). High Conflict Personalities in Legal Disputes. Janis Publications. ISBN 0973439645. 

[edit] External Reference

Bella Stumbo, Until the Twelfth of Never: The Deadly Divorce of Dan and Betty Broderick. (New York: Atria), 1993.