True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(Linda and Dan, Picture credit: lipstickalley.com)

Continued from part one...

It was becoming clear that there was no way back for Betty and Dan's marriage and her suspicions of Dan's suspected affair with Linda continued to grow. He managed to get custody of four of their children and filed for a divorce as well as a restraining order as Betty kept showing up at the house and leaving endless abusive messages on his answer machine. It got even more nasty quite quickly. When Betty found out that Dan had sold the family home without her consent, she drove her car through his front door, smashed up the house and spray painted the walls and furniture.

The situation even drew attention from the media and Betty was even contacted by the Oprah Winfrey show to make an appearance to discuss the divorce but she refused to appear.

Dan no longer kept his affair with Linda secret and admitted that he had been seeing her for a long time, even when he and Betty were still living together in the same house, supposedly working on their marriage. Betty's anger grew and grew, she felt betrayed and used, all those years she stood by him and took care of the kids only for him to dump her for a younger woman. Betty saw Linda as a bimbo, a gold digger with no intelligence, whereas she was a mother, a woman who could hold everything together and give Dan the air of respectability he craved. Betty mocked Dan in the phone messages, telling him he looked like a joke, a dirty old man and that he was having a mid life crisis.

As angry as she was, Betty still had the belief that Dan would grow tired of Linda and return to her and they would carry on as normal, when it was becoming clear that that was not going to happen, she became even more desperate and enraged and violated the restraining order. Dan had her committed to a psychiatric ward for 3 days which further pushed her over the edge, she felt even more angry and insulted.

To Betty, it also seemed as though Linda had stepped into her shoes and took her life. One wonders why Linda would have gotten involved with a married man especially one who had so much baggage, could it be that she just fell head over heels in love with him or was it a case that she wanted a taste of the high life for herself, I'll leave that up to your own personal opinion. Myself, personally, I would run a mile if I found out that he was married and also to Betty, she was not a woman to be messed with as both of them were to later find out.

The drama with the divorce continued, Betty was given a $16,000 allowance every month and a beautiful house but she still wasn't happy. She knew that Dan brought in a huge amount of money every month and in her mind, she was entitled to that money since she was the one who helped his career. $16,000 was an insult to Betty, she wanted more, she felt that she was entitled to it after the 16 years she sacrificed so that he could get to where he wanted to be.

The nasty phone messages from Betty continued and the children were getting upset, one of her sons actually got on the phone with her and told her to stop saying those abusive things. Dan told Betty that every time she continued to send an abusive phone message, he would take money off of her monthly allowance.

It was around this time that Betty later claimed that Linda and Dan were harassing her. She claimed that they were trying to make her look crazy and that Linda would make fun of her weight and send her weighloss guides through the post. When she found out that Linda and Dan were getting married, she stole their wedding list and contacted everyone on it and questioned them why they would betray her like that. Betty also claimed that she had a hard time getting a lawyer because of Dan's reputation, nobody wanted to go up against him.

Linda and Dan married on the 22nd of April 1989, just ten days after what would have been Dan and Betty's 20th wedding anniversary. It was plain to see for Betty that Dan was never coming back to her.

On the 5th of November 1989, things came to an ultimate head. Whilst Dan (44) and Linda (28) were asleep in bed, Betty drove over to their house, taking a gun with her. She stood in the doorway and fired the gun towards the couple. Five shots rang out and Linda was killed instantly, Dan tried to grab the phone which Betty ripped out of the wall, he apparently said to her ''Okay, you shot me, I'm dead''.

Betty's story was that she took the gun over to Dan's house in an attempt to talk to him, she says her plan was to kill herself if he refused to speak to her. She claims she had no plans to kill Dan and Linda, she said the gun just went off and she panicked.

Betty turned herself into the police and at her trial she claimed herself to be the victim of an abusive husband, she said she tried to get beauty treatments to get rid of wrinkles in her face and had her teeth done because she wanted to be perfect for Dan. She claimed he called her ''Stupid, fat and boring''.

The people who knew Dan said that this was all lies and that Dan did everything he could to make things easier for Betty but the truth is, that there was problems in their relationship from day one, even on their honeymoon, Betty reportedly wanted a divorce.

Betty's first trial ended in a hung jury. In her second trial the jury returned a verdict of two counts of second-degree murder, she was sentenced to two 15 year sentences including two added years for illegal use of a firearm.

In 2010, Betty was denied parole and then again in 2011 and 2017. She has never shown any remorse for the murders and is deemed unfit for release. There was an incident during her trial were there was some commotion involving Betty in prison, she was ranting at prison guards and smeared her own feces all over the walls. Betty won't be eligible for parole until 2032. She's 72 years old and will most likely die in prison. She has been in prison since the murders took place.

Betty and Dan's children have all grown up to be wonderful people but they remain torn over whether or not their mother should be released.

Do I think she should be released? At the age of 72, I think that she should be and monitored. Despite the prison incident during the trial, Betty has been a model prisoner who is popular with the fellow inmates and guards. There are even groups out there who believe that Betty should be released. There are women out there who can relate to a lot of Betty's story, the heartache of building a man up, supporting him, giving him the best years of your life only for him to leave you for a younger woman. A lot of women can understand that pain but Betty went insane with the anger and her children suffered.

(Prison photo of Betty Broderick. change.org)

Do I think she was pushed too far? This is my opinion, I think there was some games being played by everyone in this situation. We know that Dan had lied to Betty, called her paranoid and crazy and that he hired an unqualified younger woman to be his assistant who was 22, he was in his thirties. You have to ask yourself, why would a grown man, a lawyer who was married with children want to get involved with a younger woman who was just really starting out in life.

Linda often gets the harsh deal of this, I see comment after comment blaming her for the whole thing. Comments such as ''home wrecker'' and ''gold digger'' pop up often but is it really as black and white as that. Why should Linda get all of the blame? Yes, she should not have gotten involved with a married man but we don't know what Dan told her and yes, she could have just wanted the lavish lifestyle for herself but what about Dan? The people who were friends with him can't speak any higher of him but did they know what he was really like behind closed doors? None of us know what really goes on in a persons marriage, just because we see them at work and they are nice, doesn't mean that they are like that all of the time.

I don't think Betty was abused by Dan but I do think he was selfish. Look at the situation with his birthday, he was out of the office for hours with Linda with no consideration or respect for Betty. To be fair, Betty did everything for him for 16 years of their marriage, she deserved better.

A lot of us would have just settled for the house and the $16,000 a month and moved on. Betty was still an attractive woman, she could have had counselling and met someone else. Who knows what would have happened with Linda and Dan once the novelty had worn off, I don't mean that to sound disrespectful but here was a guy who had no problem ditching his wife of 16 years, the mother of his five children, with no remorse and then having the same disrespect for his staff when he paid Linda more money and gave her all the perks he could. Dan had enough money that it wouldn't have mattered how old he had gotten, he would have still been able to have a younger girlfriend due to his status. One wonders if years down the line, Linda would have faced a similar situation as Betty, traded in for a younger model.

I'm not coming out in 100% sympathy with Betty, all I'm saying is, that nobody is innocent (in my opinion) in this situation. Dan and Linda did not deserve to lose their lives.

There is a fantastic 90s TV movie made about this case starring Meredith Baxter which I will leave the links to below. Netflix have also covered Betty's story in season two of Dirty John. Quite a few books have been written about the case too.

If there's anything to be learned from this case, it is this....don't put your whole life into a man, grow your own dreams, live your own life, be supportive but not to the point where you just live for that person. As sad as it is, there are people in this world, male and female who turn on a dime as soon as they land on their feet and they will drop you when they feel that you no longer serve a purpose. I've heard stories of women who devoted their lives to men only to be out in the cold years later when they find someone younger. I don't know how I would cope in that situation, I would be hurt, angry and my confidence would be low but I would not go to the lengths that Betty did.

What are your thoughts on this case? Let me know below or elsewhere on social media.

RIP to Dan & Linda.

UPDATE: Betty Broderick passed away on the 8th of May 2026. She was 78 years old. RIP. 

Further reading & sources:

- Betty Broderick - Wikipedia
- Betty Broderick - Murderpedia
- Betty Broderick - CBS News Article
- Betty Broderick - Docu
- Betty Broderick - A Woman Scorned: TV Movie
- Betty Broderick: Dirty John (Season Two)

Thank you for checking out this second part in my coverage of the Betty Broderick story. I hope you will join me in my next post. In the meantime, I hope to see you on my other Socials. Take care and stay safe until next time x

(Betty Broderick. Picture credit: monstersandcritics.com)

This is one of those cases from the late 1980s that still leaves people shocked and divided on opinion to this day. I've known about this case for years and it was on my list to cover and it just so happens that Netflix have done a series on Betty's case in season two of the Dirty John series. I was in two minds whether to carry on covering this case but I thought it would be interesting to delve into some of the details that the Netflix series might not cover.

She's often called ''The Woman Scorned'' but years before that title, Elizabeth Anne Bisceglia (otherwise known as Betty Broderick) was a beautiful young woman back in the 1960s, she was a model with long beautiful blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She was born in Eastchester, New York and came from a respectable family. It was not surprising with Betty's good looks that she caught the eye of many a young man but there was one guy in particular who sweeped Betty off of her feet and he was called Dan Broderick. They met at a party in 1965 and Dan gave her his phone number on a napkin alongside a note which said his name and ''MDA'', Betty asked him what ''MDA'' stood for and he replied ''Medical Doctor Almost''.

Dan, who was a medical student, told friends that as soon as he saw Betty he knew he was going to marry her. It wasn't long before the two young lovers became engaged and they married in 1969. All seemed to be romantic and bliss at first for the couple and Betty returned from their amazing honeymoon (they had a Caribbean cruise and later stayed in St. Thomas) pregnant with their first child, who the couple named, Kimberly.

(Betty and Dan on their wedding day. Picture credit: cbs8.com)

Betty was a workaholic and continued to work through her pregnancies, the couple had 5 children, they also had a sixth child, a little baby boy who sadly passed away two days after birth. It was around the early years of the marriage that Dan decided he wanted to study law and to support his dream, Betty did everything she could. Betty held down a number of jobs whilst looking after the children, it was no easy task but she managed to work, look after the kids and keep the house going whilst Dan continued to study and often spent a lot of time away from home going to bars with fellow students. He said that this was his way of making connections to help his career.

Betty sacrificed a lot during these years, her youth was passing by but she had always wanted to be a mother and have a big family and didn't regret having the children. Her thought was that all the support and sacrifice to help Dan's career would mean that by the time she got to her 40s, they would be able to relax and enjoy the money and the fruits of all that labour.

Cracks began to appear in the marriage, people who knew the couple would later say that they had a lot of arguments and Betty would always threaten to divorce Dan. Betty often felt that all her hard work wasn't being appreciated. As the 1980s were fast approaching, Dan's career as a lawyer really took off and the couple, together with their 5 children started to live quite a lavish lifestyle. Betty and Dan would often go to parties and were always dressed in the finest clothes but despite the success, the couple were barely making it through the day as a couple. Behind the scenes, the arguments were off the scale, they would throw objects at each other and Betty would continue with the threats of divorce.

It was as if Betty felt that she could always threaten divorce because of her history with Dan and having to carry him through his studying, almost being like a mother figure to him as well as the children. She felt that he owed her for all the years she sacrificed and she felt that she made him and that he would have gotten nowhere if it hadn't been for her support and keeping the house and children together.

Dan became very successful and with that came more money, he was reported to have been a really nice, down to earth guy but when the money came rolling in, there were some changes. Gone were the glasses and the geeky persona and in came a makeover. He had a nose job and started wearing designer suits. He also bought a flash car and hired a 22 year old attractive assistant by the name of Linda Kolkena.

When Dan hired Linda, a few eyebrows were raised because she was a former airline hostess and had basic skills as a receptionist. Apparently she couldn't type very well and was just learning the basics when Dan decided to promote her to be his assistant. There was a lot of hostility because Linda was being paid more money and wasn't really doing anything to justify that. He basically hired her to be his assistant because he was either attracted to her or they were already getting closer at that point. It didn't go down well with the other members of staff and Linda would often be the talk of the staff room, people would make comments about her being a loose woman and not having very good personal hygiene. Whether this is true or not, it's hard to say, it could just have been envy and bitchiness from the other members of staff but it's is known that some people were not happy with the special treatment that Linda was getting.

(Linda and Dan. Picture credit: lipstickalley.com) 

Being the intelligent woman that Betty was at that time, she had a feeling that something was going on with Dan and Linda. Dan would try to convince her that she was being silly and paranoid and told her time and time again that nothing was going on between him and Linda.

Betty began to feel that she was going crazy because Dan was spending a lot of time away from home, there was late night phonecalls and it all came to a head when it was Dan's birthday and Betty decided to go to his office and surprise him. When she got there she was told that Dan and Linda had gone to lunch to celebrate his birthday. When Betty walked into his office, she saw balloons, half eaten birthday cake and two glasses of wine. It all looked so cosy and Betty was hurt and furious.

When he finally came home that night, Betty was waiting for him, he denied that he had been with Linda and denied that they were having an affair, he accused Betty of being paranoid and crazy again and the argument got to the point where Betty set fire to his clothes.

Despite this incident they carried on with the marriage but Betty later said that she woke up one night and tried to kill herself because she was so convinced that Dan and Linda were seeing each other. Dan found her in time and swore that nothing was going on. Betty told that story later on at her trial and people thought she was lying to try and get some sympathy but she approached the jury and displayed her scars on her wrists to them which seemed to confirm the truth, others may say they could have been scars from something else but in my opinion, going by the desperate state that she was in, she felt that she was losing control, that she was going crazy and she didn't want to lose her husband.

The marriage was getting worse and worse as the days went on and Dan told Betty that he was moving out of the house.

Continued in part two...