Dan Broderick Marries Betty
 |
| Betty & Dan Broderick |
Betty was born, Elisabeth Anne Bisceglia in Eastchester New
York. In 1965, Betty met her future husband, Dan Broderick, while
attending college. The couple were married on April 12, 1969, in a
lavish Catholic wedding, and Betty returned from her honeymoon pregnant
with her first child, daughter Kim. She gave birth to four more
children: a daughter called Lee, two sons named Daniel and Rhett, and an
unnamed boy who died two days after birth. Her children were her life
and Betty became the ultimate stay at home mom. Her life consisted of
picking up her children from soft ball practice, ballet lessons, and
entertaining her four young children at home with crafts, and sleep
overs.
Dan was in medical school when Betty married Dan and he was almost
finished when he had a change of heart. Somehow Dan lost interest in
medicine and gained interest in Law. Its seems that Dan was disenchanted
with the limitations that doctors were having imposed upon them, such
as managed care, HMOs and the ultimate threat of government healthcare.
Doctors were being pushed around by big business and as a result, the
amount of reputable medical professionals was dwindling away. Dan wanted
to earn a lot of money and do it in a straightforward way. His
disenchantment with what was happening to the medical profession lad Dan
to become cynical in general, and Dan decided that he could make
straightforward money by suing people who graduate from medical rather
than working as a medical professional and being pulled apart by greedy
lawyers.
Dan's father was kind enough to support his sons education but refused
to pay for another expensive education after Dan had practically
completed his long haul in medical school, so Dan and Betty paid for it
by themselves.
Betty Broderick Struggles For her Husband and Children
With her husband working and going to
school full time, Betty seldom saw Dan Broderick. She was busy taking
babysitting jobs so that she could take car of her children and make
money at the same time. Her life was as unglamorous as can be. Four
young children of her own, and other tiny tots being unloaded on her
every morning. Betty was seldom seen in anything other than sweats or
jeans. Her hair was stringy most of the time and she seldom wore makeup.
Her life revolved around children and their well being. Betty enjoyed
being a super mom but longed for more time with her husband. She was
planning for the future, knowing that with patience and hard work, Dan
would become a success and she would have time to relax when she was
approaching her forties.
Betty was pleasantly relieved when Dan started his own practice and
began to earn a reputation as a powerful attorney in the exclusive La
Jolla area in San Diego. The money began pouring in when Dan won his
first million dollar case. The Broderick's were now living on easy
street, buying a large home, and taking skiing trips. For Betty, it
seemed that almost immediately after things started to smooth out for
she and Dan financially, things became disastrous emotionally.
 |
| Dan Broderick at work |
Dan was seldom around and colder emotionally than ever. When Betty
decided to rekindle their romance by showing up at Dan's office for his
fortieth birthday unannounced, she discovered that he was out with his
young secretary, Linda Kolkena. Betty confronted Dan about his affair
and sited Dan's showing up late from work repeatedly, and not being
affectionate with her while Dan denied everything and told Betty that
she was imagining everything.
This led Betty to some crazy behavior. She burned all of Dan's expensive
suits in a huge bonfire and on another occasion, and regularly called
him names in public.
Linda Konkena
Linda was Dan's secretary who could
not type and managed to be promoted to legal assistant. She had arrived
at the perfect job. She could come and go as she pleased, she was over
paid and her boss bought her a brand new sports car. Linda was not going
anywhere. She loved her boss, Dan Broderick, and she now had a taste of
the good life. She wanted it all! Linda fantasized about marrying Dan
Broderick, living in a mansion with him and having his children. The
only obstacle was Mrs. Betty Broderick and her four children.
Betty was tugging Dan on one end and Linda was tugging at Dan on the
other side. Dan attempted to break it off with Linda several times, but
Linda was persistent. She kept pleading with Dan until he finally gave
in to his emotions for Linda and admitted to Betty that he had been
seeing Linda for several years.
Betty was a loose cannon. She could not tolerate Linda enjoying the
lavish lifestyle that she had worked so hard to earn. She felt as though
she had worked for twenty years and someone else was getting the
paycheck. She was not the same by all accounts. She was not the level
headed supermom the socialites respected, she was now, "crazy Betty" who
swore like a sailor, talked endlessly about Dan and his mistress and
could not move on.
Dan and Betty had one of the craziest divorces in La Jolla history.
Betty was awarded a handsome alimony settlement but that was not good
enough for Betty. She wanted revenge.She could not tolerate the idea
that Dan and his sleazy secretary were going to ride off into the sunset
to have a family and live in the lap of luxury when she had spent her
youth in sweats covered with baby food and jelly.
The Second Broderick Wedding & Murder
Linda had waited years, endured
rejection and a sloppy divorce to reach this point in her life. She was
now going to be Mrs. Dan Broderick, and live in his mansion in the best
part of La Jolla. She planned her wedding, wore her beautiful white
dress and walked down the isle. Betty Broderick was never far from their
minds. She still found reasons to call Dan and leave endless messages
calling Linda names. Betty was sulking on their wedding day, and her
downward emotional spiral was growing more and more out of control. Even
Betty's close friends had abandoned her, and as Betty was also
discovering, people like money and power. Dan was the one with the money
and power. This led many of their mutual friends to side with Dan and
Linda, leaving Betty to brood.
 |
| The Murder Hoouse |
Betty had purchased a gun one month before Dan was married to Linda. It
has been speculated that Betty planned to go to the wedding and shoot
the bride and groom. Betty must of thought better of doing this, or
perhaps she knew that the couple had heard of her purchase and she would
be unable to complete the deed. Whatever her reasons, she did not
attend the wedding and the bride and groom were unscathed. Seven months
into Dan and Linda's marriage, Betty shot and killed the couple while
they slept. The murder occurred around 5:30 am on the morning in1989,
two days before Betty's 42nd birthday. Two bullets hit Linda in the head
and chest, killing her instantly, one bullet hit Dan in the chest as he
was reaching for the phone, Dan was 44; Linda was 28.
Betty turned herself in to the police, and never denied that she had
fired the gun five times. Betty's explanation at two trials was that she
had never planned to kill Dan and Linda. She claimed that she went
temporarily insane while standing in their bedroom and seeing them
asleep in bed together. Her account of the murders, at her second trial,
was that, that she was startled by Linda screaming, "Call the police!"
and, immediately fired the gun.
Linda and Dan Broderick are listed as buried together at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego.
Read more about the Broderick murders
click here.
The bedroom where Linda and Dan were murdered
