CHINO - Elisabeth “Betty” Broderick, the jilted ex-wife of prominent San Diego attorney Daniel T. Broderick III who turned to murder to settle festering scores with her longtime husband and his new bride before spending decades in custody for her crimes, has died after being transferred from a state prison in Chino. She was 78.

The first wife of the high-profile lawyer who specialized in winning medical malpractice cases was serving a 32-year-to-life prison sentence for the 1989 killing of her former husband and his wife, Linda.

Broderick’s death was announced by the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office hours after she died Friday. County officials said Broderick died at the Chino Valley Medical Center. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Rhett Broderick, the youngest of the couple’s four children, said he and two of his siblings were able to travel to Chino and spent time with their mother before she died.
“She passed away from natural causes with three of her children at her bedside, and he said. “We were all able to come and be with her.”

According to Rhett Broderick, his mother tripped in prison several weeks ago and broke some ribs. Then she got an infection that turned to sepsis, and she was not able to recover, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.

Story Date: May 19, 2026