Introducing: ‘It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders’

The Los Angeles Times is launching a new podcast called “It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders,” written and hosted by me, Patt Morrison, a columnist and reporter. It’s amazing, really, the events of our shared history that we forget … and those that we remember.

Even people who weren’t alive 30 years ago know and care about the case of Betty Broderick, the La Jolla woman who seemed to have everything in the world going for her, until her husband decided to leave. Even though Betty and Dan Broderick split up, they stayed locked together in a way, pushing each other’s buttons, until there were two bodies and one killer — the ex-husband, his new wife, Linda, and an angry, left-behind Betty. Beyond the seamy aspects that you’d find in any crime story, you find something else — things that fascinate us because something in these stories IS us. We may not be rich, or live in La Jolla, but we test ourselves against these stories. How would WE react if our relationship split up like this? Is there anything that would drive us to murder?

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Elisabeth “Betty” Broderick is led by marshals through the hallways of the downtown San Diego County Courthouse on her way to a holding cell after being convicted of the murder of her ex-husband, Dan, and his new wife, Linda, on Dec. 10, 1991.  (Don Kohlbauer / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Linda and Dan Broderick, right, some months before their marriage, are shown with San Diego attorney Vincent Bartolotta Jr.  (File photo)

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Broderick cries while testifying in her own defense Nov. 5, 1991.  (Michael Darden / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Daniel and Linda Broderick’s house on Aug. 17, 1990.  (Lillian Kossacoff / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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The weapon used to kill Dan and Linda Broderick, photographed during the trial of Betty Broderick on Nov. 14, 1991.  (Michael Franklin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Broderick pleads not guilty on Nov. 15, 1989. With her is attorney Mark Wolf.  (Jerry McClard / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Broderick on Nov. 14, 1991, during her trial.  (Michael Franklin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Broderick looks across the courtroom on Nov. 13, 1991, at the downtown San Diego County Courthouse.  (Jack Yon / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Prosecutor Kerry Wells holds a photograph during the trial on Oct. 15, 1991.  (Michael Darden / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Medical Examiner Christopher Swalwell, left, shows the path of bullets that killed Linda Broderick as prosecutor Paul Burakoff looks on in Betty Broderick’s retrial on Oct. 16, 1991.  (Michael Darden / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Broderick fights back tears while answering questions from defense attorney Jack Earley on Oct. 30, 1990.  (Jack Yon / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Betty Broderick during her trial.  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Jack Earley, one of the top criminal defense attorneys in Orange County, is shown in his Irvine law library. Among his high-profile clients is Betty Broderick.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Dan Broderick in an undated photo.  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Betty Broderick smiles as the jury reads its verdict on Dec. 10, 1991. Her attorney, Jack Earley, reacts differently.   (J.T. MacMillan / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Betty Broderick serves her sentence at the California Institution for Women in Chino.  (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

For more than 30 years, there have been Betty Broderick TV movies, and books, and now Facebook pages, where some people say that they sympathized with her up until she pulled the trigger, and some, fewer, who had terrible divorces themselves and said, “Atta girl, Betty — what took you so long?”

In my new podcast, we’ll hear from her divorce attorney, her defense attorney and the foreman of the jury that convicted her, among other voices that capture the significance of events surrounding the murders. Plus, we speak with one of Linda’s best friends, who spent time with the couple the day before they died. We explore what makes this one case still so engrossing 30 years later … and maybe learn something about ourselves along the way. “It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders” is a four-part podcast that premieres May 26. Subscribe today, wherever you get your podcasts.

Betty Broderick: Murder, Trial and Jail

Key Times articles about the case of La Jolla socialite Betty Broderick, convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his new wife in 1989.