It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders
History Podcasts
These were murders that would turn any town on its head, but La Jolla, Calif? That rich jewel by the sea? Thirty years ago, a man and his new wife were murdered in their bed. That’s a long time for a double homicide to stay in the public eye and imagination, but these were no ordinary murders. The killer was the man’s first wife, Betty Broderick. Betty and Dan Broderick had looked like the perfect couple, right up until they weren’t. After four children and nearly 15 years of marriage, after the riches they both worked for were finally within reach, he walked out and began having an affair with his assistant. But divorce ended the Brodericks’ marriage only on paper. “Till death do you part” turned out to be the way it would ultimately end: bitter, savage and fatal. It took two criminal trials to send Betty Broderick to prison, and we’ll hear not only from her divorce attorney, but also from the criminal defense attorney who argued for her in two murder trials, plus the foreman of the jury that convicted her. So many things burned this case into memory: The principals were rich. The jealous killer was, for a change, the woman, not the man. It’s been the subject of TV movies and books. It’s resonated with two generations of Americans -- deserted wives, unhappy husbands. And it’s raised some questions about how divorce laws may contribute to what’s called the feminization of poverty. All of these issues remain critical and controversial in contemporary America today. Thirty years after five bullets, two coffins and one California prison inmate No. W42477, why can’t we look away from Betty Broderick?
Location:
United States
Description:
These were murders that would turn any town on its head, but La Jolla, Calif? That rich jewel by the sea? Thirty years ago, a man and his new wife were murdered in their bed. That’s a long time for a double homicide to stay in the public eye and imagination, but these were no ordinary murders. The killer was the man’s first wife, Betty Broderick. Betty and Dan Broderick had looked like the perfect couple, right up until they weren’t. After four children and nearly 15 years of marriage, after the riches they both worked for were finally within reach, he walked out and began having an affair with his assistant. But divorce ended the Brodericks’ marriage only on paper. “Till death do you part” turned out to be the way it would ultimately end: bitter, savage and fatal. It took two criminal trials to send Betty Broderick to prison, and we’ll hear not only from her divorce attorney, but also from the criminal defense attorney who argued for her in two murder trials, plus the foreman of the jury that convicted her. So many things burned this case into memory: The principals were rich. The jealous killer was, for a change, the woman, not the man. It’s been the subject of TV movies and books. It’s resonated with two generations of Americans -- deserted wives, unhappy husbands. And it’s raised some questions about how divorce laws may contribute to what’s called the feminization of poverty. All of these issues remain critical and controversial in contemporary America today. Thirty years after five bullets, two coffins and one California prison inmate No. W42477, why can’t we look away from Betty Broderick?
Twitter:
@latimes
Language:
English
Email:
clint.schaff@latimes.com
Episodes
Introducing 'Foretold'
5/18/2023
"Foretold" is the newest podcast from the L.A. Times, and we're sharing a preview of the first episode with you here today.
In the fall of 2019, reporter Faith E. Pinho received a tip from a woman named Paulina Stevens. Paulina claimed she had grown up in an insular Romani community in California, where she was raised to be a wife, mother and fortuneteller — until she decided to break away. That first call unraveled a story spanning multiple continents, hundreds of years, and complex metaphysical realities.
Follow "Foretold" to hear new episodes every Tuesday.
Duration:00:08:34
Introducing Border City
4/5/2022
Border City is a new L.A. Times Presents podcast from the San Diego Union-Tribune. From Sandra Dibble, a journalist who spent more than 25 years covering the border, comes a story about beauty, violence and belonging in Tijuana, one of the world’s most dangerous cities. Enjoy this sneak peek, and be sure to listen and follow wherever you listen to podcasts.
Duration:00:06:26
Introducing: Binge Sesh
3/7/2022
In Season 1 of “Binge Sesh,” co-hosts Matt Brennan and Kareem Maddox pull back the curtain on HBO’s “Winning Time” series about the L.A. Lakers of the 1980s, one of the sports’ most unforgettable dynasties. Every week, we bring you stories from the locker room, the soundstage, and the L.A. Times archives as we explore how “Showtime” transformed the NBA — and American culture.
Enjoy this sneak peek, and be sure to listen and follow wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more at latimes.com/bingesesh.
Duration:00:09:55
Introducing Firebug
7/21/2021
For ten years, a fire bug terrorized Southern California, burning down businesses in broad daylight. Four people had died. Then a manuscript for a novel leads investigators to the last person they would have ever suspected. From Truth.Media, host Kary Antholis and executive producer Marc Smerling (The Jinx, Wilderness of Error, Crimetown) comes the true-crime series Firebug. The series launches July 21st.
Duration:00:08:03
L.A. Times presents The Trials of Frank Carson
5/25/2021
One lawyer saw a broken system. But the system saw a vigilante killer. From Christopher Goffard, the Los Angeles Times reporter and host behind the hit podcasts Dirty John and Detective Trapp, comes a new eight-episode true crime podcast, The Trials of Frank Carson. This story of power, politics and the law centers around Carson, the famously caustic defense attorney, who dedicated his life’s work to the very thing that has turned against him — the justice system.
The first two episodes...
Duration:00:06:11
"Dirty John Season Two: The Podcast": Bringing the Characters to Life | 3
6/11/2020
Hello, “It Was Simple” listeners. Up next, you’ll hear the last of three episodes of "Dirty John Season 2: The Podcast," a paid podcast from USA Network. This 3-episode series goes behind the scenes of the USA Network's new television series "Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story," a re-telling of the riveting and complex tale of Betty Broderick.
Bonus Episode 3: In this episode, the actors from Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story talk about prepping for their roles – including the challenges of playing Betty Broderick herself, a character brought to life by Amanda Peet.
Paid for by USA Network and produced by LA Times Studios; the Los Angeles Times Newsroom was not involved in the creation of this series.
Duration:00:11:14
"Dirty John Season Two: The Podcast": A Fresh Approach to an Enduring Story | 2
6/11/2020
Hello, “It Was Simple” listeners. Up next, you’ll hear the second of three episodes of "Dirty John Season 2: The Podcast," a paid podcast from USA Network. This 3-episode series goes behind the scenes of the USA Network's new television series "Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story," a re-telling of the riveting and complex tale of Betty Broderick.
Bonus Episode 2: The creators of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story share their insights on what it took to bring a fresh approach to this enduring story, including the role of female directors in the re-telling the infamous murder. Among the directors whose work shaped the series are Maggie Kiley and Series Director Alexandra Cunningham, who made her directorial debut.
Paid for by USA Network and produced by LA Times Studios; the Los Angeles Times Newsroom was not involved in the creation of this series.
Duration:00:09:47
"Dirty John Season Two: The Podcast": The Cultural Climate | 1
6/11/2020
Hello, “It Was Simple” listeners. Up next, you’ll hear the first of three episodes of "Dirty John Season 2: The Podcast," a paid podcast from USA Network. This 3-episode series goes behind the scenes of the USA Network's new television series "Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story," a re-telling of the riveting and complex tale of Betty Broderick.
Bonus Episode 1: To understand why the story of Betty Broderick endures, the creative minds behind the series – Executive Producer, Writer and Director Alexandra Cunningham, along with Executive Producer Jessica Rhoades – explain the importance of the cultural climate of the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as how they approached this complex case so many years later.
Paid for by USA Network and produced by LA Times Studios; the Los Angeles Times Newsroom was not involved in the creation of this series.
Duration:00:16:23
This Has Haunted Me | 4
6/9/2020
Episode 4: One of the most sensational moments in Betty Broderick’s second murder trial was straight out of a TV courtroom drama. As Betty’s defense attorney Jack Earley was asking about her kids’ welfare, he dropped a bombshell: He had witnesses ready to testify that Dan Broderick had talked about hiring a hitman to kill Betty. In the final episode of our podcast, we hear from one man Earley wanted to call to the stand, from the foreman of the jury at the trial, and from fans lobbying for Betty’s release.
Duration:00:50:18
You Got Me | 3
6/2/2020
Episode 3: Dan Broderick and his new wife, Linda, were killed in their bed. In jail, Betty behaved like you'd imagine someone would be after an exorcism — a bit giddy, a bit manic. She wasn’t sorry, not for a moment. In the third episode of our podcast, we hear why Betty’s first murder trial ended in a hung jury, learn more about Linda Broderick from a close friend, and begin Betty’s second murder trial.
Duration:00:37:18
Bed, Wed and Dead | 2
5/26/2020
Episode 2: You could look at the story of the Brodericks as one beginning and ending in two marital beds. In 1969, it was Betty and Dan’s honeymoon bed. In 1989, it was Dan’s bed with Linda Kolkena, his new wife of not quite seven months. Betty — displaced, dispossessed Betty and her five-shot nickel-plated Smith & Wesson — saw to it that they would never live to share that bed again. In the second episode of our podcast, we chart the saga of betrayal, separation, divorce and murder.
Duration:00:45:31
A Fatal Shore | 1
5/26/2020
Episode 1: On her wedding day, April 12, 1969, the newly minted Betty Broderick looked romantically toward a future as enchanting as the lace veil around her shoulders. It was all supposed to be so perfect. But then again, aren’t all marriages, at the start? In the first episode of our podcast, we follow Dan and Betty Broderick from their wedding day through their lean student years of hot-plate dinners, the pressures and strains of her nine pregnancies and his two Ivy League degrees, and their ill-fated move to the shores of La Jolla, Calif.
Duration:00:30:12
Introducing "It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders"
5/19/2020
Thirty years ago, a man and his new wife were murdered in their bed. That’s a long time for a double homicide to stay in the public eye and imagination, but these were no ordinary murders. The killer was the man’s first wife, Betty Broderick. Betty and Dan Broderick had looked like the perfect couple, right up until they weren’t. After four children and nearly 15 years of marriage, after the riches they both worked for were finally within reach, he walked out and began having an affair with his assistant. But divorce ended the Brodericks’ marriage only on paper. “Till death do you part” turned out to be the way it would ultimately end: bitter, savage and fatal. Thirty years after five bullets, two coffins and one California prison inmate No. W42477, why can’t we look away from Betty Broderick?
Premiering May 26th, 2020.
Duration:00:02:45