Betty Broderick, who killed ex-husband and his new wife in 1989, dies in custody

Elizabeth "Betty" Broderick, who gained notoriety after killing her ex-husband and his new wife in 1981, died in custody in San Bernardino County on Friday morning, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The CDCR confirmed Broderick's death to CBS LA, saying she was pronounced at 3:40 a.m. by a medical doctor. The 78-year-old convicted killer died of natural causes. 

She'd been in custody at the California Institution for Women before being transferred to an outside medical facility on April 18, the CDCR said.

Broderick lived in San Diego with her husband, Dan Broderick, until they separated in 1985. After they finalized their divorce in early 1989, Dan, an attorney, married his office assistant, Linda Kolkena.

On Nov. 5, 1989, Betty snuck into Dan, 45, and Linda's, 28, home in Marson Hills, just north of Balboa Park in San Diego, armed with a revolver. She shot and killed the couple and turned herself in to the police later that day. It was her final day out of custody.

Her first trial was determined to be a mistrial for a hung jury. Her second trial saw her convicted on two counts of second-degree murder.

Betty was denied parole twice, in 2010 and 2017, before her death.

The double murder case became the subject of a pair of made-for-TV movies, "A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story" and "Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter," which aired on CBS in 1992.