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Betty Broderick’s cause of death has been officially disclosed.
The notorious individual, who was serving a prison sentence for the 1989 murders of her ex-husband, Dan Broderick, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena, passed away at the age of 78 in May.
According to records from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department reviewed by multiple sources, Betty’s death has been classified as an accident.
Betty’s declining health became apparent in April when she suffered a fall that resulted in broken ribs. Her son, Rhett Broderick, shared this information with The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed to Oxygen that Betty was transferred to an external medical facility on April 18 for treatment.
Betty died at 3:40 a.m. on May 8. The medical doctor treating her determined her death to be the result of natural causes, officials said.
Betty and ex Dan, who shared four children, endured a tumultuous divorce across the 1980s.
On the morning of Nov. 5, 1989, Betty—whose story was once featured on Oxygen’s Snapped—used a key she stole from one of her daughters to enter Dan and Linda’s home. As the couple slept, Betty snuck into their bedroom and fired a .38 caliber revolver, killing Linda instantly and fatally wounding Dan, according to Los Angeles Magazine.
Although Betty’s first trial ended in a hung jury, she was convicted of second-degree murder in the second trial in 1991 and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison, NBC News reported.
Betty’s children, despite their complicated relationship through the decades, were by her side in her final moments.
“She passed away from natural causes with three of her children at her bedside, and the other was FaceTiming,” her youngest son Rhett revealed to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “We were all able to come and be with her.”
She reflected on the relationship she had with her family in the 2015 memoir Betty Broderick: Telling on Myself.
“I absolutely adore my children, from the first moment of the day to the last, and still do,” she wrote. “They were my priority and I wanted so badly for them to have a happy childhood.”