Introducing: Crimes of the Times

L.A. Times reporter Christopher Goffard of “Dirty John” is back with another riveting podcast from L.A. Times Studios. In “Crimes of the Times,” Goffard goes deep behind the scenes of a new story each week, cutting through common myths and misconceptions to uncover what really happened in the most compelling cases from L.A. and beyond.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.