Dirty John’ Second Season Now Streaming on Netflix

Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is the second season of the true crime show, streaming now on Netflix. The show is a fictionalized take on a true crime story that happened in the ’80s.

Betty Broderick (played by Amanda Peet) is a double murderer who killed ex-husband Dan (Christian Slater) and his new wife Linda (Rachel Keller) after a bitter and lengthy divorce. Dan managed to get sole custody of the children and even withheld support payments. Betty, in retaliation, began sending him obscene messages, spray-painting inside their former home and ramming his door with her car.

This escalated and took a very ugly turn when Betty on November 5, 1989, using her daughter’s key, entered her ex’s bedroom and started firing. She killed Linda with a bullet to the neck and to the chest, and Dan with one to the back.

In February 1992, she was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison, the maximum possible term achieved by making the two 15-year sentences consecutive. She received an additional two years for the illegal use of a firearm.

California state law states that inmates have to serve two-thirds of their sentence before being eligible for parole. This parole hearing came in January 2010. Broderick said at the time: “I allowed the voices in my head to completely take over. I took the lives of two wonderful people who were loved by many.”

Parole was denied for a maximum of 15 years, meaning she is not eligible again until 2032, when she will be 84 years old.

Until then, Broderick remains an inmate at the California Institute for Women in Chino, California. Among the other noted current and former inmates are former America’s Next Top Model contestant Renee Alway, Joe Pesci’s ex-wife Claudia Haro and former Charles Manson “Family” members Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten.