Betty Broderick, 78, died of natural causes on Friday, May 8, while serving a life sentence for the 1989 murder of her ex-husband and his wife

Betty Broderick.Credit : Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty 

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Betty Broderick was convicted of killing her ex-husband and his new wife in 1989
She died of natural causes on Friday, May 8, while serving a life sentence
Her children described their relationship with their mother as “complicated”

Betty Broderick’s children described their relationship with their mother as “complicated” after her death last week while serving a life sentence for the 1989 killings of her ex-husband, Dan, and his new wife.

“We loved both of our parents deeply, and our relationship with our mother was complicated for understandable reasons, particularly during her 37 years of incarceration,” Broderick’s family said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “Despite everything, we will always remember her as a fun, intelligent, engaging, and loving mother.”

Broderick, 78, died of natural causes on Friday, May 8, with her children by her side, according to the statement. “We’ve been told by the warden that she will be missed by many at the prison, including the staff and guards, and that she made a meaningful impact during her time there,” the statement says.

Betty Broderick.California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 

Broderick’s son, Dan, told TMZ that his mother had suffered a number of septic infections before she died and had a serious fall at the California Institution for Women, where she was housed, approximately three weeks before her death, which resulted in broken ribs.

She was transported to an outside medical facility for “a higher level of care” on April 18, according to a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Broderick, a San Diego socialite and mother of four, made headlines after she was charged with the killing of her husband, Dan Broderick, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena, on Nov. 5, 1989.

Michael Darden/San Diego Union-Tribune via ZUMA/Shutterstock 

In the early 1980s, Dan began an affair with Linda, a former flight attendant whom he had hired to work as his legal assistant amid marriage problems with Betty.

Dan eventually left Betty and filed for divorce in 1985. The former couple battled over the sale of their family home and custody of their children.

Betty, then 41, shot and killed Dan and Linda in their bed months after they married in 1989.

Betty never denied the killing, but said she had been driven over the edge by years of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Dan.

Dan Broderick Jr. and Kim Broderick.OWN 

Betty was tried twice, the first trial ending in a mistrial. She was eventually convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive terms of 15 years to life with the possibility of parole, plus two years for illegal use of a firearm.

Betty was denied parole in 2017, but claimed she met the requirements and should have been released years earlier.

Lee Broderick.CBS 8 San Diego 

“I have no one to speak for me. This was a case of domestic abuse: a pattern of coercive control that lasted throughout our marriage until the day I killed them,” Betty alleged in a letter to Murder Made Me Famous producers. “Now, I am only a political prisoner. They have no reason to deny my parole.”

At the time, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs described Betty as “completely unrepentant” and “defiant.”

Betty was scheduled to be up for parole again in 2032.