Duane Lee “Dog” Chapman and his wife, Beth Chapman, skyrocketed to fame in 2004 when their exploits of tracking fugitives and bail-jumpers were chronicled on the A&E reality series, Dog the Bounty Hunter.
With his long blond hair, signature wraparound shades, and iconoclastic look, Duane Chapman proved to be a standout in the world of television, and the show became such a huge hit that it furthered the network’s mission to shift brands from its “Arts & Entertainment” origins to more populist programming, per Variety.
When Dog the Bounty Hunter was finally cancelled after 240 episodes, the Chapman family issued a statement: “This has been a great ride for eight seasons and we would not be where we are today but for our loyal and dedicated fans … You can’t keep a good Dog down.”
Duane Chapman has proven that final point throughout a life tinged with tragedy by continually overcoming difficult situations that would bring else anyone to their knees. Let’s dig into the tragic, real-life story of the man best known as Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Dog the Bounty Hunter’s troubled childhood
Having grown up with an admittedly difficult childhood, Duane “Dog” Chapman held nothing back when he described his painful early years in his 2007 autobiography, You Can Run But You Can’t Hide. While his home life may have seemed typical from the outside — growing up in a middle class home in Denver, Co. with mom and dad, Barbara and Wesley, and three siblings — the bond bondsman revealed that this wasn’t the reality.
“As a young boy, I never knew that other kids didn’t get hit by their dads,” Chapman wrote (per an excerpt published by CTV News). From the then-youngster’s perspective, experiencing domestic abuse was a normal “rite of passage” that all sons had to endure.
“I simply didn’t know anything different,” he continued, admitting he couldn’t remember “any long stretch” during his childhood when he wasn’t being beaten.
The Dog the Bounty Hunter star went on to write, “Just thinking of the abuse I endured can make me cry … I was expected to take it like a man. But I wasn’t a man. I was a young boy looking for love and approval from my father. I was desperate for his affection, so I ignored the pain.”
Noting that he vowed to break this cycle of abuse, Chapman added, “Until very recently, I never understood that none of his abuse was my fault … and yet I swore that I would never beat my kids.”
Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman went to prison on a murder conviction
It’s safe to say that Duane “Dog” Chapman’s adult life did not get off to the most auspicious start. As reported by the Toronto Star, a 23-year-old Chapman found himself in a world of trouble back in 1976. While living in Texas, the future Dog the Bounty Hunter star wound up waiting in a car with some others while his friend bought marijuana off a dealer. Unfortunately, the drug deal went south, and an argument between the two ended with Chapman’s friend shooting the dealer dead.
“In Texas in the ’70s, if you were present, you were just as guilty,” Chapman told the media outlet in 2012. Everyone involved was charged with murder — and found guilty. “I shouldn’t have went,” the reality star, who was released on parole after serving 18 months of a five-year prison sentence, added. “And I shouldn’t have been the person I was back then.”
Despite learning his lesson the hard way, that conviction continued to impact Chapman’s life decades later, when he was cast on the U.K.’s version of Celebrity Big Brother and had his visa request denied, barring him from traveling abroad to Britain. A criminal record, Chapman told the Toronto Star, is “something that follows you the rest of your life, no matter who you become or who you are. I’m not proud of it.”
A tragic death revealed the son Dog the Bounty Hunter never knew
The personal life of Duane “Dog” Chapman has been a complicated one. According to Entertainment Tonight, the Dog the Bounty Hunter alum has 12 children and has been married five times. One of those 12 kiddos is son Christopher Hecht, but as Chapman later told the National Enquirer, “Christopher’s mom [ex-girlfriend Debbie White] committed suicide in the ’70s while I was in a Texas prison doing 18 months. I didn’t know I had a son until I got out.”
While the two formed a relationship after Hecht reached adulthood, Chapman’s son has had a difficult life, struggling with alcohol abuse, legal trouble, and multiple arrests from charges ranging from gay bashing and ethnic intimidation to suspicion of third degree assault. According to his adoptive mother, Hecht went missing in 2007, after serving a 90-day stint in behind bars for “traffic violations.” She told the National Enquirer that she and her family were “worried sick” over his disappearance.
While Hecht eventually reappeared, he continued to find himself in trouble. In 2014, Chapman revealed to the tabloid that he and his family had organized an intervention and Hecht agreed to go to rehab. “I feel relief that he’s in rehab now,” Chapman said. “Thank God someone is there to help him. I’m praying for him every day.”
Dog the Bounty Hunter tragically lost two children
While the Dog the Bounty Hunter star was serving his prison sentence in the late ’70s, he and his first wife split up. Shortly after his release, Duane Chapman married wife No. 2, Anne M. Tengell, with whom he shares three children, per Entertainment Tonight. One of them, a baby boy named Zebediah, was born prematurely on Jan. 1, 1980, and sadly died just 30 days later. Understandably, Chapman and Tengell’s marriage did not survive this tragic loss, and the couple divorced.
However, Duane Chapman would go on to get married and divorced two more times, before meeting the woman who would become the love of his life, Beth Chapman. The two tied the knot in Hawaii in May 2006; however, their big day was marred by another tragic loss. On the evening before the nuptials, reported Hawaii News Now, Duane received some devastating news: his 23-year-old daughter, Barbara Katie Chapman, had been killed in a car accident near her home in Fairbanks, AK.
As Chapman’s publicist told the news outlet, the Dog the Bounty Hunter star met with a minister to discuss the best course of action. It was mutually agreed upon that the wedding would go ahead as scheduled, with no mention of his daughter’s death until after the ceremony. The plan, Chapman’s publicist explained, was to reveal the sad news during the reception, which would double as a celebration of Barbara’s life.
The ‘torture’ of hearing about his grandson’s abuse
In 2011, Duane “Dog” Chapman was awarded temporary custody of his then-nine-year-old grandson, Travis Mimms Jr. According to Radar Online, a judge made the decision after hearing a shocking and deeply disturbing audio recording of the boy’s father — husband of Chapman’s late daughter, Barbara Katie Chapman — allegedly beating the couple’s son.
As the Dog the Bounty Hunter star explained to the media outlet, his goal in gaining custody was not to take the young boy away from his father, but to simply remove the minor from a dangerous situation. “I want him [Travis Senior] to take parenting classes,” Chapman said, before admitting that listening to the tape in question “was torture,” and emphasizing that he needed to do what was in the best interests of the child. “I was beaten by my father, too,” he added. “But we have to break that cycle.”
Later telling the tabloid that he was “shocked and heartbroken” over the child abuse, Chapman revealed that his actions resonated with his late daughter’s last words to him. “I love my grandson and only want what’s best for him,” he said. “During the last phone call I had with my daughter, Barbara Katie, she said to me, ‘Please, daddy, take care of Travis Jr. Don’t ever let anything happen to him.’”
