Online Reporter
HE is America’s version of Detective Kedha and with his steely pursuit of criminals and bulging muscles, Dog the Bounty Hunter is the ultimate image of an American tough guy.
He made his name in June 2003 when he captured Max Factor cosmetics heir, Andrew Luster, who had fled the United States to Mexico during his trial on 86 counts of rape.
While Detective Kedha runs his business on social media, Dog the Bounty Hunter, who real name is Duane Chapman, is a real TV star.
Dog has had more than his fair share of tragedy, including horrific abuse at the hands of his father, the deaths of two of his children, his grandson, and the love of his life.
On Saturday, Dog, 78, was rocked by fresh heartache as his stepson shot and killed the son of his own son, in what is believed to have been a tragic accident.
Gregory Zecca, the son of Dog’s wife, Francie, accidentally shot Anthony, 13, at their apartment in Naples, Florida.
A spokesperson for Dog and Francie told TMZ: “We are grieving as a family over this incomprehensible tragic accident and would ask for continued prayers as we grieve the loss of our beloved grandson, Anthony.”
The accident is one of many tragedies and controversies that have peppered the life of the star.
Dog was one of four children raised by his church minister mum and US Army officer dad in Denver, Colorado.
But he suffered regular beatings with a wooden paddle from his dad, who also battered him in boxing matches to “toughen” him up.
At 13, he dropped out of school and joined a motorbike gang, the Disciples, spending the next few years in and out of jail for offences including armed robbery.
“I spent the first twenty-three years of my life on the wrong side of the law,” he later wrote. “The only thing I knew about the law was a thousand ways to break it.”
As a teenager, he fathered a child with Debbie White, who kept her pregnancy from him and later took her own life.
Their son, Christopher, was adopted and only met his father after Debbie’s mum told him he had a grown son.
At 19, Dog married first wife LaFonda Honeycutt and the couple had two sons Duane Lee and Leland.
Dog has tracked down 6,000 criminals in his job as a bondsman – someone who tracks down wanted criminals for a fee.
But in 1976, it was him who ended up behind bars, convicted of murder.
The 23-year-old was in a car when his friend accidentally shot an alleged drug dealer in a fight over a cannabis deal.
While serving time in jail, Dog was commended for tackling a prisoner who was trying to break out.
The incident persuaded him to consider a career as a bounty hunter or ‘‘bondsman’’.
He began working independently, interviewing witnesses to track down the police’s most wanted criminals, then claiming rewards on handing them in.
Soon after he started his new career, he met Anne Tegnell and had three more children.
One died shortly after birth and the other two – Wesley and JR – were raised by their mother.
The marriage was short-lived and in 1982, Dog wed Lyssa Britain and had three more children – Barbara, Tucker and Lyssa.
The youngest, “Baby Lyssa”, later wrote a book claiming her dad was a drug addict and her mum an alcoholic.
While still married, Dog met Beth – a blonde bombshell with a 38F chest – at a local police station where she’d been arrested for shoplifting, and the pair began an affair.
The relationship with Beth was stormy from the start, and Lyssa – who was living with her dad – claims she hated their rows so much she took desperate steps to leave, by making up a horrendous allegation.
“I [falsely] accused my father of raping me when I was 11,” Lyssa admits.
“It was a horrible life that I never wanted to go back to, living with him and Beth and the fighting and the drugs.”
After their romance faltered, in 1991, Dog was devastated when Beth married his childhood best friend, Keith Barmore, and had a daughter Cecily.
Dog wed Tawny Marie in 1992 – but says he was “coerced” into marrying her despite knowing she was a “mistake.”
But Beth later admitted the pair continued seeing each other, despite their new marriages.
Beth and Dog finally divorced their partners and got back together in 1995 and she began working with him – becoming the youngest licensed bondsman in Colorado at 29.
To cement the bond the couple had two more children, Bonnie and Garry, and Dog adopted Cecily as his own.
In 2004, he landed his own TV show, Dog The Bounty Hunter.
Beth’s beloved dad and “best friend” Garry Smith died two months before he was due to walk her down the aisle in 2006, leaving her heartbroken.
And, the night before their dream Hawaiian wedding, Dog received the horrific news that daughter Barbara, 23, had been killed in a car accident while in a stolen SUV in Alaska.
Incredibly, he went ahead with the wedding as planned, breaking the terrible news to his friends and family at the reception.
After Barbara’s death, her son went to live with his biological father, Travis Mimms.
But, in October 2011, Dog and Beth stepped in and took temporary custody after hearing a recording of Travis allegedly physically abusing the nine-year-old.
Dog’s string of horrific luck continued in September 2017 when Beth was diagnosed with stage two throat cancer.
On June 26, Beth passed away at a hospital.
In 2021, two years after Beth died, Dog found love again and tied the knot for the sixth time with Francie Frane, who had also lost her husband Bod to cancer, just six months before Beth.
They wed in front of family and friends in a Tuscan-style estate with incredible views.
In 2022, Dog experienced another loss.
His co-star and close friend David Robinson died suddenly at the age of 50.
David collapsed at home while on a zoom call. – The Sun/H-Metro Reporter
Mathew Masinge