Duane Chapman, Dog the Bounty Hunter then and now. Credit :
Jemal Countess/Getty; Bennett Raglin/Getty
- Dog the Bounty Hunter became a household name when he starred on his show, Dog the Bounty Hunter
- Dog, whose real name is Duane Chapman, worked as a professional bounty hunter for years
- Chapman faced a tragedy in 2025 when his stepson allegedly accidentally killed his 13-year-old step-grandson, Anthony
Dog the Bounty Hunter, whose real name is Duane Chapman, is a professional bounty hunter who rose to fame on the reality TV show Dog the Bounty Hunter.
The hit A&E show ran from 2004 to 2012 and featured Chapman and his family as they tracked down wanted fugitives for bounties. After the show ended in 2012, he continued showing his bounty adventures on the CMT show, Dog and Beth: On the Hunt, with his wife, Beth Chapman. The two went on to work on a final show together, Dog’s Most Wanted, on WGN America in 2019.
However, Chapman and Beth’s bounty hunting days came to an end when she died from cancer in 2019. Over the years, Chapman has scaled back on his bounty hunting activities and has focused on establishing new roots in Georgia.
In July 2025, Chapman’s family faced a tragedy when his stepson Gregory Zecca allegedly accidentally shot and killed his son Anthony, who was 13 years old at the time.
So, where is Dog the Bounty Hunter now? Here’s everything to know about his life 13 years after his reality TV show ended.
Duane Dog Chapman, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Scott Gries/A&E/Everett Collection
Duane Chapman, who goes by the stage name Dog the Bounty Hunter, is a bounty hunter and television personality. Chapman first gained notoriety in 2003 when he captured the Max Factor cosmetics heir, Andrew Luster, who was on trial for sexual assault.
Later that year, his bounty hunting experiences began being featured on various documentaries and TV shows before he started his own series, Dog the Bounty Hunter, in 2012. The hit show followed Chapman, his family and his hunting team as they located and later detained people who had broken their bonds and fled.
As the series became a success, viewers became attached to the Chapman family and got to know him, Beth and their children better. After eight seasons, the show came to an end in 2012 after two of his sons left the project and stopped working with their father.
However, Chapman continued filming his bounty hunting ventures by starring in CMT’s Dog and Beth: On the Hunt, with his wife, from 2013 to 2015. His most recent series was Dog’s Most Wanted, which ran for one season in 2019.
In addition to starring in several of his own television shows, Chapman is also a New York Times best-selling author who has written three books between 2007 and 2024.
Duane Chapman, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Steve Granitz Archive 1/WireImage
Dog the Bounty Hunter came to an end in 2012 after eight seasons. At the time, Chapman and some of his sons were facing issues working together. Two of his children, Duane Lee Chapman II and Leland Blane Chapman, quit working for their dad in 2011.
In addition to some of the alleged behind-the-scenes drama in the Chapman family, they were also struggling to reach a contract with A&E for a ninth season, according to Hawaii News Now.
“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,” the family said in a statement at the time.
Duane Lee Dog Chapman arrives at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 7, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Even after Dog the Bounty Hunter was canceled, Chapman continued showing his life on the television shows Dog and Beth: On the Hunt and Dog’s Most Wanted.
However, as Chapman and Beth continued working in bounty hunting, they also had to handle various personal struggles. In 2017, Beth was diagnosed with throat cancer. After living with the disease for two years, she died on June 26, 2019. She was 51 years old.
“Beth died at 5:32 this morning, the same time she would wake up to go hiking Koko Head. The exact same time. She was surrounded by family and Dog was there, holding her hand,” a rep for Chapman told PEOPLE at the time.
Beth’s journey after her diagnosis was filmed as part of a two-hour special on A&E called Dog & Beth: Fight of Their Lives, in 2017. The couple were married from 2006 to 2019, and they had three children together: daughters Bonnie and Cecily and son Garry. Chapman also has several other children with five additional women.
Dog the Bounty Hunter and Francie Frane. Francie Frane Instagram
After spending years bounty hunting with his family and team in Hawaii, he has since appeared to have slowed down his decades-long interest. Chapman has since increased his social media presence and frequently posts videos discussing the business of bounty hunting and talking with fans.
In addition to focusing on his social media, he has also launched a Cameo page and speaks at various events. Chapman returned to TV in 2022 when he competed on season 7 of The Masked Singer.
Two years after Beth’s death, he got married to his current wife, Francie Chapman. The two were initially friends who bonded over losing their spouses to cancer before they became romantically involved.
“God brought us together at a time when we were at the most broken place that we both of us have been through in our lives,” Chapman told the News-Press in 2023. “God really changed our hearts and brought us together and he built this friendship between us and then this incredible love just started to build between the two of us and it’s been amazing.”
Chapman and Francie briefly lived in Colorado before moving to Marco Island, Fla., in 2023. Francie explained that they have since been focusing on “starting to build community and get plugged in.” Now, Chapman and Francie are sharing on their Instagram accounts about building a new life in Georgia.
The couple have also turned their efforts to their foundation, the D.O.G. Foundation, which “provides housing, counseling, life-skills training, soul healing and intervention services to victims of trafficking,” per the website.
“We provide compassion and healthy structure that encourages victims to become thriving survivors,” the website reads.
Dog Chapman and Leland Chapman. Angela Weiss/Getty
Chapman is the father to many children with six women. He shares sons Duane Lee II and Leland with his first wife, La Fonda Sue Darnall, and sons Wesley, James Robert and the late Zebadiah with ex-wife Ann Tegnell.
He is also a dad to Christopher Hecht, whom he had with Debbie White. When Chapman was married to Lyssa Rae Brittain, he welcomed son Tucker and daughters Lyssa and the late Barbara, who died in a car accident in 2006. He and Beth also had daughter Bonnie and son Garry, while Chapman adopted her daughter Cecily after their wedding.
In 2023, he discovered that he had fathered a son named Jon. When he married Francie in 2021, Chapman also became the stepfather to her two sons.
On July 19, one of Chapman’s stepsons, Gregory Zecca, allegedly killed his son Anthony during an accidental shooting at an apartment in Naples, Fla., as police told TMZ. Authorities later confirmed that it was an “isolated incident” and hadn’t made any arrests at that time. Anthony was 13 years old.
Chapman and Francie later released a statement to TMZ expressing how “incomprehensible” the accident was.
“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 couple said.
