Duane Chapman aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, 69, is married to his spouse, Francie Frane, as of 2022. However, he has been married a total of six times in his life. Additionally, he has twelve children from his six wives. Some of his renowned kids are Barbara Katie Chapman, Bonnie Chapman, Duane Lee Chapman Jr., and Leland Chapman. Follow the article to know more about his current wife, previous wives, and children.
Duane Lee Chapman, also known as Dog the Bounty Hunter (born February 2, 1953), is an American television personality, bounty hunter, and a former bail bondsman. Chapman was convicted of first-degree murder in 1976 and sentenced to five years in prison in Texas.
Duane Chapman was waiting in a getaway car while his friend shot and killed Jerry Oliver, 69 years old, during a struggle over a marijuana deal. Chapman was imprisoned at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, for 18 months.
Chapman rose to prominence as a bounty hunter after successfully apprehending Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Mexico in 2003, and was given his own series, Dog the Bounty Hunter (2004–2012), on A&E the following year. Following the conclusion of Dog the Bounty Hunter, Chapman starred alongside his late wife and business partner, Beth Chapman, in Dog and Beth: On the Hunt (2013–2015), a similarly formatted TV show on CMT.
Aside from his bounty hunting skills, Duane Chapman has an interesting love life, and many viewers are interested in learning more about his marriage and children. So, let’s find out more information about Duane Chapman’s spouse and children.
Previously, we discussed the relationship details of Madison Keys and Natasha Lyonne.
Duane Chapman’s Spouse and Children: How Many Times Has He Been Married? How Many Children Does Dog the Bounty Hunter Have?
Over the last few years, the American bounty hunter, Duane Chapman (@duanedogchapman) has been married a total of six times in his life and has a total of twelve children from his six marriages.
Chapman’s first marriage was to La Fonda Sue Darnell, with whom he has two children: Duane Lee Chapman Jr. (born January 21, 1973), who was named after him, and Leland Blane Chapman (born December 14, 1976), who was also a part of his father’s bounty hunting business but left in 2012 with his brother, Duane. The couple, La Fonda and Duane got married on April 1, 1972, in Pampa, Texas, and remained married until October 27, 1977. After Chapman was convicted of first-degree murder, La Fonda filed for divorce and was granted custody of Duane Lee and Leland.
Duane Chapman had three children with his second spouse, Ann Tegnell. Zebadiah Chapman, his first child with Ann, was born on January 1, 1980, but sadly, his daughter died a few months later (January 31, 1980) due to a health problem. Wesley Chapman, his second child with Anna, was born on November 14, 1980, but Duane was not present during his childhood years. In an Instagram post, the two of them were seen together and Wesley posted captioning,
“Having my dad in my life has been a dream and many years ago I decided that if it happened, I would have zero expectations.”
James Robert Chapman, Duane Chapman’s third child with Anna, was born on March 2, 1982. Anna and Duane got married on August 22, 1979, shortly after Chapman was released from the Texas State Penitentiary after serving two years of a five-year sentence for first-degree murder, and divorced shortly after the birth of Wesley. He and his wife had a brief reconciliation, which resulted in the birth of their son James. Ann was given custody of both of their children and relocated to Utah.
Duane’s third marriage was to Lyssa Rae “Big Lyssa” Brittain, which started in 1982 and ended on November 20, 1991. Barbara Katie Chapman (June 8, 1982 – May 19, 2006), Tucker Dee Chapman (September 8, 1983), and Lyssa Rae Chapman (June 10, 1987)were their three children.
Duane Chapman’s fourth spouse was Tawny Marie Chapman, whom he met in 1988 after Chapman arrested her for drug possession and later hired her as his secretary. The couple married in 1992, divorced in 1994, and remarried in 2002. Despite the fact that Chapman’s children referred to her as their mother during their relationship, the two had no children together.
Duane married Alice Elizabeth “Beth” Barmore on May 20, 2006, in Hawaii, and they had an on-again, off-again relationship. Bonnie Joanne Chapman ( December 16, 1998) and Garry Chapman (born February 7, 2001) were their children, and Chapman adopted Cecily Barmore-Chapman, Beth’s daughter from a previous marriage.
Duane Chapman was also able to assist Beth in locating and reconciling with her son, Dominic Davis (born 1985), whom she had given up for adoption when she was a teenager. Unfortunately, Beth died of throat cancer on June 26, 2019, at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. In 2017, she was diagnosed with the disease.
Chapman was engaged to Francie Frane, according to TMZ on August 23, 2021. Frane, like Chapman, had recently lost her husband, Robert “Bob” Frane, in December 2018, and the two reportedly met six months after Beth’s death. In May 2020, they announced their engagement, and on September 2, 2021, they got married in Colorado.
Similarly, Duane Chapman’s eldest child, Christopher Michael Hecht (born 1972), was born to his ex-girlfriend Debbie White while he was serving an 18-month prison sentence. Debbie kept her pregnancy a secret from Chapman and committed suicide in 1978, leaving the boy to Keith and Gloria Hecht to adopt.
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