Did an anonymous threat take down Dog the Bounty Hunter's wedding?
And what did vanlife enthusiast-turned killer Brian Laundrie do to Dog’s honeymoon plans?
Stay tuned to find out!
Beth Chapman had some famous last words for her husband, Duane Chapman.
She asked Duane to keep the tattoo of her name on his chest and to never get married
again.
Dating, however, was still on the table.
Duane opened up about the possibility of getting a girlfriend with People magazine in August
2019, saying:
"I probably will do that, and I told [Beth] that.
What deal we said is I will never take 'Beth' off my chest, I have her name here.
And I will never get married."
In a 2019 interview with ET, Duane spoke about some of the women he had been hanging out
with, and explained:
"They're not really my girlfriends.
I'm not saying I'm not gonna have one, 'cause I will, [but] I'm not gonna get married."
"If this is the worst of it, then all it can be is better."
While this was clearly Duane's intention early on, he didn't exactly stick with it.
As he predicted, Duane Chapman began dating after his wife, Beth Chapman, died.
The bounty hunter reached out to his longtime assistant and family friend of Beth, Moon
Angell.
News about the budding connection broke in January 2020, but with an emphasis that it
was not romantic.
Duane posted a selfie with Moon on Instagram, captioned:
"Thank you MOON !!!!"
Moon came back on the scene at an opportune moment.
Duane told Dr. Oz in February 2020 that at the time, he was considering taking his own
life.
He confessed that he couldn't stop crying and how he even had a plan.
Thankfully, Moon stepped in with a different plan — one to get Dog back to work and focused
on something else.
She explained to Dr. Oz:
"I don't go in and out.
It's one way.
This is the way we're going to do it.
He needs to get going.
We need to get back on the show and get him busy again."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.
While Moon Angell helped Duane Chapman get out of a very dark period after Beth Chapman
died, there was drama as she got closer to the bounty hunter.
Initially, they claimed that their connection was purely platonic and supportive, but it
quickly became romantic.
"It has to be intimate because there's a lot of powerful things going on with Dog."
Not only did they become intimate, but it appeared that Moon moved her things into Beth's
closet.
This did not go down well with Duane's daughter, Lyssa Chapman, who got sassy on Twitter, saying:
"You're [a] disgusting woman.
Any person who moves in on a man weeks after losing his wife, who you were supposed to
be a 'friend' to, Is the lowest scum on the planet — Which for you wasn't that far of
a step down from where you were before."
While this would be a shocking thing for relatives to see, Duane and Moon explained the reasoning
behind moving Beth's things.
Moon replaced them with her own because Duane asked her to.
Apparently, it was painful for him to see Beth's things there.
Of all the unexpected things to come from Duane Chapman, his on-air proposal to Moon
Angell might have been the most unusual.
Duane spoke about Beth Chapman as she was dying and said she told him, "I want you to
be happy."
"I think this will put a stop to a lot of this.
Moon Angell, will you marry me?"
While surprised, Moon turned him down.
Duane then said that he proposed it as a test, since he was aware that they were just friends.
His plan was to prove that to everyone else.
Whether that was actually his plan or if he said that to save face is something only Dog
can answer.
We're kind of thinking it was the latter.
The Sun revealed that this wasn't the first time Duane had proposed to Moon.
It happened in September 2019, three months after Beth died.
Duane was in the hospital and his daughter, Bonnie Chapman, saw that her dad proposed
to Moon via text and that she had said 'yes.'
"We're friends, Duane.
I love you as a friend."
"That's it?"
Duane Chapman's kids had mixed reactions to his romantic inclinations following Beth Chapman's
death.
His kids were especially skeptical of prospective partners taking advantage of his fame.
Duane told ET:
"Well, the girls are very upset because of other girls I'd be looking at.
[...] The boys are like, 'Dad, you know, if you love them, if you like them, we are for
you or whatever you decide.'"
When Duane's daughter, Bonnie Chapman, found out that her dad had proposed to Moon Angell
over text only three months after Beth died, she was devastated.
An insider told The Sun:
"She cried for hours to family friends.
Bonnie and Moon have never had a close relationship, especially after her mother died.
She was heartbroken, and so were his other children.
That's how the family found out they were dating."
Allegedly, Beth herself saw this coming and was less worried about a potential romance
than Moon's wish to take over Duane's life.
Moon was his assistant, after all.
Quite likely to the relief of the Chapman family, Duane Chapman and Moon Angell broke
up after two proposals and a bumpy start.
In early February 2020, Moon packed her things and left Duane's house.
While Moon Angell was out of the picture, Duane Chapman was still keeping his heart
open after Beth Chapman's passing.
Aside from being a devout Christian, one of the bounty hunter's main justifications for
doing so was his dedication to scripture.
In an interview with The Christian Post, he opened up about trusting God even after losing
Beth, saying:
"I never doubted, okay, I don't doubt God at all!
You go to Scripture, and you listen to the voice in your mind that's in your head that
says, 'This has happened for a reason.'"
While he found a way to buffer the pain of losing Beth, Duane also used his faith to
open the door to finding love again.
On the podcast "Two Guys from Hollywood", Duane said that he turned to the Bible and
found a passage that read:
​​"God does not want a man to be alone, that he knows we need a companion, whether
we're man or woman."
This inspiration proved useful especially when Duane met his future wife, Francie Frane.
Duane Chapman and Francie Frane were a match made in heaven.
In an interview with The Sun, he said:
"It's a God relationship because it's just like a miracle."
Both Francie and Duane were Colorado residents and they met because the bounty hunter needed
some work done on his house and called to speak to Francie's husband, Bob.
As it turned out, Bob had died some months before Duane's wife, Beth Chapman, died.
The two grew close through their shared grief and it ended up being the glue that brought
them together.
Duane opened up to The Sun about the experience, saying:
"I know that when I start to feel bad about Beth and it's overwhelming, Francie seems
to show up and that helps the kids.
And I feel that Beth expects her to show up to take care of me.
And Bob, Francie's late husband, expects me to be a man and a gentleman and so I am."
Even Duane's family approved of Francie.
His family's approval was obviously very meaningful to the bounty hunter, who said:
"But what's important now is that my family, my close family, every single one of the kids
and grandkids, approve of Francie and that makes a huge difference."
It wasn't long after meeting Francie Frane that Duane Chapman decided to propose.
The bounty hunter joked with Dr. Oz in September 2020 that he had to marry Francie due to her
Christian background, saying:
"She's a Christian and you gotta marry them or you get no smooches!"
"That's not true, you're exaggerating."
"Whatever."
"He did a great job and it was really romantic."
The couple publicly confirmed their relationship in March 2020 and Duane proposed in May, ten
months after Beth Chapman died.
In a later exclusive with The Sun, Francie shared how he proposed, revealing he got down
on one knee and said:
"I know that God brought you into my life and I don't want to spend one moment of it
without you.
Will you marry me and spend the rest of our lives together?"
Francie added:
"I wasn't expecting it at all.
I think I had gone to pick up some food and then when I came back he had all the lights
turned down with just a few lights on and a bunch of candles lit.
[...] Who can say no to that?
It was wonderful."
It wouldn't be a Duane Chapman story without a little more family drama.
Most of his children were supportive of Francie Frane, especially daughter Lyssa Chapman,
who told The Sun:
"Francie has been very respectful to all the kids — and to Beth's memory — and my dad
is the same way with Bob and their children.
They go to church three times a week and dad is trying to give up smoking — she is a
good woman for my dad.
He's the happiest I've seen him in a long time — he's so in love and wants to spend
the rest of his life with Francie."
But with two others, there wasn't a positive response.
Bonnie Chapman, Duane and Beth Chapman's daughter, told TMZ that she was not invited to their
wedding.
The same goes for Cecily Chapman, Beth's biological daughter and a step-daughter to Duane.
Cecily speculated that she and Bonnie remind Duane too much of Beth and that's why he was
excluding them from the wedding, saying this "scares their dad."
Beth and Duane's biological son, Garry Chapman, was invited to the wedding but according to
TMZ, the two sisters think it's because Garry doesn't look like Beth and "Dog tends to favor
his sons anyway."
In response, Duane and Francie gave a statement to TMZ, saying:
"We love Cecily and Bonnie very much, as we do all of our family.
We pray for their health and happiness every day.
Beyond this statement, we wish to keep any family issues private."
Duane Chapman is never one to go halfway on anything, so it's unsurprising that his wedding
to Francie Frane was slated to be larger than life.
At least, this is what he wanted for his sixth wedding.
Duane told The Sun that he wanted to invite fans, saying:
"I would love to have the biggest wedding there's ever been.
I'm sorry but that's just me.
I hope I can talk Francie into it and open it to my fans, the 'Dog Pound,' to everybody."
They got married on September 3, 2020, in Colorado Springs at a famous wedding venue
in the area called The Pinery At The Hill.
Prior to the wedding, Francie and Duane spoke with ET, noting that they couldn't decide
on a cake flavor and had to get two, sharing:
"The reception is going to be a fun party and [occur] right after the wedding.
And we are going to be dancing and having a blast with all of our friends and our family
and everybody that wants to share all of this with us."
"Right?
Like, I'm gettin' down, so are you, mama."
The wedding wasn't without some drama.
Duane had to get extra security when an anonymous threat came in before the ceremony that someone
was going "to throw paint on Francie's wedding gown".
Thankfully, this didn't happen, but a guest did claim that their tires were "slashed"
and many thought it was Duane's two daughters, Cecily and Bonnie Chapman, who had not been
invited to the wedding.
Duane Chapman and Francie Frane enjoyed the first days of their honeymoon at The Antlers
Hotel in Colorado where they were spotted outside kissing.
The couple then jetted down to the Sunshine State and Duane told The Sun why this was
their top pick, saying:
"We came down to Florida for our honeymoon because Francie was born there.
I asked her before we got married, where would you like to go?
And she said, 'To Florida to put my feet in the sand, and my ocean.'"
But their honeymoon was interrupted by the national search for Brian Laundrie, the main
person of interest in the case of Gabby Petito's death.
Duane told The Sun that he and Francie were following the case but then decided to get
personally involved, saying:
"All of a sudden all my fans are like 'Dog Dog Dog this is up your alley!'"
Once they arrived in Florida, where the hunt for Laundrie was underway, Duane said he had
to help, adding:
"Then we came down here and I said to Francie 'Honey, it's eight hours away.
Honey, I need it so bad.
My skin is crawling, I'm getting goose bumps.
I'm having those dreams FREEZE I GOT YOU BOY!
I'm having those kinds of dreams, Francie."
The bounty hunter had to pull out due to an ankle injury but Francie got a clear picture:
when you marry a bounty hunter, the chase comes first.
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