Beth Chapman, wife of bounty hunter reality TV star, dies

HONOLULU (AP) — Beth Chapman, the brash, buxom and blonde wife and co-star of "Dog the Bounty Hunter" reality TV star Duane "Dog" Chapman, died early today.

A family spokeswoman, Mona Wood-Sword, said in a statement that Chapman died at Queen's Medical Center after an almost 2-year battle with cancer. She was 51.

Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 2017 after getting a nagging cough checked out. A tumor was removed and she was declared cancer-free. But in November 2018, she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

"This is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain," Duane Chapman posted on Twitter early today. "Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side."

On Friday, Chapman had difficulty breathing and passed out momentarily, Wood-Sword said. She regained consciousness when emergency workers arrived at her Honolulu home and gave her oxygen. Doctors decided to put her in a medically induced coma in a Honolulu hospital to spare her pain while treating her, Wood-Sword said.

Born Alice Elizabeth Smith in Denver, Chapman had lived in Honolulu since 1989. In 2006, she and Duane Chapman, the self-proclaimed world's best bounty hunter, married during a sunset ceremony at a Big Island resort after being together for 16 years.