Dog the Bounty Hunter Gets a Leash

Aug. 8, 2006 — -- Duane "Dog" Chapman, the country's best-known bounty hunter, has finally been collared.

The star of A&E's hit reality show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and his longtime partner-in-crime-busting, Beth Smith, were married in Hawaii on May 20.

Unfortunately, death cast a shadow over the wedding.

Chapman's 23-year-old daughter, Barbara, was killed in a car accident in Fairbanks, Alaska, the night before the wedding.

The couple went on with the ceremony and dedicated it to her. The wedding will be shown in tonight's episode.

'Cuffed and Shackled

Chapman, who grew up in Denver, was a tough kid who dropped out of school in ninth grade to join a motorcycle gang.

Chapman, who became known as "Dog," was arrested 18 times on charges of armed robbery, and in 1977, he was sentenced to five years of hard labor. He served two of those years before being paroled in 1979.

Not long after, he became a bounty hunter, tracking down and capturing fugitives from the law.

His biggest score was catching Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster in 2003.

Chapman and Smith have been tracking fugitives for 16 years, but that's not all. Their relationship blossomed into love, and they had two children together.

She couldn't get him to say, "I do," though.

Finally, he agreed to marry her, saying he was "'cuffed and shackled anyway."

"I raised most of his children, and, you know, it has been a long road," Smith said today on "Good Morning America." "But I think he wanted to make sure I was not after his money."

Barbara was the oldest of Dog's 11 children and had been through some rough times. He received the call about her death on the morning of the wedding.

"Everyone we loved was there," he said. "I went to my spiritual adviser, and -- we decided -- I had a meeting with the family and preacher and we have always talked about this blood doesn't run. We did not run."

Leashed but Still the Dog

Chapman had to rally his family to go on with the celebration. On tonight's show, he tells his son Duane, "There's a time to mourn, and it's not right now."

"Do you think that if God wanted to stop the marriage, he would have killed my baby? That's not God. Listen, don't worry. … Listen. I couldn't handle this without all these people I got right now around me. We have to go through this all right."

Chapman, wearing his trademark blond mullet, white-leather vest and white jeans, and Smith, donning an off-white lace gown, were wed in a ceremony that also celebrated Barbara's life.

"Always, forever, I keep her in my heart," Chapman said.

Smith said that she was amazed by how he had been able to keep it together in the face of such a tragedy.

"He led by example. … He sucked it up," she said.

For Smith, the best part of the ceremony was when her longtime love finally said, "I do."

"I waited a long time for that," she said.

Chapman might have a leash now, but he's still Dog.

He refused to learn how to tango, and he went bounty hunting an hour before the reception.