Dog the Bounty Hunter's Wife, Beth Chapman, Dead at 51 After Cancer Battle

Beth Chapman, who along with her husband, Duane "Dog" Chapman, appeared for years on the iconic show, "Dog the Bounty Hunter," is dead.

Beth died Wednesday at a Honolulu hospital, days after being placed in a medically-induced coma. She had battled long and hard against cancer, which ultimately took her life.

The 51-year-old announced in 2017 that she'd been diagnosed with stage II throat cancer, but was cancer free by December of that year. The cancer returned last November -- after which she underwent aggressive chemo and fought valiantly to maintain normalcy in her life ... sometimes going out for the evening with her husband. She said last month on Mother's Day she had stopped chemo.

Dog just tweeted a goodbye to Beth, saying "Today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side."

Beth endured at least one health scare over the past few months, having been rushed to the hospital in April for breathing trouble related to her cancer treatments.

Beth became a licensed bail bondsman at age 29 -- the youngest in Colorado history. Her record was broken by her stepdaughter, Lyssa Chapman, who became licensed at age 19.

She met Dog when she was 19 and he was 35 ... when she got in trouble with the law. She was in a grocery store and got distracted by a call from her boss, and she walked out with a lemon and got stopped for shoplifting. Turns out she had an unregistered, unlicensed gun in her pocket -- she had taken it from her then-boyfriend who was drunk at the time -- and Beth's dad called Dog to bail her out.

They married in 2006, one day after Dog's daughter, Barbara Katy, was killed in a car crash in Alaska.

Dog and Beth became international stars after "Dog the Bounty Hunter" debuted in 2003. The show ended its run in 2012. They did another show -- "Dog and Beth: On the Hunt" which ran through 2015. The couple took a break from TV for a bit, and during that time ... Beth ran for president of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States and won. They were in the process of filming a new show, "Dog's Most Wanted," which was set to air next year.

It's unclear for now if their new program will make it to broadcast in light of Beth's death. We do know that Beth's health struggles were supposed to be a key storyline and that she was going to be front and center alongside Dog ... just like the old days.

Production started in February -- but no word if the network they were working with, WGN America, completed a full season's worth of episodes or not. Beth herself said the series wouldn't hit the airwaves this year, but a trailer has already been released.

Beth had 11 kids -- the latter 2 she had with Dog. Beth also has 14 grandchildren ... one of whom she had custody of after Dog's daughter died in the crash -- and the boy's father was found to be abusive.

She was 51.