Dog the Bounty Hunter's step-grandson, 13, shot dead by own father in tragic accident
Dog the Bounty Hunter's 13-year-old step-grandson was killed by his father during an accidental shooting.
Duane Chapman, who rose to fame on his TV show Dog the Bounty Hunter, married Francie Chapman in 2021.
In a heartbreaking event that unfolded over the weekend, Francie's son, Gregory Zecca, is said to have fatally shot his teenage son Anthony.
According to reports, the shooting, which the family say was an accident, took place in a Naples, Florida, apartment on July 19. Police confirmed that a shooting took place around 8pm on the day in question and described it as an 'isolated incident', TMZ reports.
The investigation is ongoing and there isn't thought to have been any arrests made yet.
Addressing the heartbreaking ordeal, Chapman's representative told TMZ: "We are grieving as a family over this incomprehensible tragic accident and would ask for continued prayers as we grieve the loss of our beloved grandson, Anthony."
UNILAD have approached Chapman's rep for additional comment.
Chapman's wife of 13 years Beth passed away in June 2019 from cancer. Francie's late husband Bob died of cancer as well, six months before Beth's passing.
Speaking about how their grief united them, Francie told Entertainment Tonight in 2020: "We understood the pain that the other one was feeling and [in] those tough days and moments, we helped each other stand up.
"We could cry with each other and talk about what we were feeling. We were able to walk alongside each other through the pain and heartbreak and it brought us together in this amazing way."
Francie continued to say of their late spouses: "We're never going to leave Bob and Beth behind [or] forget about them. They'll always be a part of us. We thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives with them and that's not what happened and we were dealt a really hard hand."
Chapman has been married six times and has fathered 13 kids whom he shares with his ex wives.
In 2023, he announced that he had a secret son named Jon, bringing his total number of children to 13.
Anthony's father, Gregory, is Francie's son from a previous marriage. She and Chapman connected with one another while both grieving the loss of their respective spouses.
Dad with deadly brain cancer that kills in a year is cancer free after taking new drug
A breakthrough drug is fighting brain cancer head-on.
Glioblastoma is widely considered the deadliest form of brain cancer, killing over 10,000 Americans each year. There is no cure for the highly aggressive disease — many patients survive just nine months after diagnosis.
Ben Trotman was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022 at 40.
Treatment focuses on managing symptoms and extending life via surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible and radiation therapy and chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells.
Now, researchers from University College London Hospitals are recruiting glioblastoma patients for a trial of the immunotherapy drug ipilimumab. Sold under the brand name Yervoy, the monoclonal antibody stimulates the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.
Oncologists are optimistic since a UK father shows no signs of having a tumor after he took ipilimumab before his glioblastoma treatment.
Ben Trotman was diagnosed with glioblastoma in October 2022 at 40.
“The crucial element of this trial is that patients will have their immune system boosted by the drug before they have any other treatment, when they are fit and well enough to tolerate the immunotherapy,” said Dr. Paul Mulholland, the consultant medical oncologist leading the trial.
“We saw with Ben, the one patient recruited to the immunotherapy study, NeAT-GLIO, that he has had clear scans since having the treatment and the tumor hasn’t returned more than two and a half years later.”
Glioblastoma is widely considered the deadliest form of brain cancer, killing over 10,000 Americans each year.
Trotman met with Mulholland, who enrolled him in a clinical trial for ipilimumab. He was the first patient in the world — and the only person in the trial — to take the drug before glioblastoma treatment.
“Getting this diagnosis was the most traumatic experience,” said Trotman’s wife, Emily.
“We were grappling with the fact that Ben had gone from being apparently perfectly healthy to having months to live.”
After taking the drug, Ben underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Two years and eight months later, his scans are clear.
“It is very unusual to have a clear scan with glioblastoma, especially when he didn’t have the follow-up surgery that had been planned to remove all of the tumor that was initially visible on scans,” Mulholland said.
Ben and Emily Trotman wed in 2023, after he began his immunotherapy treatment.
“We hope that the immunotherapy and follow-up treatment Ben has had will hold his tumor at bay,” he added, “and it has so far, which we are delighted to see.”
In January 2023, months after his diagnosis, Ben married Emily. The couple welcomed a daughter, Mabel, earlier this year.
They enjoy taking her for walks along with their rescue dog, Jerry.
“We are trying to live as normal a life as possible,” Emily said.
“We are in a unique position of which there is no precedent and which comes with a great deal of uncertainty,” she continued. “We want to live each day as if it were our last, but we also want to plan for the future, which we hope to have.”
Researchers plan to recruit 16 glioblastoma patients like Ben over 18 months.
After taking ipilimumab, the trial participants will undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy and perhaps surgery depending on the extent of their disease.
Dr. Paul Mulholland and Dame Siobhain McDonagh, who raised funds for the new clinical trial of ipilimumab.
The trial is being funded by Dame Siobhain McDonagh, a member of the British Parliament, whose sister died of glioblastoma in 2023.
“My beloved sister Margaret was appalled to discover that there had been no advances in brain cancer treatment for decades when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma,” McDonagh said. “Changing this was Margaret’s final campaign and one that I have continued in her memory.”
Treatment will take place at the NIHR UCLH’s Clinical Research Facility at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
“I am delighted that this new trial, with the same immunotherapy drug I received, is going ahead and others will have the opportunity to take part,” Ben said. “It will give people newly diagnosed with glioblastoma some hope.”
