Dog the Bounty Hunter 'smoked crack like cigarettes' and neglected her, says daughter Lyssa: 'I was lonely'
Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman's daughter, Lyssa wrote about her childhood with her father in her 2013 autobiography, 'Walking on Eggshells: Discovering Strength and Courage Amid Chaos'.
Lyssa is currently feuding with her father over his relationship with Moon Angell. Chapman's children have spoken out about his relationship with Angell and how they thought it was disrespectful to his late wife Beth who had been friends with Angell.
In her 2013 autobiography, Lyssa -- called Baby Lyssa to differentiate from her mother, Lyssa Brittain, Chapman's third wife -- wrote that her mother "loved to party," while her dad "wasn't always there" because of work and tension with Brittain.
She wrote that she had a "special bond" with Chapman and that she was his "Baby Lyssa". When Lyssa was two years old, her mother moved out. Following this Lyssa lived with Chapman and her two older siblings, Barbara and Tucker.
In the autobiography, Lyssa claims she remembers seeing "drug paraphernalia" around the house when she was five years old. She alleges that her father turned to "hard drugs" by the time she was in second grade.
Lyssa wrote, "At about this same time Dad became more and more distracted, and business dropped off significantly. Dad, who had been our rock, was becoming irresponsible," and claimed Chapman "began smoking a crack pipe like it was a cigarette.”
She also wrote that Chapman had since said that "he had no idea what crack was." Lyssa wrote, "That maybe explains why when Dad first started smoking crack (from my perspective) he never tried to hide it.”
She also wrote that Chapman's drug addiction took such a hold that she "spent the entire fourth-grade year home alone," and that she rarely saw her father. She wrote, “I was left pretty much to fend for myself. With no one paying attention to household chores, conditions soon became so bad that there was little food, no clean clothes or dishes, and maggots flourished in the dishwasher. Yes, maggots.”
Lyssa continued: “Most days I’d wake up on the filthy couch in our living room. Then I’d find a bag of Cheetos somewhere, go back to the living room, and turn on the television. I really was as lonely and isolated as a child could be.”
When she was 10 years old, Lyssa moved in with her mother and did not see her father for over six years. She gave birth to her first daughter, Abbie, when she was fifteen years old and struggled with drug use and homelessness.
She explained: “You cannot imagine how grateful I was when dad sent plane tickets for Abbie and Me. I was really looking forward to a new life, a new start.” Lyssa’s homecoming at age 17 was captured for a season 2 episode of 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' titled 'Baby’s Back in Town.'
Despite her struggles, Lyssa commended her father in the memoir. She wrote: “My dad is not perfect, but no dad, no person, is. Dad has his own challenges, but I also know that he does the best he can -- which usually is pretty darn good.”
Chapman, 67, and Lyssa have appeared on 'Dog The Bounty Hunter' and 'Dog’s Most Wanted' together.