A Florida Sheriff Is Looking for New Tips About Carole Baskin’s Missing Husband, Don Lewis

From Cosmopolitan

• Netflix’s Tiger King docuseries has sparked new interest in the lives of former zoo owner Joe Exotic and his rival Carole Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue.

• Part of the docuseries focused on Carole and her marriage to millionaire Don Lewis.

• Don mysteriously disappeared in 1997.

• Joe Exotic used his disappearance against Carole, suggesting she killed him and fed him to her tigers.

If you’re as obsessed with Netflix’s Tiger King as the rest of the world is, sit down and get comfy because we might have a new installment of the docuseries developing right before our very eyes. After seeing Netflix fans become totally consumed with private zoo owner/convicted criminal Joe Exotic and his rival Carole Baskin, a Florida sheriff just called for new tips in the disappearance of Carole’s late husband, Don Lewis.

A quick refresher on Carole and Don: Don was a millionaire who left his wife and kids to be with Carole. In 1997, Don went missing and Carole reported it to the police. Soon after, Don’s van was found at the airport, so many people speculated he took one of his private planes on an uncharted trip to Costa Rica. Nothing came of the investigation. But since Carole owns Big Cat Rescue, an organization that seeks to end abuse and captivity of big cats, and posed a threat to Joe Exotic’s livelihood, Joe began to circulate claims that Carole was involved in Don’s death. Joe even released a music video implying that Carole fed Don’s body to her tigers, which she refuted.

Since this case remains unsolved, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister capitalized on all this new interest and called for tips. He tweeted, “Since @Netflix and #Covid19 #Quarantine has made #TigerKing all the rage, I figured it was a good time to ask for new leads.” Appreciate the hustle.

Earlier this month, Tiger King directors Rebecca Chaiklin and Eric Goode spoke with Esquire about the difficulties they faced when investigating Don’s disappearance. Chaiklin said, “We’ve done so many things that we were trying to follow up on, and there’s just such a lack of evidence that it’s really difficult to pursue it further.”

So, uh, hopefully, the sheriff has better luck because we need answers!

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