Carole Baskin Didn’t Kill Her Husband! Or Did She? An update on the long lasting mystery

ALYSSA TILLMAN ALYSSA.TILLMAN.22@CNU.EDU

During a resurfaced November 2021 interview with ITV’s “This Morning” talk show, Carol Baskin alleged that her ex, who was declared legally dead in 2002, was actually alive and well. Baskin rose to fame with the 2020 premiere of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, which explored the world of big-cat breeding. The show centered on “Joe Exotic”, a breeder and former zoo owner who is now in prison, and his longtime feud with Baskin. After the series’ debut, there was much speculation that Baskin had something to do with Lewis’ death when he disappeared six years after the couple’s wedding. She has never been charged and has denied being involved with his disappearance.

Baskin claimed that her missing ex-husband, Don Lewis, was found alive in Costa Rica, but almost two years later, the discovery is just now going viral. Lewis disappeared in 1997 when he was 59, and would be 84 if he’s still alive today. He has not made any public appearances or statements that would debunk the rumors of his death.

Lewis’ vanishing in 1997 is chronicled in Netflix’s series Tiger King, and the theory that Lewis was alive was first floated in the sequel. In the series, producers show documents, allegedly from the Department of Homeland Security, that describe Lewis’ whereabouts in Costa Rica. It’s unclear if the documents are legitimate. Carole said in an interview with

People Magazine that she was unaware of the documents until they were aired on the show, and that she had contacted Homeland Security asking for a copy of the documents.

The New York Post recently reached out to law enforcement regarding Lewis’ disappearance. Fentress Fountain, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, told The Post that “The investigation into Don Lewis’ disappearance remains a priority for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, as do all missing person cases”. There’s still an open missing-persons case for Lewis, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s

Office told multiple news outlets that the office still considers Lewis missing.