Let's Examine All the Evidence Surrounding Carole Baskin's Husband's Disappearance, Shall We?

Netflix’s Tiger King is clearly the only thing getting America through these long days of social isolation, so it’s time to interrupt your busy schedule of not wearing pants to solve the disappearance of Don Lewis. As a reminder, Don was (is?!) the first husband of Big Cat Rescue’s Carole Baskin, and he mysteriously went missing over 20 years ago. Carole’s various rivals (including Joe Exotic) are convinced that she killed Don and fed his body to the tigers, and frankly the entire internet seems to be right there with him. Including Chrissy Teigen:

It is my opinion that I believe someone named don has maybe gone through a woman named carole’s meat grinder for sure https://t.co/xLRzcVznNN

And Cardi B:

Carol you think you slick bitch 😒😒😒😒

To be clear, there is no substantiated evidence that Carole had anything to do with Don vanishing into thin air, and the police have not brought any charges against her—neither back in the late ’90s nor now. But that hasn’t stopped Tiger King fans from fully spiraling. The details *do* seem pretty sus—like, more sus than Joe Exotic’s tiger-themed lube. Anyway, if you’re in the mood to spend the next month solving Don’s disappearance from the comfort of your couch, you’re probably going to need a timeline to get you started so here goes.

June 1997

Don Lewis files a restraining order against Carole, claiming she threatened to kill him and was in possession of two guns. The restraining order was rejected because ~free speech~ and also because ~Florida~.

August 18, 1997

Don Lewis disappears just two months after filing the restraining order against Carole. That day, he was supposed to deliver real estate signs to his lawyer’s office. The signs were left before the office opened, and no one saw Don.

August 19, 1997

Carole reports Don missing. Also, is now a good time to mention that, according to the docuseries, Don’s family claims he was afraid of her? And that Don’s friends claim he was planning to divorce her? And that Don was a multi-millionaire who was cheating on Carole? Cool.

August 20, 1997

Don’s van is found at the Pilot Country Airport in Springhill, Florida, which is about 40 miles away from his animal sanctuary. As we see in Tiger King, there’s some chatter that he could have taken a plane and illegally flown to Costa Rica in some kind of elaborate escape, but no one really seems to be buy this theory. When police eventually head down to Costa Rica to determine his whereabouts, they find nothing.

August 23, 1998

Carole is asked to take a polygraph test in the midst of a ton of drama about Don’s disappearance and his considerable estate, but declines on the advice of her attorney. She tells Tampa Bay Times that if she had things her way, she’d let detectives search the wildlife sanctuary and inspect the meat freezers, saying “I would rather be cooperative, but all the legal advice is against it.”

December 7, 1998

Don’s kids go public with their theory that Carole fed Don to the wild cats during an interview with People. “It’s a perfect scenario to dispose of someone,” Donna Pettis says. “We were upset that the cops didn’t test the DNA on the meat grinder.”

Carole’s response to that? “My tigers eat meat; they don’t eat people. There would be bones and remains of my husband out there. I’m amazed that people would even think such a thing.”

Circa 2002

Don is declared dead five years after he vanishes. According to Tiger King, since he’s dead rather than “missing,” Carole gains access to his will, of which she happens to be the executor. There’s a lot of shady allegations about her forging these documents in the docuseries, but these claims are unsubstantiated.

Circa 2011

Per the New York Times, the police again ask Carole to take a polygraph. She again refuses.

March 31, 2020

In the wake of Tiger King’s popularity, Carole hops online and denies claims she had anything to do with Don’s disappearance, writing in a blog post:

April 1, 2020

Sheriff Chad Chronister from Hillsborough County in Florida tells the New York Times that they still have Don’s disappearance “labeled a missing persons case,” and that they “don’t have any type of evidence, not one piece, that suggests that he was killed.” However, Sheriff Chronister has met with homicide supervisors and his department is combing through new tips.

In other words, the case is reopened. Please go ahead and solve it, thanks.

Since @netflix and #Covid19 #Quarantine has made #TigerKing all the rage, I figured it was a good time to ask for new leads. #CaroleBaskin #DonLewis #Netflix #Tiger #BigCatRescue #JoeExotic #TigerKingNetflix #HCSO pic.twitter.com/LHoJcBZVOI

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