Carole Baskin from Netflix’s hit docuseries Tiger King has penned a 3,000 word blog post addressing her ex-husband’s disappearance and “refuting” the show and it’s “ludicrous” theory.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is the latest docuseries to hit Netflix from the creators of Fyre (the documentary, NOT the festival). It follows the story of Joe Schriebvogel aka Joe Exotic aka the “Tiger King,” a feline-obsessed mullet-wearing man who ended up in jail for allegedly organising a hit on a rival. It’s a truly wild watch, but it looks like the aftermath is just as spicy as the series itself.
If you haven’t already watched the docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, I suggest you stop reading this now and come back when you’re finished. This story will contain spoilers, you have been warned.
Within days of it’s release, the world went wild for this true crime docuseries, which seems to be exactly what we all needed to get through self-isolation. But not everyone is stoked with how the series came out, especially not Carole Baskin.
Baskin, who is one of the series’ stars, penned a lengthy blog post on her website Big Cat Rescue, in which she attempts to clear her name and clarify what really happened around her ex-husband Don Lewis’ strange disappearance back in 1997.
A major theory presented in the series is that Carole was responsible for her ex-husband’s disappearance, claiming she used a meat grinder to dispose of his body before feeding him to the cats. It’s a pretty hefty accusation to make, and if Carole is to be believed, it’s a false one at that.
Baskin refutes this by asserting that her meat grinder was actually one of those “little tabletop, hand crank things.”
“Meat had to first be cut into one inch cubes like you see here to go through it. The idea that a human body and skeleton could be put through it is idiotic. But the Netflix directors did not care. They just showed a bigger grinder,” she writes.
Carole continues to explain that this theory was sparked long before the now-viral Netflix series, claiming that Don’s ex-wife Gladys and her daughter started the rumour.
“Gladys and the daughters did everything they could to make life difficult for me after Don disappeared, they spread this rumour that they thought I had ground Don up and fed him to the cats.”
Throughout the 3,000+ word blog post, Carole also claims that Don’s behaviour was “strange” prior to his disappearance, suspecting that he could’ve suffered from Alzheimer’s or a similar condition.
“Don’s behaviour was gradually showing signs of mental deterioration,” Carole said. “He deteriorated into dumpster diving and even got stuck in a dumpster and called me crying because he did not know where he was.”
“His behaviour became increasing strange. He started refusing to use the bathroom and defecating outside. He brought in a homeless man to stay in our house.”
She also asserts that he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, however, she was unaware of his alleged diagnosis until after his disappearance when she found the prescription while looking for clues.
But she didn’t stop there. She continues the extensive essay by describing how Don travelled to Costa Rica one week out of every month.
“Don was a man who wanted to have sex daily. He would go to Costa Rica during the week I was having my menstrual cycle. I accepted this as something I had to live with.”
While this might seem like a strange and weirdly intimate detail, Carole believes that it was her behaviour during this time that pushed Don to file for a (failed) restraining order.
“During the week he was away, I would haul off the property as much of the junk as I could,” Carole writes. “Wendell told Don I was doing this.”
“Don tried calling the police to get them to stop me. They told him he would need a restraining order,” she writes. “It is unclear if it was Don’s idea that to get a restraining order he should say I threatened him or if someone like Wendell suggested that. Don filed for the order June 20, 1997 and it was denied.”
To conclude the lengthy explanation of her side of the wild story, Carole declares she “never threatened him and [she] certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance.”
You can read the full blog post, entitled Refuting Netflix Tiger King here.
