I shit you not, I literally said to a mate over the weekend, “Everyone’s convinced that Carole Baskin from Tiger King murdered her husband by feeding him to the tigers. I wonder if they’re going to open an investigation into it IRL, like they did with the Chris Dawson case after the Teacher’s Pet podcast went viral.”
Apparently this conversation was a premonition on my part because Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister has announced that the viral Netflix series has prompted his department to search for any new leads in the disappearance of Baskin’s husband, Jack “Don” Lewis.
“Since @netflix and #Covid19 #Quarantine has made #TigerKing all the rage, I figured it was a good time to ask for new leads,” he tweeted alongside a photo asking for help solving the cold case.
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
— Chad Chronister (@ChadChronister) March 30, 2020
Baskin has continually denied allegations that she killed her husband, releasing a statement in which she denounced the documentary’s portrayal of her.
It’s worth noting that no one has has been charged in connection with his disappearance, although he was declared legally dead five years after he vanished.
Meanwhile, her rival Joe Exotic has suggested that Baskin fed Lewis to her tigers, a theory that has gone viral on social media, but she has since called that allegation “the most ludicrous of all the lies.”
She added, “As 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. And the media loved it. The meat grinder shown in the video was enormous. Our meat grinder was one of those little tabletop, hand crank things, like you’d have in your kitchen at home.”
Tiger King fans recently launched a petition to call on the FBI to re-examine the evidence in the case of Lewis’ disappearance.
“It’s obvious that Carole did, in fact, murder her millionaire husband and feed his remains to tigers,” the petition reads, referencing jokes she had made that suggest she’s responsible.
There’s also another petition to have Donald Trump pardon Joe Exotic, while a third is asking for the Big Cat Safety Act to be passed in order to stop the private breeding of big cats.
