Apparently Tiger King's Carole Baskin's 'Missing' Husband... Is Actually Alive, According To Her
Remember Tiger King star Carole Baskin's "dead" husband Don Lewis?
Well, apparently he has been ALIVE THIS WHOLE TIME (according to Carole Baskin!)
Yes, the Netflix show that seemed everyone across the country watched at the start of the COVID lockdowns because we literally had nothing else to do, quickly became a viral hit. Suddenly everyone was talking about Tiger King and Joe Exotic and his back and forth drama with Carole Baskin.
One of the big takeaways from the series?
Joe Exotic --whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-- hinted that Baskin may have had something to do with her "missing" husband Don Lewis who mysteriously disappeared.
Maldonado even hinted that he believed Carole Baskin fed Lewis TO THE TIGERS. Which I distinctly remember had me and my roommates audibly screaming at the television "No way!"
Talk about an unexpected plot twist!
Baskin claims that an agent from the Department of Homeland Security allegedly provided a letter saying that they were able to locate Lewis and that he is "alive and well."
Carole Baskin was one of the main storylines in Netflix's "Tiger King" series. (Netflix)
LEWIS MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED WITHOUT A TRACE
Baskin had to wait five years after Lewis' disappearance for him to be legally declared dead. She formally submitted the paperwork the next day she was able to after the five years. The disappearance seemed suspicious for the main fact that his $5 million fortune - including his tiger sanctuaries (which we know Baskin is obsessed with) would all be given to her.
But guess what?
HE'S ALIVE!
My mind is blown.
Don Lewis was legally declared dead in 2002 after missing for five years. (Netflix)
BASKIN CASUALLY REVEALED THE NEWS DURING AN INTERVIEW
Baskin actually made the stunning revelation at the end of 2021 but apparently the whole entire world missed it.
During an appearance on ITV 's This Morning, Baskin explained that after the Tiger King 2 sequel was released, a special agent at the Department of Homeland Security provided a letter to the detective in charge of Lewis' disappearance that said that DHS located him and that he is "alive and well" and "living in Costa Rica."
"One of the really exciting things that came out of Tiger King 2 is that they produced a letter from Homeland Security and it says that a special agent in charge with the FBI at Homeland Security reached out to the sheriff's detective George Fernandez, which means this had to have happened after 2002, because Homeland Security wasn't even around until 2002," Baskin said.
"They said my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica. And yet all of this drama has been made about me having something to do with his disappearance, when Homeland Security has known where he is."
Despite the hinted Tiger King narrative and Joe Exotic's alleged claims, Baskin has always declared herself innocent of any wrongdoing.
Baskin provided screenshots of the alleged Department of Homeland Security agent's documents that they informed Detective Fernandez of Lewis's alleged whereabouts. The screenshots can be seen along with a blog post on Baskin's Big Cat Rescue page here.
As for Lewis, he is still legally declared dead and hasn't come forward to prove that he is in fact alive. So we only know what Baskin alleges Homeland Security told her
Carole Baskin told ITV that an agent at the Department of Homeland Security told detectives that they located Lewis and he is alive and well. (Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images for NightFly Entertainment, Ltd.)
TIGER KING HYSTERIA
Looking back at early to mid 2020 was such a wild time. I don't think we'd ever care about something like Tiger King unless it came out at that very moment.
The whole country seemed to be watching and talking about the Netflix series. It was the first show of the pandemic that went viral and suddenly Joe Exotic became a household name. Hell, just a year later he would be petitioning former President Trump to pardon him and release him from prison. (Exotic was found guilty of conspiring to kill Baskin and is currently serving 22 years in federal prison).
Just a truly wild story. We need to get someone from the Department of Homeland Security to tell us what they know about Don Lewis, how they found out he's still alive, and what he's up to.
It'd be the final chapter of the COVID pandemic that began with Tiger King and Don Lewis maybe being fed to tigers, only to then be found alive and sipping margaritas on a Costa Rican beach.