Carole Baskin Speaks out About Why She's Not Cooperating in Search for Missing Husband Don Lewis
Amid renewed scrutiny following the Tiger King Season 2 premiere, Carole Baskin is again responding to rumors that she had something to do with her ex-husband Don Lewis' disappearance. The big cat enthusiast tells TMZ she's done everything in her power to find the whereabouts of her ex-husband, and because of this, she feels no need to further comply with the new investigation.
Lewis went missing in the 1990s, never to be seen in person again. In both Season 1 and 2 of Netflix's Tiger King documentary series, multiple rumors circle that Baskin somehow was involved in her former husband's missing status –– many fans, inspired by propaganda pushed by Joe Exotic, believe she murdered her husband and fed his body to the following of large felines she keeps at her rescue.
As seen in the second installment, Moises Garcia, a detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, earns a great amount of camera time as he discusses the missing person's case, which was recently reopened. Though, Garcia paints a picture that says Baskin doesn't have an interest in cooperating with the investigation for whatever reason.
Baskin tells the outlet: "There is no one who has more to gain from solving the mystery of Don's disappearance than I do because it would clear my name and stop the idiotic rumors. There is nothing that I know that is not either in the Sheriff's files or in the diary I have published at SaveTheCats.org and no way I am going to have a clearer memory or anything to add twenty-four years later." Of her own efforts, Baskin says she's spent hundreds of hours looking through documents, handing over possible evidence to authorities, and at one point, she offered a $100k reward for his discovery.
The Department of Homeland Security, according to the documentary, reports Lewis has been found alive and well living in Costa Rica. To which, Baskin recently responded telling ITV's This Morning that she hopes the findings are true. Garcia seems determined to stay on the case, adding, "The only person in this case who is not considered a suspect and a person of interest is myself. Everyone else is a possibility, with Carole being a high possibility."