Don Lewis, the missing ex-husband of Tiger King actress Carole Baskin, is said to have been found alive and the news about the find is only now going viral.
According to Carole Baskin, her husband is indeed still alive. Don Lewis, the missing ex-husband of Tiger King actress, was reportedly discovered alive in Costa Rica, but the news is only now going viral, more than a year after it was made.
The New York Post writes that while appearing on ITV’s This Morning in November 2021, 61-year-old Baskin revealed that her ex, who was declared legally dead in 2002 after going missing a few years earlier, is alive and well. , was not made public until the sequel series premiered in November 2021, she told The Post.
In an email to The Post, Baskin pointed to her Big Cats Rescue site and said: “I wasn’t aware of it until ‘TK2’ aired.” In the released video, the owner of Big Cat Rescue said the Department of Homeland Security contacted her ex-husband.
According to a letter from Homeland Security prepared in response to Tiger King 2, “One of the fascinating things that came out of Tiger King 2 is that they drafted a letter from Homeland Security stating that a special agent in charge of Homeland Security’s FBI has contacted Sheriff’s Detective George. [Jorge] Fernandez, which means this must have happened after 2002, because Homeland Security wasn’t around until 2002. Baskin told the outlet at the time.
She added, “They said my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica.”
“And yet all this drama is made about me having something to do with his disappearance when Homeland Security knows where he is.”
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Lewis disappeared in 1997 at the age of 59; he would be 84 years old now if he were still alive. Post has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and Baskin for further comment. Lewis has not released any media statements denying reports that he has died.
ITV quoted Baskin as saying: “I don’t know how Homeland Security is saying he’s alive and well in Costa Rica, but I’m glad to hear it.”
“I didn’t think he was capable of supporting himself. He took about a million dollars to Costa Rica; I had agreed to let him do that to prove to himself that he could make a living.
In a blog post published on her Big Cats Rescue website in November 2021, Baskin and her soon-to-be husband Howard questioned why DHS reportedly gave Netflix its Season 2 locations, which she did not participate in.
“Also noteworthy is the document they show from Homeland Security, which was only established as an agency in 2002, five years after Don Lewis’s disappearance, stating that they had information that Don Lewis lived in Costa Rica.” they wrote at the time. “Why is this just showing up?”
Netflix has been contacted by Post for comment. Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue blog post addressed unproven fan theories and claims that she killed him and included photos of the alleged DHS documents from the show’s second season.
And they added, And for anyone who still wants to believe that Carole killed Don, please explain to us why you think you’re armchair detectives or that you’re better informed than the special agent in charge of the FBI in this Homeland Security Document, stating, “Don Lewis is currently alive and well in Costa Rica.”
“This was reported to Jorge Fernandez of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office by the FBI’s SAC, according to this letter. Although they purposely redacted the name and date of the SAC, there was no Homeland Security until November 2002, 5 years after Don Lewis left his home in Tampa, FL.
And despite the news being over a year old, it’s only now getting attention due to the currently trending posts on social media. Someone posted on Twitter“Was I the only one who didn’t know they thought Carole Baskin’s husband was living his best life in Costa Rica?!”
Another person wrote“Wait a minute I see people saying Carole Baskin’s husband was found ALIVE???”
Baskin reported that her ex-husband unexpectedly disappeared in 1997 on the first season of the hit Netflix docuseries, which debuted at the height of the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. The couple were married at the time of his disappearance, and reportedly she said she never heard from him again, according to CBS news. She later remarried and married Howard Baskin in 2004.
Many people assumed Baskin was involved in her ex’s disappearance after revealing her story on the show that followed the battle of imprisoned big cat owner Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic the Tiger King.
Some even started spreading outlandish conspiracy theories, such as the baseless idea that she was complicit in a plan to kill for rent. Exotic said she gave her ex to the tigers at Big Cat Rescue while serving 21 years for hiring a hit man to kill Baskin. Baskin joined a “secret” support group for celebrities going through similar experiences, as she was traumatized by it all.
The new allegations were refuted in a statement released Wednesday by the attorney for Baskin’s bitter rival, Exotic. “During the filming of Tiger King, painstaking efforts were made to find Don Lewis. They have all failed. He’s not alive’ attorney John M. Phillips posted on Facebook.
“Carole Baskin’s 2021 report was the further unsubstantiated claim. It is republished as if it had integrity. It doesn’t. The story of the Tiger King is full of lies, schemes and deception. We’re still waiting for a hearing on Joe’s freedom. The lies and scheme are laid out in his Motion for a New Trial. Read it. The work is done.”
Lewis’s family also believed that Baskin was responsible for his disappearance. They even paid for a TV ad during her 2020 premiere on Dancing on the US version of With The Stars to solicit information from viewers. “Do you know who did this and if Carole Baskin was involved?” That’s what Exotic’s lawyer, Phillips, said during the commercial.
However, Baskin has categorically refuted the allegations.
“I believe their actions are just a publicity stunt,” Big Cat Rescue’s owner said in an email to CNN after the commercial aired, “but if it helps us find Don, it will be a huge relief.” .”
Baskin, who was not featured in Tiger King season 2, has expressed her disgust at the Netflix story alleging she was involved in Lewis’ kidnapping.
“I told them to lose my number”, said Baskin Page six in May 2021, six months before the show was released. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
“Season 2, as expected and indicated in the trailer, continues to do everything it can to falsely convince the viewer that Carole was involved in the disappearance of Don Lewis,” the Baskins told the Los Angeles Times in a 2021 statement. In addition, they said the second season sparked a new “wave” of online critics hostile to the animal rights advocate.
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“Consistent with their previous lack of ethics, the producers continued the technique they used in Season 1 of having accusatory statements about Carole followed by images or videos of her chosen to deliberately amplify and magnify the accusations.” continued their statement.
“The result, predictably, is another wave of social media hate directed at Carole on release day.”
After the release of the second season trailer in November 2021, Baskin became so furious with Netflix that she and Royal Goode Productions filed a lawsuit against them. She claimed in the case that the events of her sequences in the trailer were inaccurate. She requested that the judge stop using videos of her for the upcoming season and have her removed from promotional materials, including teasers and trailers.
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