The newly-relaunched podcast Joe Exotic is also now an equally bingeable Netflix docuseries. The new show called Tiger King premiered on March 20, 2020—and it is filled with eccentric characters. (I’m talking lions, tigers, and bears-level wild.)
One particularly intriguing guy is Don Lewis. He was “animal rights activist” Carole Baskin’s husband and a self-made millionaire, but he doesn’t stick around long. Don was nearly 60 years old when he disappeared without a trace on Aug. 18, 1997. That’s where his story gets truly bonkers.
Then, and now, some suspected foul play.
His daughters from a previous marriage even speculated someone fed him to the tigers living in their big cat sanctuary. “It’s a perfect scenario to dispose of someone,” the oldest of his four children, Donna Pettis, told People in 1998. “We were upset that the cops didn’t test the DNA on the meat grinder.”
Carole reported Don missing, and police and a private eye started investigating.
Don was last seen wearing a $1 T-shirt from Kmart and blue jeans bought at a yard sale, according to the Tampa Bay Times. His 1989 Dodge van was found at a private airport 40 miles from Wildlife on Easy Street within two days of his wife reporting him missing. Police launched an investigation and Carole hired her own private eye, but nobody uncovered evidence of foul play or really any significant evidence whatsoever.
“The investigation has not given us a direction on where to look for clues,” Hillsborough Sheriff’s Sgt. John Marsicano, who flew to Costa Rica looking for him in 1997, told the Tampa Bay Times. “I wish we had a whole lot more,” he added. “We have looked in every conceivable direction.”
Did Don orchestrate his own disappearance?
One theory focuses on Don as the main suspect. “Some people who knew him thought the eccentric animal lover might have decided to just get away from things for a while,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. This theory made the rounds soon after Don disappeared, but investigators moved onto other leads.
Several Redditors dug up the cold case and added theories.
The unresolved disappearance post begins: “No sign of him has been seen since and he was declared dead in 2002… It’s a little hard to find unbiased information on his disappearance since the wildlife rescue has attracted a lot of controversy.”
Redditor LeopardLady13 revisited Don’s daughter’s theory: “Honestly, that was my first thought…Why /didn’t/ they check the meat grinder? It honestly sounds to me like whoever did this may have paid off the police department to keep their noses out of the case.”
It drew some attention, and another Redditor added: “Probably because there was no evidence of foul play, no reason to suspect that he had been murdered and ground up, and reason (at the time) to believe he had left the country.”
Don was mysterious alive, too.
He made his $6-million fortune in trucking and real estate. In spite of his riches, he was known to dumpster-dive, look for food in trash bins, and buy clothing from yard sales. He didn’t have a college degree, but he outsmarted many investors. He had dealings and connections in Costa Rica.
Don and Carole married in 1991 after carrying on an affair for years.
Both were married to other people when they first met. “I just fell in love with him at first sight,” Carole Lewis, who met him at 19, told Tampa Bay Times. They had a courthouse ceremony and he gave her a $14 wedding ring. Shortly after they married, the couple started Wildlife on Easy Street. Their 40-acre exotic cats sanctuarywas located near their home in Citrus Park.
Don was presumed dead in 2002.
After five years of searching, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office are keeping the case open but a judge declared Don dead. However, no body was recovered and the case remains unsolved today.
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