Between meetings, cooking shows and movies, Tiger King: Murder, Madness and Mayhem certainly stands out in Netflix’s extensive catalog of original content. The criminal docuseries follow the story of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, known as Joe Exotic, a breeder of large cats. Although most of the series focuses on his career with lions, tigers and bears, and the murder plan for which he was put behind bars, there is a large part of the story which could have been a fully fledged docusery.
Joe Exotic made no secret of his negative feelings for Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida. Besides the rivals in the big cat game, he believed that Baskin had killed her husband Jack Donald Lewis, who had gone by Don Lewis. She maintained her innocence for more than 20 years, and without any evidence linking her to the alleged murder, the cold matter remains open.
Carole Baskin’s relationship with Don Lewis
According to the documentary, Baskin grew up poor, living mainly in mobile homes. She married a violent man who fathered her daughter, Jamie Murdock. Baskin met Lewis, a multimillionaire, in 1981, when she was 20 and he was 42 years old. Baskin and Lewis were married to other people at the time, and he also had children. They met when Lewis was driving on the street and he saw Baskin crying on the side of the road after she had an argument with her husband. After being convincing, she got into his car because he needed to talk to someone. They spent the night together.
When Baskin was 24, she left her husband to be with Lewis. The two entered the world of big cats in 1992 when they bought a bobcat. From there, their number of animals increased with more lynxes and lynxes, and they opened the Wildlife on Easy Street sanctuary, which eventually became Big Cat Rescue. The couple began to disagree and discuss the direction of their business – Baskin wanted to collect and love animals, while Lewis saw it more as a breeding and monetary opportunity.
There has been talk of Lewis having a wandering eye and not being able to settle down with one woman. There were rumors that he had a mistress in Costa Rica. Baskin was also not seen in a big light, because many thought that she was hungry for her money. Towards the end, there was also talk of a divorce, and it was suspected that he was preparing his property so as not to lose everything when they separated.
In Tiger king, we learn that Lewis gave his executive assistant Anne McQueen an envelope containing documents, saying to give it to the police if something happened to him. It contained a copy of the restraining order that Lewis filed against Baskin for threatening to kill him for the second time. The June 1997 prohibition order indicated that Baskin had his own pistol and hid his pistol. He did not get protection because the threats were covered by the First Amendment. Baskin said she never threatened him.
Lewis’ disappearance
Lewis was last seen on August 18, 1997. According to Baskin, the last thing he said to him was that he was leaving “early, early, early” the next day to transport cars to Costa Rica. He was reported missing on August 19, 1997, and three or four days later, his abandoned van was found at the airport with the keys and his briefcase inside. Not exactly the trail you want to leave if you’re deliberately trying to disappear, right?
However, Baskin has suspicions on his part – one being that Lewis could have staged his own disappearance, according to a 1998 article in People.
There is no evidence that Lewis flew to Costa Rica. Baskin had told the press about a bad crash he had previously caused him to never be the same again and have memory problems. But other people close to Lewis said it was not true. It is very clear that some people thought that she was preparing the ground for him to suffer from dementia, so one might believe that he has just disappeared.
After the Netflix docuseries were released, Baskin called on Big Cat Rescue to refute things in Tiger King. She explained that someone had mentioned Alzheimer’s disease to her and that it was not a commonly used word at the time. She brought Lewis to see her psychiatrist, who referred them to another doctor in the same building. This doctor diagnosed Lewis’ bipolar disorder and gave him a prescription. Baskin stated that his behavior became more bizarre and that he disappeared before he could go to a specialist.
The Meat Grinder Theory
There are various theories about Baskin’s involvement in the disappearance of her husband. One is that there was a septic tank under a sanctuary building, and it was placed in it. Another is that she killed her husband, ground her body parts in an on-site meat grinder, and fed him to the big cats.
“It’s a perfect scenario to get rid of someone,” said Donna Pettis, the oldest of Lewis’ children. People. “We were upset that the cops didn’t test the DNA on the meat grinder.”
Baskin said People let his tigers eat meat, not people.
Joe Exotic, who firmly believes that Baskin contributed to the disappearance of her husband, is also a budding country music star who has directed more than a dozen music videos. He performed a song called “Here Kitty Kitty” about Baskin who allegedly killed her husband and fed him big cats. A Baskin lookalike is seen in the clips that feed Lewis’ body parts.
It should be noted that Baskin’s brother was a member of the sheriff’s office. Baskin said she “never really knew” her brother because of their six-year age gap. However, the day Lewis disappeared, Baskin left Wildlife on Easy Street to collect cat milk at 3 a.m. Her car broke down and she ran into her brother and another deputy. This assistant brought Baskin home. The last time she said she saw her husband was a few hours later.
In a 2005 article in Tampa Bay TimesLewis’ daughter Lynda Sanchez said her father never stayed 24 hours without calling, even when he was on a business trip.
“Each of us … has volunteered to take a lie test,” said Sanchez. “Carole in the only one who won’t take it.”
The Aftermath
Now is the time to talk about money because we know Lewis had a lot of it and that could easily be a reason for his disappearance. There were two wills and two powers of attorney. McQueen, Lewis’ executive assistant, was the executor and power of lawyers for Lewis and Baskin. However, on the new documents produced by Baskin, the power of attorney was sent to her, so she had a power of attorney.
What drove people to raise their eyebrows was a sentence at the top of Lewis’ document: “This lasting family power of attorney will not be affected by any disability or disappearance.”
Lewis’ lawyer said that in his 37 years of practice, he had never seen the power of attorney document specify “or the disappearance”, making this choice of words “terribly unusual”.
Since Lewis had disappeared and had not technically died, he could not be declared legally deceased until five years after his disappearance. Baskin had him legally declared dead five years and one day after his disappearance. The story accompanying the money and assets becomes messy, because it has two sides: the one that Lewis’ ex-wife and children tell, and the one that Baskin tells.
According to his ex-wife and children, Baskin took assets from their names and put them in his name. Baskin said Lewis renounced his children after trying to bring him to justice because they did not think their mother had obtained a fair settlement during the divorce. Baskin said Lewis asked for their trusts to be canceled, but Baskin decided not to because she thought he would feel different one day.
Just to be clear, there is no evidence that Baskin was involved in the disappearance of Don Lewis; the case is still open. All we’re saying is we didn’t think the big cats saga could this wild.