The crazy theories about what happened to Tiger King’s Carole Baskin’s husband

Ok but did she actually feed him to the tigers or?

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Tiger King on Netflix is the craziest documentary to be released in a long time – there’s no denying it. What started out as a small-time investigation into the world of big cat owners twisted so out of control even the Netflix producers of the show were probably shook at what they were filming. But one huge question that we NEED answering is, what the hell happened to Carole Baskin’s husband Don Lewis?!

The theories are insane. Did he disappear? Has he gone to Costa Rica? DID SHE FEED HIM TO THE TIGERS?! Of course they are all just speculation and the case has never been solved, but here are all the crazy theories about what happened to Don Lewis. Strap in, it’s a lot.

The craziest theory is that Carole Baskin fed Don Lewis to the tigers

It feels as though the main theory people are backing is that Carole killed her husband Don Lewis and then fed him to the tigers at Big Cat Rescue.

In the Tiger King Netflix documentary, Mark McCarthy (a wildlife sanctuary owner), claims he spoke to Don Lewis just weeks before he went missing and Don apparently said he felt his life was in danger. The documentary goes on to say there are a lot of stories circulating that Carole has something to do with his disappearance, but nobody can prove it.

Don’s ex wife and her daughters claim Don was frightened of Carole. He also allegedly had a restraining order against her. The order claims Carole had threatened to kill Don Lewis in the past but the injunction was denied because of free speech. This happened in June and Don disappeared in August.

Don Lewis, Jack Donald Lewis, Carole Baskin, husband, death, disappearance, what happened, theories, Tiger King, Netflix, documentary, Big Cat Rescue, tigers, Joe Exotic

via Netflix

Stories had been circulating about Carole feeding Don to the tigers, not helped by Joe Exotic writing a song called “Here Kitty Kitty” all about Carole “killing” Don. In the music video he had a lookalike Carole feed a fake body to tigers. Carole obviously denies the wild claims, calling them “totally outlandish”.

Don Lewis, Jack Donald Lewis, Carole Baskin, husband, death, disappearance, what happened, theories, Tiger King, Netflix, documentary, Big Cat Rescue, tigers, Joe Exotic

via Netflix

Or that he’s in the septic tank

Another theory is that Don Lewis was put in a septic tank that was underneath one of the buildings at Big Cat Rescue. Joe Exotic  himself seems to believe that Carole killed Don Lewis somehow and now he’s in the tank.

Whether it be Carole or someone completely different, Don’s attorney believes someone killed Don. People are also sceptical because Carole had Don declared as dead as soon as it was legal for her to do so (five years after his disappearance) – despite there being no real evidence he had died. She also prepared his power of attorney which meant she had control over the estate. Declaring him as dead then activated his will and meant Carole was entitled to everything.

Don Lewis fled to Costa Rica with all the money

Carole claims the last thing Don said to her was that he was leaving “early early” in the morning to go to Costa Rica. She says that was the last she saw of her then husband. He was apparently planning on shipping cars there.

Don’s handyman says in the documentary that Don told him: “If I can pull this off it will be the slickest thing I ever did”. Don’s mechanic even claimed Don had asked him to go to Costa Rica with him. It was believed his plan was to move his and Carole’s wildlife sanctuary to Costa Rica. Don’s assistant claimed he flew commercially from Miami to Costa Rica.

Gladys, Don’s ex wife, claims he had told her he was “done” with Carole and was divorcing her. Don’s business associate also said Don wanted a divorce and then he was never seen again. His business associate claims in the documentary that he thought Don believed Carole wanted his money and he was setting up his assets to get a divorce and leave Carole with nothing.

Don reportedly had another girlfriend in Costa Rica, so it’s no surprise people believe he took off with his millions, leaving Carole behind.

He attempted to go to Costa Rica but was in an airplane accident

Don owned his own small airplanes and his van was found abandoned at an airport, which led a lot of people to think he had tried to fly himself to Costa Rica. However, in Tiger King, it is revealed as being “impossible” to fly those size and types of planes that far non-stop.

Don Lewis, Jack Donald Lewis, Carole Baskin, husband, death, disappearance, what happened, theories, Tiger King, Netflix, documentary, Big Cat Rescue, tigers, Joe Exotic

via Netflix

Investigators said there was no evidence Don flew to Costa Rica. There was no flight record, but Carole claims he never flew legitimately as he lost his pilot’s license. She says he would never record his flights, and he would fly below radar levels.

He was pushed out of an airplane window

Don’s attorney, Joseph Fritz, claims during the documentary that he was told Don was going to evaluate some new plane that was for sale. He then casually says: “I was told he was pushed out of the plane out of the door 50-feet over the gulf on the way out”. OK THEN?!

Tiger King, Netflix

via Netflix

He was put through the meat grinder

In the Netflix documentary it is claimed that Don’s children requested the meat grinder at Big Cat Rescue be DNA tested, but the Sherif’s office wouldn’t do it. Carole says “this became that wholly exciting thing that I ran him through that grinder, but I couldn’t have run his hand through that grinder”. She says the grinder would be way too small to do something like that, so this is probably just another crazy theory people plucked up.

On her website, Carole calls the meat grinder theory “the most ludicrous of all lies”.

Don Lewis genuinely just went missing

A boring theory but you know, actually perfectly reasonable. He could have just gone missing and he’s never been found. Detectives interviewed in Tiger King said in the first few weeks they believed there might have been foul play but there might have been no foul play whatsoever, or the foul play was by a complete stranger. There seems to be enough weird people in this small area of the US to have weirder things happen. Maybe something did happen when he drove to the airport, or his van was just found there and he’s disappeared off the face of the earth.

In the documentary it is said that Carole Baskin “set the stage” to make it look like he disappeared and was never seen again. She said he was “never himself again” after a previous plane crash, he might not know who or where he is and could even be suffering from dementia. Other interviewees in the Tiger King documentary say all of this is false.

Don Lewis, Jack Donald Lewis, Carole Baskin, husband, death, disappearance, what happened, theories, Tiger King, Netflix, documentary, Big Cat Rescue, tigers, Joe Exotic

via Netflix

Joe Exotic did this too

Joe Exotic took the wrap for absolutely everything else, so why not this too? There probably are a lot of people who believe Joe had something to do with the disappearance of Don Lewis. Maybe to frame Carole further? Taunt her even more? Show her what he could do? Who knows.

On Carole’s website, she has created a page called “refuting Netflix Tiger King”. She says: “Don was not easy to live with and like most couples we had our moments. But I never threatened him and I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance. When he disappeared, I did everything I could to assist the police. I encouraged them to check out the rumours from Costa Rica, and separately I hired a private investigator.”

Netflix, we are awaiting the documentary on this too.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is available to watch on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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