Carole Baskin’s ex-boyfriend took a restraining order out against her, leaked document reveals

‘Dead bodies can’t talk’

4 years ago

No one split opinion in Tiger King like Carole Baskin. Yeah, we knew Joe was a baddie but we all kind of liked him, Jeff Lowe was a prick through and through, and Doc Antle was just a bit, well, creepy. But there was always a duality to Carole that made it hard to understand her.

A Twitter thread sharing details about Carole and her ex have some serious similarities to those between Don and Carole. It all started with journalist Robert Moor’s Twitter thread, where he made a number of claims based upon his experience working on a podcast on the feud between Joe and Carole. He had been in contact with most people in the series at one point or another, and one such claim suggested that Carole may not be as innocent as she’d like people to believe:

12. After Don Lewis vanished, but before Carole married Howard, she dated a guy named Jay Baykal.

In 2002, Jay filed a restraining order against Carole, which includes some bizarre and suspicious-sounding details regarding Don's disappearance: https://t.co/k2uWfaT4is pic.twitter.com/hKsQIzCjeL

— 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫 (@robertmoor_) March 24, 2020

Carole was with a man named Jay in between Don and Howard, and Jay filed a restraining order against Carole in 2002. When you click through to the link, you are met with the papers that Jay filled out to apply for the injunction. When you get to the part when he has to justify why he’s applying for the restraining order, you see that he claims is worried Carole will either kill him or seriously injure him.

Here’s the transcript:

“[She] told me she will ‘kick my ass out of there, whatever it takes’. I honestly fear I am in danger of death or serious bodily injury because her prior husband is missing and presumed dead.

“One day she said to me when I asked her what happens if your husband shows up now? Her response was ‘dead bodies can not talk’. Her former husband’s daughter told me she could be dangerous and watch my back.

“Respondent carries two guns loaded always, one in her truck and one in her residence. She said she was a suspect in her husband’s disappearance. Recently (3-4 days ago) she told me human bones were found near lazy days RV center, she said she hopes its not on her property or she will be in deep shit.”

The claims have not been verified, and the last page featured in the link shows that the injunction was not granted due to “no facts of violence or specific credible threat of imminent fear”:

Carole’s take on events in Tiger King was that he flew away and was never seen again, putting it down to the latest in a string of weird behaviours exhibited by Don for the preceding weeks.

Carole has since posted a blog named Refuting Netflix Tiger King, in which she defends herself in several ways against the “misinformation about Big Cat Rescue”.

“There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers”, she wrote. “As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997.”

Carole said she “never threatened him and I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance.”