Netflix's Tiger King is a whirlwind rollercoaster of a ride, and some of the most shocking twists center around Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin, and her missing ex-husband, Don Lewis.
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00:00Netflix's Tiger King is a whirlwind roller coaster of a ride, and some of the most shocking
00:05twists center around Big Cat Rescue CEO Carol Baskin and her missing ex-husband, Don Lewis.
00:12According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Lewis disappeared in 1997 and was
00:16declared legally dead five years later.
00:19His body has never been found.
00:21Baskin's arch-nemesis Joe Exotic is convinced that Baskin did the deed herself.
00:26He even made an entire music video based around his theory that Baskin killed her husband
00:31and fed his remains to the tigers at Big Cat Rescue.
00:34Lewis' disappearance is examined in detail in Episode 3 of Tiger King, which makes it
00:39clear that Joe Exotic definitely isn't the only person who thinks Baskin is guilty.
00:44Other people also stepped forward to express their suspicions, including Lewis' lawyer,
00:48secretary, ex-wife, and daughters.
00:51Baskin, who also has a big role in the documentary, calmly answered all of the Tiger King producers'
00:56questions about the case, always insisting upon her innocence.
00:59But if you go by how the documentary presents things, there are reasons to be suspicious.
01:04But as Carol put it way back in 1998, when the spotlight was on her as the story was
01:09unfolding,
01:10"'Without a body, there is nothing I can do to clear my name.'"
01:13"'There's no way that I can finally say, gee, I didn't do it.'"
01:17Even today, the mystery is still continuing to unravel.
01:20In April 2020, a body language expert shared some insight about Baskin's Tiger King interviews.
01:26Even though Carol Baskin seems eerily calm while discussing her ex-husband in Tiger King,
01:30psychologist and body language analyst Bruce Durham has shared his opinion that Baskin's
01:35gestures reveal that she might be hiding something.
01:38"'Two and two's not equal in four here, Carol.'"
01:40According to him, one clue that she's keeping a secret of some sort is all in the lips,
01:46specifically the fact that she presses them together when asked about rumors that she
01:50threatened her husband before his disappearance.
01:52In Durham's analysis, the expert alleged that this is a compelling sign of someone
01:57hiding something that they're thinking about, but don't want to say.
02:00"'She is stopping herself saying something there.
02:03If I'd seen that lip pump right, I wouldn't move an inch.
02:06What were you thinking there, Carol?
02:07Tell us a bit more.'"
02:08Durham also noticed something interesting when Baskin was asked why she never had a
02:12memorial ceremony for her missing, presumed dead husband.
02:16To Durham, the fact that she doesn't look down and search for memories while discussing
02:20this is a clue that there's more to the story than she's letting on.
02:24According to him, people tend to look down when they're searching for memories, or digging
02:28back through emotional moments in their life.
02:30Carol, he claims, doesn't do that.
02:33"'Down here is, yeah, I would feel that emotion, that empathy.
02:36I'm looking for her to look down, and she looks straight ahead.
02:40She looks straight ahead at the interviewer.'"
02:43In Tiger King, Baskin recalls receiving the letter about Lewis being declared dead.
02:48She says she got the letter in the morning, and the next thing she knew, it was nighttime.
02:52"'I remember looking out the window, and then the next time I remembered anything, it was
02:57pitch black outside.
02:58It was just like I had just completely zoned out.'"
03:01If that's the case, Durham finds it suspicious that Carol doesn't appear to reflect on why
03:06she suffered such a lengthy blackout, or display much emotion about what would probably be
03:11a pretty upsetting memory.
03:13"'What?
03:14What?
03:15You're just telling me the emotion that was going on there, because what you're saying
03:18is that you're blanked out for hours, you can't remember why, but there's no emotion
03:21there, so what else were you thinking about?''
03:23Of course, Durham couldn't say for sure whether Baskin had anything to do with Lewis' disappearance.
03:27He does, however, have some follow-up questions for her, just like many viewers.
03:31"'So the whole world's wondering, would you actually grind your husband up, feed him to
03:35a tiger so there's no evidence?''
03:37Shortly after Tiger King shot to the number one spot on Netflix, Carol Baskin released
03:42a lengthy statement condemning the series and the way that it portrayed her story.
03:46Baskin, who now runs Big Cat Rescue with her second husband, Howard Baskin, says she was
03:51told the series was intended to draw attention to the plight of captive big cats, not dig
03:56up a cold case she was involved in from decades past.
03:59She wrote in the statement,
04:01"'There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does
04:05not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible
04:11to draw viewers.'"
04:12In her statement, Baskin aimed to refute pretty much every allegation made in Tiger King about
04:17her alleged role in Don Lewis' disappearance, from the restraining order, to the meat grinder,
04:23to the claims that she was after Lewis' money, and she came with receipts, including several
04:27court documents.
04:28She called the idea that she was involved in his disappearance idiotic.
04:32That became, like, this wholly exciting thing that I ran him through that grinder, and it's
04:38like, I couldn't have run his hands through the grinder, much less a body."
04:42The producers of Tiger King responded to Baskin's statement, alleging that she was aware of
04:46the content of the series and wasn't coerced to appear in it.
04:50Despite a police investigation, Don Lewis' body was never found.
04:54That means the case is still technically open after 23 years.
04:58In fact, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister asked the public for new tips on
05:02the case following Tiger King's sensational debut.
05:05On March 30th, 2020, Chronister wrote on Facebook,
05:09"'With everyone doing the right thing and staying at home, many of you have watched
05:13the Netflix documentary Tiger King.
05:15One facet of the documentary is correct, the disappearance of Don Lewis is still an active
05:20cold case.
05:21So with all the attention surrounding it, I figured it was time to use the popularity
05:25of the show to see if anyone wanted to come forward with new leads.
05:29Let's see if we can't solve this case together."
05:31"'Police combed the area.
05:33But after a year and a half of investigating numerous theories, police still have no suspects.'"
05:38Thanks to the Post, the sheriff is getting multiple tips, but he told People that they're
05:43not necessarily panning out, saying,
05:45"'So far, nothing viable.
05:47More theory-driven.
05:48But I'm going to be honest with you, I remain optimistic.
05:51For those who still can't get enough of the mystery in all things Tiger King, Netflix
05:56has produced a new episode of the hit series, and who knows what else could be on the horizon.
06:01As showrunner Rebecca Chaiklin previously told Entertainment Weekly, there's a lot that's
06:05still unfolding with the Tiger King story, and clearly that's true.
06:09That being said, Baskin definitely won't be participating in any more filming for the
06:13series, according to a statement from her spokesperson to The Wrap.
06:17Sorry, all you cool cats and kittens.
06:19I believe that there's a lot of people out there that is speculating and don't have anything
06:24to back it up.
06:25One day, somebody's going to stub their toe.