Police ask for tips in 'Tiger King' personality's ex-husband's disappearance
As Americans binge watch on the hit docuseries "Tiger King" while staying home due to the novel coronavirus, the increased popularity in the real-life cast of characters has led to a heightened interest in a decades-old cold case.
The Netflix phenomenon focuses on exotic big cats and a private zoo owner's dramatic feud with a rival. But one of the biggest questions left unanswered from the seven-part true crime series is: What happened to Carole Baskin's ex-husband Don Lewis?
"This has been a cold case since 1997," Sheriff Chad Chronister told ABC News, adding that he is "hoping for any type of piece of evidence that may help us solve this case."
Chronister has even taken to Twitter to ask the public for help.
Florida police said they hope to lean into the show's popularity to get potential answers.
"We've received on average about six tips a day," Chronister said. "People are taking notice and taking the time to at least send in information."
Baskin, who has denied any involvement in Lewis' disappearance, has never been arrested or charged.
"It makes for wonderful sales of newspapers, I'm sure, for them to speculate that I fed him to the tigers, which is crazy," she said in one of the episodes after another character, Joe Exotic, hypothesized Lewis' fate.
Now, Baskin said she's still searching for answers, too.
A spokesperson from her organization, Big Cat Rescue, told ABC News: "[We] hope someone will come forward to the authorities with information about what happened to Don Lewis."
Dr. Bhagavan Antle, owner of Myrtle Beach Safari, who is also featured in the series, told ABC News that the influx of attention has been unexpected and has overshadowed the mission of his profession.
"All I've seen is what is playing out in the press -- it wasn't what I was expecting by any means," he said. "We're a preeminent opportunity for people to get to know wildlife [and] to have this experience ... what we do, they misrepresented dramatically ... and we're not living on the level of those characters."
Officials said they've received leads every day but none have proved to be credible. Chronister has assigned a supervisor to stay on the case.
In mid-March, Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, filed a lawsuit against a host of U.S. agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior as well as his former business partner, Jeff Lowe.
He claims, at the behest of Lowe, that employee Allen Glover perjured himself in front of a grand jury. Maldonado-Passage is currently serving a 22-year sentence for a murder-for-hire plot and animal abuse charges. The lawsuit levels similar allegations against Maldonado-Passage's nemesis, Carole Baskin, and claims the government selectively prosecuted him but not Big Cat Rescue. He alleges that she perjured herself when she mislead the jury on the murder-for-hire plot against her.
"Allen Glover was an employee of Mr. Lowe and followed Mr. Lowe's every order. This included lying under oath at my trial," according to Maldonado-Passage.
