'Dancing with the Stars': Who was Carole Baskin's former husband Jack 'Don' Lewis, what happened to him?
Carole Baskin rose to prominence earlier this year after she starred in Netflix's hugely popular series 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.' She is Joe Exotic's nemesis and owns an animal sanctuary called Big Cat Rescue. The series saw Baskin try to shut down Joe's private Oklahoma zoo while accusing him of abusing animals and selling big cat cubs. Seeing it as a direct attack on him and his business, he decided to hit back at her implying in Netflix's 'Tiger King' that she too has committed murder. He came out with a music video featuring Baskin's lookalike and it was through this very medium that he leveled accusations against his arch-nemesis that she murdered her ex-husband and fed him to the tigers.
Following the scintillating documentary, the "Tiger King" star Baskin is set to take the "Dancing with the Stars" ballroom floor. Baskin recently revealed that she will be making her debut to none other than Survivor’s classic song "Eye of the Tiger." "I was just approved yesterday to release that we are doing 'Eye of the Tiger' so I'm very excited about that," she told reporters, according to E! News.
However, Baskin's entry on the show is causing a lot of interest, especially since after Joe's accusations. His video certainly raised a lot of questions and people were now left wondering what really happened to Jack 'Don' Lewis, Baskin's ex-husband?
Lewis was a millionaire from Florida who vanished mysteriously in August 1997 and was declared dead in 2002. Baskin's various rivals including Joe are convinced that she killed Don and fed his body to the tigers and the Internet too joined in and had something to say about it. Chrissy Teigen too had shared a tweet earlier in March that read, "It is my opinion that I believe someone named don has maybe gone through a woman named Carole's meat grinder for sure." And so did Cardi B when she tweeted, "Carol you think you slick b****."
It is my opinion that I believe someone named don has maybe gone through a woman named carole’s meat grinder for sure https://t.co/xLRzcVznNN
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 26, 2020
Even though there is a lack of substantial evidence about Baskin having to do anything with Don's disappearance and police have not charged her, people continue to believe that she's to blame for it. Most of it likely has to do with the fact that a restraining order was filed by Don against Baskin, two years before he vanished, here's a timeline.
In June 1997, Don filed a restraining order against Baskin within which he claimed that the latter threatened to kill him and also was in possession of two guns. Monday, August 18, 1997, he disappeared in thin air. He was supposed to deliver real estate signs to his lawyer’s office while on a memorial drive. The signs were left before the office opened, according to a 10 Tampa Bay report. Come August 19, 1997, Baskin filed a missing person report and the next day his van was found at the Pilot Country Airport in Springhill, FL, 40 miles away from the sanctuary he owned. On August 23, Baskin was summoned to take a polygraph test which she declined on the advice of her attorney. Amid all the drama surrounding Don's disappearance and his sizeable estate, she told Tampa Bay Times that she'd "rather be cooperative" and let detectives search the sanctuary and the meat freezers but she was advised against it.
In December 1998, Don's children from his previous marriage in an interview with People said Baskin fed their dad to the wild cats. “It’s a perfect scenario to dispose of someone. We were upset that the cops didn’t test the DNA on the meat grinder," said Donna Pettis. In response, Baskin said that she was "amazed" people would even think such a thing. In 2002, Don was declared dead, five years after his disappearance. This same year, she gained access to Don's will of which she also happened to be the executor. The millionaire's will left most of the estate to Baskin, including the private Tampa zoo that eventually became Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary. The will also cut out his children from the previous marriage. There were a lot of allegations about Baskin forging these documents but again no evidence to prove it, according to Cosmopolitan.
In 2011, Baskin was again asked to take a polygraph which she declined, reported the New York Times. Cut to March 31, 2020, after 'Tiger King' released, Baskin wrote a length blogpost on Big Cat Rescue's website. "[Tiger King] 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 21 years ago. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about the truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers," read a segment.
April 1, 2020, in an interview with the New York Times, Sheriff Chad Chronister from Hillsborough County, FL, said that Don's disappearance is still "labeled a missing person case". He said there was still not a speck of evidence that suggests he was killed. However, he also added they were seeking new leads in the case. In June, Chronister told 10 Tampa Bay that two experts had confirmed that Don's will was forged but criminal charges against Baskin weren't expected because the statute of limitations had expired. “The will had already been executed at that point,” Chronister said. “But, it certainly cast another shadow of suspicion, by all means.”
