'Tiger King': Jeff Lowe is Carole Baskin's first husband and she hired him to frame Joe Exotic, claim fans
Spoilers for 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness'
As the entire planet stays locked indoors amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the one solace and comfort that's been keeping society together is the Netflix sensation 'Tiger King'. Based on the true story of some of America's biggest big cat rescue cooperations and their internal rivalries and lawsuits that led to the incarceration of one of their own, the documentary has brought to light some pretty sensational figures like arch nemeses Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin.
The documentary chronicles Baskin's staunch fight to put Joe Exotic behind bars for exploiting and abusing cubs of all kinds, and while it had led to people being convinced that Carol killed her ex-husband and fed him to her big cats, they now also believe that one of Joe's ally-turned-opponent Jeff Lowe is Carol's abusive ex-husband and she hired him to frame Joe.
Before we dive headfirst into the conspiracy theory, here's all the background information that is much needed. As seen in the Netflix documentary, Joe Exotic (real name Joe Schreibvogel-Maldonado-Passage) was a fan of all things flashy and commercialized when it came to his giant zoo of wild animals, especially big cats. Carole Baskin also runs The Big Cat Rescue - a foundation that only rescues big 'cats and kittens' and doesn't use them for commercial gains like petting, and the likes.
Her animal welfare sentiments were triggered by Joe Exotic, which led to a long, drawn-out rivalry between the two, with Joe doing pretty much anything and everything to antagonize Baskin and her filing legal petitions to shut his zoo down.
In the end, it was one of Joe's partners and big cat owner Jeff Lowe who — for the lack of a better term — snitched on him. Lowe claims he was just doing whatever he could to hand Joe over to the cops because of his means and methods, but not everyone is convinced. Some people now think it was Baskin all along, who probed Lowe to invade Joe's territory and then dethrone the eponymous Tiger King after he and Joe had initiated a plan to get Baskin killed.
Lowe was the one Joe had planned the whole thing with, but he was never incriminated for being an accomplice, nor did he testify in the trial. Instead, as the documentary depicts, Lowe manipulated the hitman into confessing to the cops that it was Joe who had hired him to murder Baskin and the rest is history.
Now, a week after the documentary premiered on Netflix, as fans and pretty much everybody who hasn't been living under a rock keeps speculating on tying loose ends, a Facebook user explained in detail why they think Lowe was not only hired by Baskin but is actually the same ex-husband who she had left on accounts of domestic abuse. And while most of that has to do with similar facial features shared by the said ex and Lowe, not all of that is too far fetched an idea, come to think of it.
The main discussion panned out on Twitter, with a user sharing: "Someone on Facebook said Jeff Lowe is Carole Baskin’s first (abusive) husband & she hired him to frame Joe Exotic and I can’t stop thinking about it." They explained further, writing: "Never shows his hairline, strikingly similar features, randomly comes into the story, now has ownership of Joe’s zoo and suddenly after YEARS Carole Baskin stops trying to close the zoo down?? Same woman who most likely killed her husband??"
Well, the 'killed her ex' theory is also speculation as of now, revolving Baskin's second husband Don Lewis, a multi-millionaire, with whom she founded the Tampa sanctuary Big Cat Rescue, in 1992.
Almost the entire community of big cat owners believe that Baskin — tired of Lewis' infidelity and abusive nature — killed him and fed him to one of her big cats. The reason behind is Lewis' sudden disappearance, right after suggesting to his closest allies that he's going to divorce Baskin and make sure she gets not a single penny of his estate as she had actually threatened to kill him, apparently.
With the entire world now convinced that Baskin can be as ruthless, it's no surprise that everyone also thinks she used an ex to frame Joe.
To top it all off, as a fan pointed out: "Didn't Baskin say her first husband was abusive? and did the documentary not show a criminal record for Lowe for assaulting a wife or partner??" Interesting, right? There's more. Exploring the similarities between Baskin's ex and Jeff's facial features, a fan noted: "Look at the man's eyes. The right eye from when we are looking at them. A bit of the eyebrow-skin falls down over the eye. Can be a bit tricky to see on the older photo due to the poor quality, but it sure looks to be the same guy to me."
But this theory was, of course, met with criticism, as a user refuted the idea on Twitter, writing: "As much as there's some striking similarities between the two, one would assume throughout the investigation they both had extensive background checks which would have either confirmed, or denied this?"
And then there was the whole age gap thing that doesn't add up either. "The only thing I have a hard time wrapping my brain around is that Carol's husband would be 81 and Jeff Lowe is 67 he just looks very young and good to be 81... now I definitely could be wrong 100% but idk the age gap is getting me," explained a fan. Yet, that's just what the minority thinks in a sea of viewers who are now convinced that Carole Baskin actually pulled off those schemes just to frame Joe Exotic.