True or false? “Carole Baskin killed her husband whacked him”

Carole Baskin, the CEO of the animal sanctuary Big Cat Rescue, is one of the eccentric big cat owners featured in the infamous Tiger King crime documentary on Netflix. If you’re one of those who somehow managed to stay away from the Tiger King craze that took over the world – lucky you! However, if you’ve already hopped on the Tiger King bandwagon then congratulations! You made it past the unbearable zaniness the show put you through. 

Though the Netflix crime docuseries didn’t succeed in conveying the message to stop the exploitation of big cats, it raised many awkward questions – many of which we don’t want answers to. The one question we are dying to know (pun intended) the answer to is whether Carole Baskin killed her ex-husband or not? Let us dive in and try to find out if Carol Baskin indeed “killed her husband, whacked him”.

About the documentary

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is one of those bonkers Netflix series that is so bad, it’s good. The off-the-wall characterization of its subjects is so addictive that it became a cultural sensation.

The seven-part docuseries features two rivals, Joe Exotic & Carole Baskin. Right off the bat, instead of rooting for one of them, you can’t determine which of them is worse. 

This trainwreck of a series also touched on the disappearance of Carole Baskin’s millionaire ex-husband Don Lewis and the whole mystery behind his vanishing left viewers reeling with questions about Carole Baskin’s involvement.

Carole Baskin killed her husband

The Netflix documentary leads the viewers to believe Carole Baskin had something to do with the disappearance of her ex-husband Don Lewis. The theory started circulating when Mark McCarthy, another wildlife owner featured in the Tiger King documentary, claimed Don Lewis told him that he felt his life was in danger. Apparently, McCarthy spoke to Don Lewis just days before he disappeared. 

Stories of Carole Baskin killing her husband, whacking him, and feeding his body to the tigers gained strength when her rival Joe Exotic wrote a song “Here Kitty Kitty” which is seemingly the description of how Baskin killed her husband. Even in the music video of the song Joe Exotic had a Baskin-lookalike feed a fake body to tigers.

When a person goes missing, usually the spouse is the first suspect, so Carole Baskin became the target. The documentary also revealed just before her husband went missing there were talks of divorce which didn’t help Carole Baskin’s case at all. Though no proof has been found against her yet, it didn’t stop  Joe Exotic from pointing fingers at her. 

But is that because of their longstanding rivalry or is there some semblance of truth in his accusations? From an outside point of view, there could be some kind of foul play involved. 

Moreover, Carole Baskin had her husband declared dead as soon as it was legal for her to do so even though she had no evidence to back up her claim. It will go perfectly well with the theory: “Carole Baskin killed her husband whacked him” and took all his money.

Carole Baskin didn’t whack her husband

Despite having some damning ammunition against her, not everyone agrees with the theory that Carole Baskin “killed her husband, whacked him”. After all, this idea was popularized by Joe Exotic, the guy who has been feuding with Baskin for almost two decades and is already in federal prison on account of attempted murder, so what does he have to lose?

Another theory states Carole Baskin’s husband escaped to Costa Rica and is either still living there or died during his journey. Don Lewis appeared to have a vested interest in moving to Costa Rica before he went missing. 

He confided in his ex-wife Gladys he was “done” with Carole Baskin and was hoping to never see her again. One of his business associates claimed Don Lewis thought Baskin was after his money and hence was planning to leave her. Lewis apparently had a girlfriend in Costa Rica, so it would make sense if he took his money and flew to Costa Rica to be with his girlfriend. 

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Seeing all the buzz surrounding Carole Baskin’s missing ex-husband Don Lewis, it wouldn’t be shocking if Netflix comes out with the second part of the Tiger King docuseries, centering on Lewis’s disappearance. What do you think of these theories? Let us know in the comments.