Carole Baskin’s ex-husband went missing in 1997. His lawyer says he was murdered.
With “Tiger King” fever at an all-time high, one of its stars sounded off on the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Joseph R. Fritz, the attorney and friend of Carole Baskin’s ex-husband, Jack “Don” Lewis, told Fox News that he’s “never” seen a case as mishandled as his former client’s in his 40-plus years of practicing law. Lewis went missing in 1997 yet the case remains unsolved.
“That was some pretty d--n sloppy police work,” Fritz said.
Lewis’ mysterious disappearance plays a major role in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” the hit Netflix docuseries that details the underground world of exotic animal owners.
The show portrays Baskin, an animal rights activist and head of the Tampa animal sanctuary Big Cat Rescue, as an imperfect figure who might’ve had a hand in her ex-husband vanishing. She has repeatedly denied knowing what happened to Lewis, calling the series’ insinuations “salacious and sensational.”
Fritz says the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office had “no choice” but to recently reopen the case. He later claimed to have information about the “manner, method, how, when and why” of Lewis’ murder.
“I’ve had two people tell me what happened,” the Tampa-based lawyer told Fox News. “I don’t know what to believe, but it is the same story.”
The case, however, never actually closed, according to HCSO. Following the renewed interest in Lewis as a result of the Netflix show, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister issued a plea for tips on social media.
“Cold cases are always open,” a sheriff’s department spokesperson said. “... We know a lot of eyes were on [’Tiger King’], so we were hoping to use that momentum to hopefully bring in a tip that would lead to us being able to solve the case.”
The spokesperson added Fritz should come speak with them if he had any new information.
“We’re more than willing to have a conversation with him,” the spokesperson said. “He is on the list of people who we would like to speak to as we’re going back through the case files and tips that we do have.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Carole Baskin’s ex-husband went missing in 1997. His lawyer says he was murdered.."
