Tiger King-fame Carole Baskin’s first husband, Don Lewis was declared legally dead in 2002, a few years after his disappearance. However, recent rumors on the internet suggest that he is not only alive but living in Costa Rica.

Meanwhile, TMZ spoke to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of Lewis’ missing person case. They said that they have not yet heard from federal law enforcement and hence, are still considering Lewis to be missing.

Also Read | Who is Don Lewis, Carole Baskin’s ex-husband?

Why Lewis started trending on Twitter on Wednesday was that some internet sleuths dug up an interview that Baskin had with ITV in November 2021.

In the interview, Baskin revealed that her ex-husband is actually alive and in Costa Rica — a fact she was not aware of until Tiger King 2 aired on Netflix. She said that the Department of Homeland Security had been in touch with her former spouse.

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“One of the really exciting things that came out of ‘Tiger King 2’ is that they produced a letter from Homeland Security and it says that a special agent in charge with the FBI at Homeland Security reached out to the sheriff’s detective George [Jorge] Fernandez, which means this had to have happened after 2002, because Homeland Security wasn’t even around until 2002. They said my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica,” she said. 

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A number of memes started circulating online after Twitter users made the 2-year-old revelation. The following are a few of them:

Meanwhile, former zookeeper and Baskin’s rival, Joe Exotic has said that Baskin was involved in her first husband’s disappearance. On the other hand, Baskin has always maintained she had nothing to do with his disappearance or possible death.