Florida authorities recently announced they were looking for new leads on the disappearance of Tiger King star Carole Baskin's husband, Jack "Don" Lewis. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, in an interview with TMZ, has now said that he thinks its possible Lewis was killed in a hit planned by multiple people.
"I’m extremely suspicious, but not just of her, of this whole circle here," he explained. "I don’t want to allude to the fact or insinuate that she’s a person of interest and that this is who we are focusing on. I’m not comfortable saying that yet."
Lewis was last seen on Aug. 18, 1997, and since Tiger King hit Netflix many have assumed that Baskin was involved. While Chronister stopped short of saying Baskin was responsible, he did suggest the disappearance was actually a homicide.
"Listen, there’s normally not one person that commits a homicide, it’s always a couple of people," he added. "This had to be extremely planned out, this had to be well thought out, there’s someone else involved in this, there is someone who is paid to do it, there is someone who helped do it. I’m hoping that person wants to come and get this off their chest and help law enforcement do the right thing."
He also indicated that if anyone involved does come forward, they could be given a deal. "Help us solve this case," he said.
Nobody has been charged in connection with the case yet, but Lewis was declared legally dead five years after he mysteriously vanished. Baskin has denied Joe Exotic's allegation that she had Lewis killed and fed to her tigers. Since the docuseries hit Netflix, she has said she suspected Lewis had Alzheimer's disease and was "not easy to live with."
