Even with all that’s going on in the year 2020, Carole Baskin has managed to keep herself in the news cycle throughout the duration of the year. First becoming a household name due to the release of Tiger King at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Baskin has subsequently been added as a contestant on the next season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Now she finds herself back in the limelight due to the release of a new 48 Hours special looking into the disappearance of her previous husband Don Lewis.
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Lewis mysteriously disappeared in 1997, an event that served as a major plot point of the Tiger King docuseries. As it turns out, Lewis’ will — which left Baskin all sorts of land and cold hard cash — has since confirmed as forged document.
Airing Wednesday, September 9th on CBS, The Tiger King Mysterday sat down with Trish Farr-Payne to uncover some startling new evidence in the disappearance. Farr-Payne is the ex-wife of long-time Lewis handyman Kenny Farr and will say on the show she believes her ex-husband may have had something to do with the disappearance of his boss.
Just days before Lewis was reported missing, Farr-Payne says her ex-husband came home from work one day and told her, “Don’s gone, and I don’t want you talking about him.” She will then go on to explain how a locked freezer on her porch soon disappeared after Farr’s ominous comments.
“I was afraid for my kids,” Farry-Payne tells 48 Hours. “You know, I had my kids. I was afraid for them. I was more afraid for them than anything.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister has gone on-record saying Baskin is neither a suspect or a person of interest in the case. It was Chronister who confirmed the forgery of Lewis’ will earlier this summer, revealing the statue of limitiations on any criminal charges had long expired.
“They called in some experts to say that the will was a forgery and I had already told them that two months ago,” Chronister mentioned. “They had two experts deem it 100% a forgery.”
“That’s the only reason. There’s no recourse,” he added. “A judge deemed it valid. So the civil side of it, with the execution of the will [and] dispersement of the funds is one thing. But then you have the criminal side which is unable to prosecute.”
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is now streaming on Netflix. The Tiger King 48 Hours special will air at 9/8 p.m. Central on Wednesday, September 9th.
