TAMPA, Fla. — As you might have heard, "Tiger King 2" has been released.
In light of that, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office wants everyone to know the investigation into the disappearance of Don Lewis, Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin's first husband, is still ongoing.
The original Tiger King series was a worldwide sensation last year at the height of the pandemic, shining a spotlight on the local disappearance of Big Cat Rescue’s Don Lewis. The series made household names out of people like Joe Exotic and Lewis’s former wife Carole Baskin.
The hype around the Netflix docuseries led the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to look for new leads in March 2020. Tips came in daily, but most were missing one key element — credibility.
In interviews since, Chronister said he believes Lewis was murdered in 1997 and did not just disappear as was alleged.
The case was reopened in 2020, nearly 23 years following Lewis' disappearance in 1997. The lead detective in the case, Corporal Moises Garcia, says "Tiger King 2" could be a "double-edged sword" for the case.
On the positive side, Cpl. Garcia says it will hopefully renew any waning interest in the case, which could generate new tips and leads. However, Garcia says the docuseries could also have information the sheriff's office doesn't want to be released yet about the case.
On Thursday, Nov. 18, Cpl. Garcia answered reporters' questions regarding the case, one day after "Tiger King 2" premiered on Netflix. The show is a continuation of the 2020 docuseries "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness."
Overall, Garcia said he believes "Tiger King 2" will ultimately be helpful to the investigation.
Since reopening the case, Garcia says they’ve re-conducted 50 interviews – 20 hours’ worth.
But it’s frustrating, Garcia said, that Lewis’s former right-hand man Kenneth Farr and Lewis’s former wife Carole Baskin have declined repeated interview requests.
"It's frustrating, I would like to get on that property and look around a bit," Garcia explained at a news conference. "There has been no interaction with Carol Baskin, we've attempted at least three times to talk to her and three times we were denied by her attorney."
RELATED: Carole Baskin calls 'Tiger King 2' a 'rehash' of the first season with 'misleading additions'
For the first time, Garcia called Baskin a person of interest in the case, then clarified saying everyone is — until they aren’t.
Garcia explains this is still an ongoing active case with different "avenues" that the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is pursuing.
Responding to our request for an interview, 10 Tampa Bay got an email from Carole Baskin, accusing Tiger King 2 of omissions, edits, and manipulation.
“Season two, as expected and indicated in the trailer,” the statement reads in part, “… continues to do everything they can to falsely convince the viewer that Carole was involved in Don Lewis’s disappearance."
Garcia twice refused to talk about alleged sightings that put Lewis in Costa Rica. He says they have checked flight records. Passport entries even worked with forensic experts at USF to produce age-progression photos. But as to whether he was actually seen there, Garcia declined to comment.
Asked whether — after 24 years — he thought Lewis’s disappearance would ever be solved, Garcia remained hopeful.
“If you ask a homicide investigator if he can solve a case, if he tells you no, you should take his badge away,” said Corporal Garcia. “I believe every case we get our hands on can be solved.”
Lewis' family has also renewed calls to find out what happened to him. Baskin has denied being involved in her husband's disappearance.
You can watch the full press conference here: