Original subtitles

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- [William] Jack Donald Lewis, known to his enormous family

and devout fans as a big cat expert

and businessman extraordinaire was a shrewd

and incredibly successful leader

of the exotic animal enterprise.

His deep rooted connection with tending to wildlife

and building businesses,

as well as his unparalleled real estate resourcefulness

was cut short by an unexplainable,

unsolved disappearance on August 18th, 1997,

leaving all who knew him across Tampa, Florida,

grasping for answers in a sea of evidence

that drowned us all in doubt.

As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning

built on observable evidence and situational analysis,

this is an examination of the disappearance of Don Lewis

and the dumbfounding mystery born

at his famous Wildlife on Easy Street.

This is "Cold Case Detective."

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Don Lewis was born as Jack Donald Lewis

on April 30th, 1938 in Dade city, Florida.

In Don's early years as a child,

his father abandoned the family

and left Dawn's mother to raise him and his two siblings.

While Don's mother did her best to support her children

through freelance gigs as a for-hire seamstress

and bread baker, her income wasn't quite enough.

Thus to help aid his mother and take care of the family,

Don started working at a young age,

forming the foundation to his business ethics.

As an adolescent, Don helped out a local mechanic

and worked as a farmhand for nearby ranch owners,

and successfully graduated from Pasco High School in 1955.

When he was only 17 years old,

Don married his first wife,

known today as Gladys Lewis Cross.

Together the couple had three daughters and adopted a son

just as Don continued to expand his economic prowess.

He worked countless odd jobs around Florida

and eventually settled in the used car business

and automotive trade.

Slowly but surely, Don built his brand

scrapping old machines, selling parts and metal resources

while simultaneously investing in real estate opportunities.

Don would buy parcels of land to develop and resell,

sometimes keeping tracks of land for himself

for future business ideas.

Before long, Don was a self-made millionaire,

and the prime example of the American dream in action,

starting from nothing and forging his own path to success.

Friends and associates of Don would say

that no one could tell his success just by looking at him.

He always dressed like a normal laborer

and kept his public life simple.

However, he would keep a $500 bill in his pocket

at all times, a symbol of his ability to turn anything

he touched into profits.

A true green thumb.

However, Don's personal life wasn't quite so perfect.

It was a well-known fact after his first marriage

that he was a womanizer, and often found mistresses

or second girlfriends to take care of,

despite having the family back home.

One such instance occurred in 1981

when Don met a young woman named Carole Murdoch at the time,

on Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, Florida.

Carole was walking alone at night and crying

after struggling with her then husband Michael Murdoch.

Don asked Carole if she needed a ride,

and initially Carole rejected him.

However, Don circled around in his truck anyway,

even offering the gun in his passenger seat to Carole

to use as protection while he drove,

explaining that he needed someone to talk to as well.

Carole finally agreed, and after conversing

with one another for a while,

Carole stayed with him that night and the two fell in love.

Of course, this sent shock waves through Don's family,

and tensions arose between him and his then wife, Gladys.

Nevertheless, Don continued his relationship with Carole

who joined his real estate business

and helped increase his profits through major land sales.

Not long afterwards, Don and Carole's relationship

became too serious to ignore,

and they divorced their respective spouses

and married in 1991.

With the excess money from Don's empire,

he bought his new cat-loving wife a bobcat

called Windsong at an auction.

The couple then began buying big cats

from a breeder in Minnesota

who was planning on slaughtering them for the fur trade.

As was perhaps in his nature,

Don viewed this as another chance to create a business.

And in 1992 founded Wildlife on Easy Street with Carole,

and what would lead to become Big Cat Rescue.

Carole, however, thought the initiatives should be a charity

not just for profit, but Don disagreed,

and slowly tensions arose between the two.

Over the next few years,

Don continued developing Wildlife on Easy Street

and started buying more animals.

In 1995, he bought his first tiger from Dennis Hill.

And around the same time was beginning the process

of taking his beloved emporium

and moving it to Costa Rica,

where he'd been buying vast tracks of land

and making connections and associates

on the tropical island.

At the same time, others began thinking

that Don was using Costa Rica

as a means to attract women unbeknownst to Carole,

and escaping away with Costa Rican mistresses.

This continued to damage the pairs relationship,

and soon it fell beyond repair.

In early 1997, Don Lewis began preparing for divorce,

gathering his assets together

and planning for a future away from Carole.

Carole claims that at this same time

he began showing early signs of dementia.

His short-term memory declining

while digging through dumpsters

and collecting junk for seemingly no good reason.

Don's lawyer and business associates

later said this wasn't proven,

and they had never witnessed Don

in a worsening state of mind.

Regardless, Don's frantic behavior did include

a growing fear of Carole.

And in June of 1997,

he filed a restraining order against her.

After she verbally threatened to kill him.

According to Don, Carole was in possession of multiple guns,

but the courts never granted him protection

due to her freedoms of speech under the first amendment,

and they felt she posed no true physical harm to him.

Don was a worried man,

and soon his paranoia was proven correct,

when at the end of that same summer, the threats, confusion

and anxiety gave way to a tragic mystery.

Let us now review the timeline of events

that led to the disappearance of Don Lewis.

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In June of 1997, Don Lewis begins exhibiting signs

of paranoia, anxiety and fear

centering around his then wife Carole Lewis

now known as Carole Baskin.

He gives his executive assistant at the time,

Anne McQueen, an envelope containing a restraining order

against Carole to be submitted to the local courts.

This document contains unnerving quotes by Don,

such as quote, "This is the second time Carole

"has gotten angry enough to threaten to kill me.

"Carole got in a big fuss.

"She ordered me out the house or she would kill me.

"She has a .45 revolver and she took my .357 and hit it."

Later that June, the Florida courts denied protection

from the restraining order,

saying Carole is no immediate threat,

and that the first amendment granting free speech

allows her to say such things without consequence.

Throughout the summer, Don's erratic behavior continues.

He tells his former wife, Gladys,

and a couple of their children to stay away from Carole,

that he's done with her and planning to divorce her.

He speaks his final words to them,

saying Carole is one of the worst people

and quite dangerous.

Not long after this encounter,

Don repeats the same information about his probable divorce

to business associates, Wendell Williams.

Don signals to Wendell that he is putting

most of his possessions in a protective state

that would allow them to keep most of what he owned

and away from a settlement.

Some time in July of 1997,

Don gets together with another friend, Mike McCarthy,

and tells him that he feels his life is in danger.

As July turns to August,

Don informs his lawyer, Joseph Fritz,

he's in search of another small passenger plane

to add to his collection of planes.

He finds one he likes, but the aircraft needs work

to be able to fly for longer durations of time.

At some points during the first two and a half weeks

of that same August, Don has a conversation

with his longtime handyman of 15 years, Kenny Farr,

while they build a new complex cage for the big cats.

Don remarks that he has vague plans of some sorts,

plans he never fully explains to Kenny,

but is intent on carrying out.

At the end of their talk, Don says, quote,

"If I can pull this off,

"it will have been the slickest thing

"I've ever done in my life."

Before Kenny can ask for clarity,

Don leaves to attend a phone call

and never finishes his thoughts.

It would be the last thing Don ever says to Kenny.

On Friday 15th, Don's assistant Anne McQueen calls Don

regarding paperwork for cars he's preparing

to take down to Costa Rica.

despite multiple attempts to reach him by phone,

Anne isn't able to make contact.

Anne continues calling throughout that weekend,

but she still has no luck.

In the evening of August 17th,

Don prepares to drive down to Miami

and then travel on to Costa Rica.

He tells Carole he needs a truck

made available for travel by his handyman, Kenny,

but it's unknown if he ever secures one.

That night and into the early morning hours of August 18th.

Carole makes her own plans to do chores

and run errands for the Big Cat Resort.

At around 3:00 a.m.,

Carole goes to a shop called Albertsons

to buy milk by-product for the cats.

Her car breaks down, but she's saved by her brother,

a local Sheriff's deputy,

who gives her a ride back to her home.

Just a few hours later, a little prior to 6:00 a.m.

on August 18th, 1997,

Don Lewis leaves his now to make an early delivery

of real estate paperwork to his lawyer's main office,

then to travel to Miami and ultimately Costa Rica.

This would be the last confirmed sighting

of Jack Donald Lewis.

Nearly 36 hours pass by and no one hears from Don.

Anne calls Carole with real concern

and suggests they get the authorities involved.

Carole agrees and at about 1:30 p.m. on August 19th,

she telephones law enforcement

to officially report Don Lewis as a missing person.

In the first 24 hours

after the missing person's report is filed,

police and a few volunteers

combed Don's entire 40 acre property in Tampa, Florida,

including the Wildlife on Easy Street resort.

Despite a thorough search, including aerial support,

detectives find no clues or anything to suggest

they should continue digging at Don's residence.

On August 20th, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

discovers Don's personal van, a 1989 Dodge Ram

parked and abandoned at the Pilots Country Airport

in Spring Hill, Florida,

about 40 miles away from Don's last appearance

at his animal sanctuary.

Besides the keys to the van and a briefcase

full of insignificant documents,

nothing of notes is found inside the vehicle,

and the trail of clues is frozen once again.

Over the next four to five days,

detectives traveled down to Costa Rica

to progress the manhunt.

While investigating every nook and cranny possible,

law enforcement discovers Don had been engaged

in extramarital affairs whilst in Costa Rica.

They interview possible connections to Don,

and those who knew of the businessman,

but still find zero leads.

The only thing remarkable that investigators learn

is that two of Don's exotic animals,

a pair of ocelots were shipped out

just before Don disappeared,

but where they went is still unknown.

Initial reports once Don's disappearance

reaches national headlines,

state that they believe Don probably walked away on his own.

But as time goes on, both of the media and investigators

start thinking something more sinister is at play.

A few days after the one year anniversary

of Don's vanishing, on August 23rd, 1998,

Carole refuses to take a polygraph test

or allow investigators to carry out an intensive search

of her wildlife sanctuary or the meat freezers,

citing legal advice from her attorney.

Later in 1998, Don Lewis' his ex wife, Gladys,

and their daughters publicly accused Carole

of being responsible for Don's fate,

and discarding the body via the exotic animals they own.

This is heavily refuted by Carole.

In August, 2002, on the five-year and one day mark

since he first disappeared,

Don is declared legally dead by Carole

and his wills are put solely in her possession,

due to the specific verbiage used in his documents.

Nine years later in 2011,

Carole is asked one more time by investigators

to undergo a polygraph test.

Once again, she refuses this request.

Over the next decade, countless conspiracies and folktales

are created by curious bystanders of the case,

and by those with ties to Don, his ex-wife Carole.

and their big cats business.

However, John Mariscano, the lead homicide detective

and spokesman of the investigation

for Hillsborough County Sheriff

has shot down any and all gossip in April of 2020,

stating that authorities have no prime suspects,

no leads and still no updates

regarding the disappearance of Don Lewis,

a case just as cold as it had been

in that early August morning, 23 years before.

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Not a lot of physical evidence remains

in the Don Lewis disappearance,

and without a final phone call recording left over,

or CCTV footage capturing Don's penultimate movements,

there's not much to run with.

However, one discovery does provide us

at least a hint of what happened to Don before he vanished.

Even if it does bring more confusion than clarity.

The day after Don was reported missing,

investigators discovered his 1989 Dodge Ram van

discarded at the Pilot Country Airport

in SpringHill, Florida.

The airport was about 40 miles, give or take,

from Don's personal residence.

And initially thought to be

where he flew out of that August morning.

The troubling thing was that almost nothing

was left behind in the van,

and the things that were did not preclude

a self-made decision to escape.

Inside were the van's keys

and Don's briefcase full of random papers.

Unfortunately, the police did not

impound the vehicle right away,

leaving it abandoned in that parking lot,

allowing for possible tampering

and for critical physical evidence to be removed

if there was something hidden on the atomic level

When the police did analyze the forensics,

they found nothing but normal traces of Don

and a second pair of fingerprints

belonging to an auto mechanic, Dale Lively.

When law enforcement interviewed Dale,

he gave proof of a perfectly innocent explanation,

stating a few days before the disappearance,

Don had swung by the shop and asked Dale

to work on the van.

During their interaction,

Don also asked Dale to come with him to Costa Rica

to help on his land,

further indicating that Don was fully committed

to a southward trip.

Dale declined, and the van situation

became just another dead end

in a case full of questions without answers.

Many people associated with the case

believe the van is assigned that Don was kidnapped,

and not assigned that he left on his own accord.

Detectives agree, thinking the van

was planted at the airport, either to simply get rid of it,

or to make investigators think it was Don's final stop.

Regardless, the amount of time it took authorities

to analyze the insides of the van for forensics

creates a massive what if in the search for Don.

And it is sadly the biggest clue

they've received to date,

one which may have been regrettably squandered.

With the facts of the case understood,

now let's turn to the dominant theories

in the case of the disappearance of Don Lewis.

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Like so many cold cases around the world,

the disappearance of Don Lewis has been the fodder

for some truly outlandish claims and conspiracies

sparked by both family members

and those with disdain for Don's former partners.

Sadly, these brash and borderline barbaric theories

have been glamorized and focused on

by one particular series and it's ensuing publicity.

So we will do our best to dissect each theory with clarity

and reasoning backed by evidence

to properly respect the facts of the case

and the man who went missing.

It's our belief that truth and respect

to the facts of the case should always take precedence.

And it is insulting to Don Lewis' his memory

and potentially damaging to his case

to sacrifice these in the pursuit

of an overdramatized quotes, unquote, good story.

The first real theory reported by those involved

with Don Lewis' personal life came from his daughters

and his first ex wife, Gladys Lewis Cross in 1998,

only one year after Don went missing.

They made a public interview in People magazine

theorizing that Carole Baskin had indeed killed Don,

and then dispose of his body there a meat grinder,

and then feeding it to her tigers

at the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary.

Donna Pettis, one of Don's daughters,

felt the police didn't do a thorough enough job

searching the property,

and should've carried out forensic analysis

on Carole's meat grinder, testing it for Don's DNA.

Carole has vehemently denied such possibilities,

claiming the meat grinder in question was too small

to even handle something like a human hand,

let alone an entire full grown adult male body.

Not only this, but what many people fail to realize,

and what one documentary fails to make widely known

is that the meat grinder in question was removed

from the Big Cat rescue weeks before Don went missing,

confirmed by the Sheriff's office investigating Don's case.

And if Carole did try to use a corpse

as food for her big cats, there's absolutely no way

bones and forensic evidence would not be left behind.

The acidity of a tiger's stomach is strong,

but not strong enough to completely destroy human remains.

There would be a significant amount of bones, blood,

and tissue leftover.

And to try to clean up every bit of the leftovers

and leave absolutely no hints of the act

is too far-fetched to believe.

Such a vile act, even if utilized,

would leave behind too much evidence,

and investigators certainly

would have picked up on something.

Nevertheless, these outlandish claims

only picked up steam when notorious big cat collector

and nemesis of Carolee Baskin, Joe exotic,

created an obscene music video

flaunting the tiger feeding hypothesis.

But that wasn't his only crazy claim.

Joe Exotic became obsessed with another theory

that while Carole was still responsible

for her husband's disappearance,

she actually hid his body under the ground

at Big Cat Rescue,

digging up the dirt where her septic tank rested

and putting Dawn's body in that.

Covering it up and pretending as if nothing had happened.

Joe made many public pleas

for investigators to excavate the earth

around the property and check the septic tank.

And this idea spread around his own exotic zoo

where employees began believing that same conclusion.

However, the documentaries is covering Joe

and his theories also fail to share the information

that debunks his theory as well.

The septic tank in question,

in a similar vein to the meat grinder

was not installed on the Big Cat rescue sanctuary

until multiple years after Don went missing.

If Don was buried somewhere on the property,

it was no where near the septic tank.

In addition, it makes little sense for Carole

to bury Don on her own property,

where future digs on construction work

will almost assuredly take place and risk discovery.

Now, all this being said, to completely remove Carole Baskin

as a suspect's would be premature.

While she has consistently denied any involvement,

there are pieces to her past that might suggest a motive,

or at least further consideration.

The major piece of the case

that might preclude motivation for Carole

is Don's promiscuity and overall stance

on the wildlife projects he and Carole had created.

It is well-known that Don saw the tigers

and various big cats as nothing more than a business,

and thought of it as a means to make money

rather than any real charity.

While they were initially together in that viewpoint,

Carole eventually wanted the sanctuary to be exactly that,

a place where rescued cats could live

approved by fellow activists,

saving them from immoral and cub abuse.

This requires a lot of money,

and Carole had Don to fall back on.

Some in Don's inner circle said he hated

losing his money to her spending.

And that being a millionaire

married to someone without much money

is a treacherous combination.

But we mustn't pretend that Don was perfect either.

He was also involved in various extramarital affairs,

having multiple girlfriends, despite his marriage to Carole,

including a secret mistress down in Costa Rica.

With a clashing philosophy and a dying marriage,

Carole May have sought to end

what was becoming a toxic situation.

In fact, pages from her personal diaries

exposed by various sources found entries written by Carole

stating things such as quote,

"I wish there was some way out,"

of her relationship with Don,

not to mention her verbal threats.

Eventually her wish was granted,

and most suspiciously of all,

Carole Baskin did end up the biggest beneficiary

of Don's vanishing.

Not long after he went missing,

Carole cut off all the utilities to Don's office,

took out his wills and powers of attorney

and held onto them until the very first date

she was allowed to declare him legally dead,

the five-year and one day anniversary of his disappearance

Even stranger was that

when the powers of attorney were read,

lawyers found that a special clause had been written

granting Carole head of Don's estates, not after his death,

but specifically after his disappearance.

Multiple lawyers have said

this is an irregular clause for such legal documents,

as people rarely expect to disappear.

Not only that, but Carole ended up inheriting 90%

of Don's worth, leaving just 10% behind

for Don's former family.

Now it should be stated that Don had instructed Carole

to leave them with 0%,

but she decided to help them regardless,

citing their blood relationship to Don as meaningful.

Does the strange disappearance clause in Don's will,

combined with his infidelity

and strict business-minded pursuits make Carole the killer?

No, but it does raise suspicion in her motivations

as millions of dollars were at stake

to keep her dream of saving big cats alive.

Some have pointed out

that just because she Don legally declared dead

that the first day possible

doesn't mean she was the mastermind either,

and they half a point.

Wouldn't it be ridiculously obvious

is to carry out such a suspicious legal action?

If Carole was indeed at fault,

drawing attention to the matter wouldn't be her priority.

It's also possible that she wasn't the killer,

but rather had blood on her hands,

arranging for someone else to handle Don.

It is undoubtedly deeply suspicious.

There are many people afraid of Carole,

including Don himself,

but fear, circumstantial evidence and speculation

unfortunately does not mean the party is guilty

without physical evidence.

Of course, Carole Baskin isn't the only one

subject to theories of involvement.

In fact, many people wonder if Don

wasn't involved with anything malicious

or any third party at all,

but rather left on his own accord or died trying to do so.

With his vast resources and millions of dollars,

Don certainly have the capital necessary

to pull off a stunt and escape his previous life.

Perhaps he was done with the big cat operation

and the hassle of dealing with such a consuming business.

Perhaps his affairs with women were catching up with him

and he wanted to start over.

Or perhaps he was truly fearful of Carole

and set up his estate so she would profit

over his disappearance while he got to start over

on the far side of the world.

These theorists believe Don faked a kidnapping,

fully intending to fly out of Miami that August morning

and never returned.

He could have put his van

in a different airport parking lot

to throw police office trail,

popped on another flight

and vanished in the blink of an eye.

It's not out of the realm of possibility

that Don had money outside of his known estates,

or was saving up for this exact scenario.

Don was full of secrets

and constantly plotting his next move,

preparing for the future better than most.

In fact, Don's personal handyman, Kenny Farr

told reporters he knew Don would bury money and gold bars

around his various properties,

and was probably worth around 20 million,

15 million more than his lawyers thoughts.

Remember that Kenny was the person Don told, quote,

"If I can pull this off, it will be the slickest thing

"I've ever done in my life."

Could it have been a great escape plan?

Many think it to be possible, but not Kenny.

He doesn't understand why Don would leave a van

as an airport at all.

Even if it wasn't the right one.

It would be too big a clue that Don was running away,

and make it much harder to become invisible.

Both Don's lawyer, Joseph Fritz and lead investigator

of Hillsborough County Sheriff's office,

John Marsicano agree,

saying Don was more likely to have been killed.

The other arguments that Don left on his own will,

but perished unexpectedly is also heavily gossiped.

Some followers of the case, including Carole Baskin herself,

think that Don may have got into one of his planes

to fly to Costa Rica, but crashed somewhere in the ocean.

There is, however, a lot of evidence

to suggest this is false.

Detective Marsicano points to the lack of flight records

going to Costa Rica that day,

and the lack of crash reports in the area

for the same timeline.

Theorists then report that Don was a known illegal flyer,

having lost his pilot's license, but choosing to fly anyway,

operating his planes low and under radar detection.

Yes again, detective Marsicano refutes these claims,

saying every plane Don owned was far too small

to make the trip to Costa Rica in one go.

If Don did get in a plane and attempted to travel South,

it would have been desperate and unsafe,

possibly hinting at the deteriorating state of mind

that some have claimed that Don was suffering from

before he disappeared.

As previously noted, Don was experiencing symptoms

of onset dementia and may have been overcome with fatigue,

paranoia, or a combination of the two.

This would explain his ramblings to his friends

about being in fear for his life

and constantly looking over his shoulder,

conspiring against his then wife, Carole.

The problem with this theory, though,

is that if Don was truly dealing with memory loss

and dementia, he would not be able to successfully vanish

without a trace so easily.

If his mental faculties were becoming compromised,

surely he would have made a mistake somewhere.

Plus a lots of close associates to Don

don't believe the dementia stories anyway,

saying he was of sound mind

and honestly genuinely terrified for his life.

So if it doesn't appear that Carole killed Don,

and it wasn't Don who left by choice,

who was responsible for his disappearance?

A few people think Joe Exotic was actually the one to blame,

wondering if he may have taken Don out to spite Carole

and derail the future of Wildlife on Easy Street.

Claiming the validity and such a conspiracy,

knowing John was guilty of other plots

against Carole's life.

However, it should be noted

that Joe and Carole's bitter rivalry did not exist in 1997,

and no such evidence supports this idea.

A few others point to militant animal rights activists,

or think that Don had connections to drug lords

in South America that wanted him dead.

Regardless, the fact of the matter

is the police have no hard evidence

and have no prime suspects in their sites.

Anyone could be at fault.

And that's what makes Don Lewis' disappearance

all the more tragic.

(dramatic music)

Before we divulge our hypothesis

of Don Lewis' unsolved disappearance,

we want to make it known that our conclusions

presented in "Cold Case Detective,"

are purely logical speculation based on evidence,

circumstance and factual subtext.

We are only privy to the same information

presented in each video, and we do not promise certainty

or an expert guarantee on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe, research and report.

In the case of Don Lewis,

we believe he was kidnapped, murdered,

or a combination of the two.

So many of the people involved with Don and his life,

such as business associates,

family members, his personal lawyer,

and the lead investigators looking for him

believe the same to be true,

that somebody or somebodies wanted Don dead,

whether it be for vengeance, spites, or pure malice.

The tricky part of the equation, is who?

without a doubt, Don Lewis' killer was both close to him

and had the resources to carry out a seamless homicide.

The perpetrator had to be close to Don

to know of his planned trips to Costa Rica

and multiple projects down there,

and be able to use that as a blind for investigators,

tricking people into thinking he disappeared purposefully.

Now this doesn't necessarily trim down the list of suspects,

because Don had a lot of friends and a lot of enemies,

each of whom knew of his Costa Rica paradise.

Yet it does signal the killer was smart

and knew how to arrange a multifaceted kidnapping.

In addition to smarts,

the killer had to have the money to hire someone

to get rid of Don or to do it themselves

without ever leaving so much as a hair follicle.

In the case of a multimillionaire like Don was,

removing them from the face of the earth

is going to take a pretty penny.

So how did they do it?

A lot is left to be desired in the investigation

in terms of clues and concrete timelines.

But if the killer was an associate to Don,

they probably had secretly arranged a meeting

early that August 18th morning with him.

He was already out to make a delivery

and head to Miami for a flight.

So the arrangement was probably just another stop.

It was here they likely kidnapped him,

drove his van to the airport as a fake out,

and disposed of him elsewhere.

There's also the idea that Don could be meeting someone

with his own planes.

And when they took off, he was out over the ocean

by his murderer, a theory brought up by his lawyer.

Whatever the method was, it ended with a clean getaway.

Could it have been Carole Baskin?

It is entirely possible.

In addition to the theories mentioned previously,

Carole's own family had a disdain for Don.

And speaking of her family,

she also had a brother as a deputy in the Sheriff's office

who was one of the last people to be around Don

right before he went missing.

Plenty of people have come forward to quickly strike down

theories of collusion in law enforcement,

or any involvement from Carole's brother,

citing their weak relationship to begin with.

Both Carole and Anne McQueen, the assistant who probably

knew Don Lewis better than he knew himself

were intensely vetted by detectives,

cleared off any wrongdoing

and never labeled as prime suspects.

It doesn't rule them out completely,

but it does give credence to the fact there is simply

no lead at the forefront of the investigation.

It's important to remember that at the center

of the entire case is a man whose fate is unknown.

The humanity and tragedy of which is sometimes obscured

by the glorification of conspiracy theories

and internet jokes.

There are loved ones and friends of Don Lewis

who are desperate for answers

and longing to know what happened to him.

But instead of receiving real help,

they have to wake up every day to see his face and name

abused by people looking to profit off his mystery

and laughing at the idea that he was fed to tigers.

It is so important to remember

that the people in these cases where people,

real people who deserve respect and justice.

And the abuse of their stories to make shocking headlines

and quick money is insidious.

Was Don Lewis a perfect man?

No, by no stretch of the imagination.

He, like all of us, had his issues and shortcomings.

But at the end of the day, Don Lewis was a real person

with a beating heart and deserved to live out

the rest of his days,

no matter how badly someone didn't like him

or the businesses he involved himself with.

Because of the tone and reception

of certain documentaries made since Don disappeared,

it is hard to get people to focus

on finding answers rather than supporting the nonsense.

So it is up to all of us to work

to progress above the overly dramatized conspiracy theories

looking to shock viewers and readers to earn quick money,

and humanize Jack Donald Lewis and respect his case.

If you or anyone has any information

that could aid investigators in their search

for Jack Donald Lewis,

please reach out to the proper authorities.

No piece of information is too small or insignificant,

for it could be the key to unlocking the chilling mystery

of Don Lewis and his legacy left at Wildlife on Easy Street.

This is "Cold Case Detective."

(dramatic music)