No, there is no evidence that Carole Baskin’s husband was found alive.

Carol Baskin, founder of Big Cats Rescue and star of the 2020 Netflix documentary Tiger King, recently made headlines again amid claims that her husband Don Lewis has been found alive.

Lewis went missing in 1997 and was officially declared dead in 2002. In the Netflix documentary, Baskin was accused of killing her husband and feeding him to tigers at one of her animal shelters in Florida. Baskin denied her involvement in her husband’s disappearance and was never charged with his disappearance.

And here is an excerpt from Baskin’s 2021 interview on the British television network ITV recently floats to the surface; in it, Baskin claimed that Lewis was found “alive and well” in Costa Rica.

After the interview resurfaced online, people in social networks stated that they were shocked by recent events. Fashion magazine Cosmopolitan published an article under the headline: “So, it turns out that Carole Baskin’s ‘dead’ husband has been found alive and well…”

Any evidence that Carole Baskin’s husband was found alive?

No, there is no evidence that Carole Baskin’s husband was found alive.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) is investigating the disappearance of Don Lewis and emailed VERIFY on Jan. 19 that Don Lewis remains missing. Despite Lewis being declared dead in 2002, the case was reopened in 2020 in connection with the Tiger King series.

“We have not received any communication from our federal partners confirming the whereabouts of the missing Mr. Don Lewis,” the email said. “The investigation into the disappearance of Don Lewis remains a priority for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), as does all missing persons cases.”

The US State Department, which tracks US citizens who go missing overseas, told VERIFY in an email that reports that Lewis was found in Costa Rica are “unconfirmed.”

The State Department declined to comment further on the matter.

During the 2021 press conference, HCSO Chief Detective Cpl. Moises Garcia declined to comment on claims that Lewis was ever in Costa Rica. He also said the sheriff’s office had conducted more than 20 hours of interrogation since the Lewis disappearance case was reopened, and Baskin declined to be interviewed.

Affiliate station VERIFY WTSP reported that Garcia declined to talk about the alleged sightings that led Lewis to Costa Rica. He says they checked flight records, passport entries, and even worked with USF medical examiners to take age progression photos. But as to whether he was actually seen there, Garcia declined to comment.

VERIFY contacted the Costa Rican authorities but received no response at the time of publication.