VIDEO: New 48 HOURS Investigates TIGER KING Mystery

The ranks of Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin have been joined by well-known attorney, Alex Spiro. The former NYC prosecutor turned lawyer to stars such as JAY-Z and Mick Jagger has been hired by Don Lewis' daughters to help solve the Tampa millionaire's 1997 disappearance.

He tells the latest in that investigation-including, he claims, the existence of new witnesses-to Richard Schlesinger for 48 Hours: "THE MISSING MILLIONAIRE: A "TIGER KING MYSTERY'" to be broadcast Saturday, January 1, 2021 at 10PM on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+.

Lewis was reported missing by Baskin who was married to him at the time. She's a big cat owner and animal rights activist made famous for her ongoing feud with Joseph Maldonado-Passage-better known as Joe Exotic-in Netflix's wildly popular "Tiger King" series, now in its second season. Baskin tried, and succeeded, in shutting down Exotic's Oklahoma big cat zoo, and he was convicted for a murder-for hire plot targeting her. Even from federal prison, he claims Carole Baskin is the real killer and is responsible for her husband's death. He's fanned the fires of elaborate theories-such as Don being fed to tigers. Another popular rumor is that Don was dropped out of a plane into the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Spiro says he's trying to cut through the noise and speculation in attempt to finally learn the truth in this nearly 25year-old mystery.

"Sometimes in high-profile cases, people come up with fanciful theories of, you know, tigers, lions, bears, and airplanes," says Spiro. "I mean, there's usually a simpler explanation of things."

As a part of Spiro's intensive investigation, he's focusing on a narrow timeframe when Lewis seemed to as Spiro puts it "vanish from earth." One person who says she can shed some light on what happened is Trish Farr-Payne. She tells "48 Hours" her ex-husband Kenny Farr might have been involved.

48 HOURS is broadcast Saturdays at 10:00 PM, ET/PT, on CBS and streams on Paramount+.

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