By: Staff Report
TAMPA, Fla.- During a press conference, the family of Don Lewis and legal council, Law Offices of Phillips and Hunt, announced a reward for information leading to the disappearance of Lewis and guaranteed justice for him.
What exactly happened to Lewis remains uncertain, but there has been much public speculation about his disappearance over the past year after it became one of the main topics and plots in “Tiger King,” Netflix’s true-crime series about tiger trader “Joe Exotic” and his rival, Carole Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa who is Lewis’ ex-wife.
In the show, Joe Exotic accuses Baskin, multiple times, of being responsible for Lewis’ disappearance and feeding her husband to the tigers after she murdered Lewis, even writing and performing a song about the disappearance.
“They’ve got to make a determination whether to make an arrest based upon probable cause, that involves prosecutors. That involves a level of fluidity within. That does not appear to be the case, which is why we filed a lawsuit, to let a judge make determinations about what reasonable discovery is once depositions are moving forward in this case,” said Attorney John Phillips.
“There’s a lot of people out there have information but they’re scared to come forward,” said Phillips.
“We worked for weeks in raising this money,” said Donna Pettis, Lewis’ oldest daughter. “An anonymous donor came forward guaranteeing the $100,000. We’re hoping that with these funds someone will have the courage to come forward and provide the information to solve this case.”
Jack Smith, also known as Ripper Jack, the family spokesperson, said Monday the family believes there are people with information but are worried about coming forward.
“We really need someone to come forward,” he said. “There is a lot of people who have information who are afraid to come forward, they are worried that if they come forward they will be charged for a crime.”
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