Gardenista
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FL FL - Jack "Don" Lewis, 59, Tampa, 18 Aug 1997 ("Tiger King" missing husband) Joe Exotic guilty
- Thread starter Disco1
- Start date
..
“It wasn’t “even close to what we saw in court,” she said. That included a recording in which the defendant complained that the first man he hired to kill rival Carole Baskin ran off with his money, so he wanted to try again.”
She said they heard nothing about Don, but that it wouldn’t have impacted verdict.
The first man JE considering hiring to kill CB was discussed in TK documentary, but JE said he changed his mind- not that the guy ran off with the cash- iirc. Anyone remember what exactly was said & in which episode?
From the article, paraphrased:
“It wasn’t “even close to what we saw in court,” she said. That included a recording in which the defendant complained that the first man he hired to kill rival Carole Baskin ran off with his money, so he wanted to try again.”
She said they heard nothing about Don, but that it wouldn’t have impacted verdict.
The first man JE considering hiring to kill CB was discussed in TK documentary, but JE said he changed his mind- not that the guy ran off with the cash- iirc. Anyone remember what exactly was said & in which episode?
lilithblue
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Allen Glover, the guy associated with JL, says in the last episode, "So I took that and ran." When he was talking about JE offering him first $5,000, then $3,000.
Sheriff Chad Chronister on CB's "account of the events that occurred that day".
"On August 19th in 1997, he asked her when she woke up in the morning (...) let's pack up the truck, we are gonna drive to Miami and then catch a plane from there to take some stuff and then go over to Costa Rica. And he took the van and said he had to run an errand and he would be back and she hadn't seen him since. That's her account of the events that occurred that day (...)."
I presume Sheriff Chad Chronister read the MP report and he just confused the date of Don's disappearance with the day CB reported him missing?!
Timestamp 9:15
CB's account back in 1997 and Tiger King episode# 3:
I would love to know who found Don's van "(...) on Tuesday, August 19, 1997 around 4am (...)."
JMO
Edit: grammar
"On August 19th in 1997, he asked her when she woke up in the morning (...) let's pack up the truck, we are gonna drive to Miami and then catch a plane from there to take some stuff and then go over to Costa Rica. And he took the van and said he had to run an errand and he would be back and she hadn't seen him since. That's her account of the events that occurred that day (...)."
I presume Sheriff Chad Chronister read the MP report and he just confused the date of Don's disappearance with the day CB reported him missing?!
Timestamp 9:15
CB's account back in 1997 and Tiger King episode# 3:
I would love to know who found Don's van "(...) on Tuesday, August 19, 1997 around 4am (...)."
JMO
Edit: grammar
Attachments
According to CB:
Don couldn’t read past a first grade level, so his SIL, DS’s husband, who worked for FAA, got him a license.
Don lost his pilot’s license the day after he got it because he was doing takeoffs & landings at Vandenberg Airport (does she mean Tampa?) when it was closed for repairs.
Don’s 3 Crashes:
1) Cedar Key- crashed on approach- had to be rescued by boat (Does she mean George T Lewis Airport, KCDK ?)
2) Zephyrhills Airport- failed to lower landing gear in experimental hot rod plane
3) Crop duster’s strip near Pensacola- flying too low, got tangled in power lines trying to outrun Hurricane Helena Sept 22, 1988. In intensive care for weeks. Never the same.
Fact Check:
But... “Hurricane Helene” was a named storm in 1958 & 2006- no “Helena” in 1980’s.
Did she mean Hurricane Elena in early Sept 1985?
Or... she’s just making stuff up not predicting widespread access to internet or the existence of the Wayback Machine?
FAA produces reports for all aviation incidents & accidents. These reports are open to public search in an online database. So far I’ve not found any reports related to Don. Still looking... Also, there would be a newspaper blurb about some of these- especially the boat rescue.
Being a compulsive liar doesn’t make you a murderer, but it sure doesn’t quell suspicion!
Well that is most interesting. He was flying with a student license- after CB reports his pilot’s license was revoked. Report says...
Operator: GREGORY COURS, PANIELLO
Operator Does Business As: DON LEWIS
Who the heck is the first guy? An alias? Or another character?
And why was he flying from Alabama to Tampa alone? Did he own real estate there- or have other business dealings there? Maybe his body is on a property in AL.
Yes- this is prob what she meant. On the 22nd, the storm was growing & reached peak intensity on the 23rd as a cat 4, then weakened rapidly & sputtered out on a track over open Atlantic. I wouldn’t be fleeing Tampa with the tracking waaaaaay out in the middle of the Atlantic, but that was before you could get spaghetti noodle updates every few minutes, so maybe he thought his plane would flip in spin off winds. Or maybe that’s what he told CB.
Which Airports?
"George T. Lewis Airport ... is a county-owned public-use airport in Levy County, Florida, United States. It is located one nautical mile (1.85 km) west of the central business district of Cedar Key.[1] It was opened in 1936 by the United States military, and it does not have a control tower."
^ George T. Lewis Airport - Wikipedia
"Tampa Executive Airport (ICAO: KVDF, FAA LID: VDF), formerly known as Vandenberg Airport, is located in unincorporated Hillsborough County, Florida, six nautical miles (11 km) east of the central business district of Tampa.[1] VDF covers 411 acres (166 ha) of land.[1]"
^ Tampa Executive Airport - Wikipedia
-------------------------------------------------------------
This other airport has commercial flights w SW Airlines, Delta, & American, et al.
"Tampa International Airport (IATA: TPA, ICAO: KTPA, FAA LID: TPA) is an international airport six miles (9.7 km) west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA).[2] ...movers to four satellite air terminals and gates (airsides), a pioneering concept when designed in the late 1960s. The airport was called Drew Field Municipal Airport until 1952.[3]"
^Tampa International Airport - Wikipedia
@JudgeJoe sbm bbm Looks like you're on track re airports. See red text below.
"George T. Lewis Airport ... is a county-owned public-use airport in Levy County, Florida, United States. It is located one nautical mile (1.85 km) west of the central business district of Cedar Key.[1] It was opened in 1936 by the United States military, and it does not have a control tower."
^ George T. Lewis Airport - Wikipedia
"Tampa Executive Airport (ICAO: KVDF, FAA LID: VDF), formerly known as Vandenberg Airport, is located in unincorporated Hillsborough County, Florida, six nautical miles (11 km) east of the central business district of Tampa.[1] VDF covers 411 acres (166 ha) of land.[1]"
^ Tampa Executive Airport - Wikipedia
-------------------------------------------------------------
This other airport has commercial flights w SW Airlines, Delta, & American, et al.
"Tampa International Airport (IATA: TPA, ICAO: KTPA, FAA LID: TPA) is an international airport six miles (9.7 km) west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA).[2] ...movers to four satellite air terminals and gates (airsides), a pioneering concept when designed in the late 1960s. The airport was called Drew Field Municipal Airport until 1952.[3]"
^Tampa International Airport - Wikipedia
CB's words must be taken with a grain of salt. MOO
We don't know if Don's license was revoked. I even doubt that Don's son-in-law faked the license. Again, MOO.
After a little research, GREGORY, COURS, PANIELLO was a prominent Tampa law firm whose partners were Donn Gregory, Richard E. Cours and Joseph M. Paniello.
Can't answer the other two questions...
MOO, MOO and JMO
Edit: grammar
Sorry to quote myself, but the “operator” was a law firm. It comes up in a Google search in obituaries of men who worked there and in court cases. It’s odd. Don must have done business with this firm? With that kind of wealth, prob had several attorneys. Don’s attorney in the TK documentary was Joseph Fritz. If you want a juicy little rabbit hole full of TK, CB & Don posts visit Joe’s FB attorney site. Easy to Google.
ETA: Sorry, late in posting same info as above.
A quickie Google search shows "Gregory, Cours, Paniello" (w slight name changes), as a FL based law firm, w cases running back to 1960s.
NTSB accident report listed G, C, P as "registered owner" and "operator."
Not seeing a website for G, C, P as a currently existing law firm, but could have missed it.
@JudgeJoe bbm sbm
A quickie Google search shows "Gregory, Cours, Paniello" (w slight name changes), as a FL based law firm, w cases running back to 1960s.
NTSB accident report listed G, C, P as "registered owner" and "operator."
Not seeing a website for G, C, P as a currently existing law firm, but could have missed it.
Last edited:
SBM
I found some ads with Don's phone number for an Aircraft Auction that would take place 10 days after the crash. He probably had nothing to do with the law firm and just went to Alabama to buy/pick the plane for the auction.
JMO
Investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, pictured far left in 2009, announced Tuesday, April 7, 2020, that he is looking into the disappearance of Jack Donald “Don” Lewis, middle, who vanished in August 1997. He’s solved a number of “no body” cold cases.
Mississippi cold case journalist digging into ‘Tiger King’ case of Carole Baskin’s missing husband
Mississippi cold case journalist digging into ‘Tiger King’ case of Carole Baskin’s missing husband
That’s some great digging! Can you post a link or pic?
So to be fair, CB did make a plea for search help- in her own way from the business web site. Over time the van has changed from green to white. How many vans did he own, I wonder. That’s a pretty basic detail.
Can’t see the ads without signing up, so... I’ll pass on those.
She did but, was the internet the best place to search for help in 1997? Flyers would reach way more attention back then, than an internet post. And for someone who was the last person to see Don "in the morning", it's sad that she couldn't even remember what he was wearing... "He is probably wearing blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt with a cat on it." MOO
Never heard of a green van, white and blue only, but can't really say what color the van was... it started as being blue, then white and then blue again when it caught fire in 1998.
Don't know other way to post the ads, so i'm attaching a screenshot.
JMO
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