Tiger King 2 has finally arrived, with the latest chapter of the bonkers Netflix documentary exposing newfound revelations on the motivations, backstories, and secrets of America’s most notorious big cat owners.
The second season picks up with Joe Exotic behind bars and Carole Baskin closing in on ownership of his disreputable zoo.
Old enemies, including Jeff Lowe, Tim Stark and Allen Glover, also return to drop some damning allegations.
From a conspiracy to decapitate Exotic, to a theory that Carole’s husband Don Lewis is still alive, here are all the key moments from the outrageous new chapter.
There was a plot to decapitate Joe Exotic before the murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin
Although Exotic is serving a 22-year prison sentence for the murder-for-hire plot against Carole, it’s been alleged that Exotic himself was an initial target.
In the new series, hitman Allen Glover claims that he was involved in a scheme with Jeff to kill Exotic. Yes, really.
He reveals that the plan was to decapitate the former zookeeper using barbed wire.
They were going to kill me because Jeff was on my life insurance,’ Exotic explains. ‘They actually even set a trap to decapitate me.
‘They strung a piece of barbed wire across from tree to tree. They were hoping I’d be riding a four-wheeler fast enough that I’d hit that wire.’
Allen discloses the plot in a sworn affidavit, which is also shared on camera.
‘We came up with a plan to decapitate Joe’s head to kill him to clear him away from the property so Jeff could take it over, animals and everything,’ he divulges before adding: ‘This don’t make me look good at all.’
It’s also alleged that Jeff and Allen were co-conspirators in bringing Joe on the murder-for-hire charges.
The documentary states that Jeff has declined to comment on the allegations made against him by Allen.
Exotic’s lawyer John Phillips believes Allen’s comments warrant a new trial.
‘What Allen is admitting to means the case against Joe is based upon perjury because Jeff was telling him what to say and what to do,’ he says.
‘That warrants a new trial that is in the interest of justice.’
Is Carole Baskin’s missing husband Don Lewis still alive?
Tiger King 2 has raised the possibility that Don Lewis is actually alive and well and living somewhere in Costa Rica. Lewis had been declared dead in 2002 after vanishing without a trace in 1997.
Lewis’s attorney Joseph Fritz reveals that he received a call from a detective at a sheriff’s department following the first Netflix documentary, who appeared to confirm the bombshell.
When we were talking about Don, the detective got mad at me and slipped up and told me there were federal reports of him alive and well in Costa Rica that he had to overcome,’ Joseph shares.
Rey Rodriguez, Don’s associate, adds that Don had planned to relocate to the central American country.
‘He talked about moving to Costa Rica and starting over afresh,’ Rey says. ‘Don told me he was there to get away from Carole and so he put investments into my name.’
There are also claims that Lewis was close with a gang who forged passports, with some believing that he has changed his identity.
On top of that, it’s alleged that Lewis would often be seen with young women in Costa Rica.
‘Don’s favourite woman was Corina,’ Rey reveals. ‘I believe she was about 15. I told Don, “be careful what you’re doing. These little girls have family, people will find out.”’
Jeff Lowe and Joe Exotic allegedly asked an employee on her first day to kill Carole Baskin
Former G.W Zoo employee, Ashley Webster, claims that she was asked to murder Carole Baskin shortly after starting work there in 2016.
‘My very first day, Jeff said something about killing Carole Baskin and how she needs to die because she took some of his animals,’ she tells the camera.
Ashley alleges that Exotic said he’d pay her ‘a couple of grand’ to go down to Florida and kill Carole.
‘I didn’t really know Joe and I was so uncomfortable,’ Ashley continues, but he denies ever speaking to her.
‘I don’t even remember talking to Ashley Webster,’ Exotic retorts. ‘She was there for such a short time and she came to be a playmate for Jeff and Lauren.’
Ashley says she left a voicemail on Carole’s phone warning her of the threats, thus starting the murder-for-hire investigation.
Three days later, the FBI turned up at her house. ‘They were very aware that Jeff Lowe was conspiring to kill Carole Baskin, because I told them that,’ she insists.
The late Erik Cowie makes appearance to shed light on Tim Stark transporting dead animals
The late Erik Cowie appears in the fourth episode of Tiger King 2, where he weighs in on the Jeff and Tim fallout.
The former head keeper at G.W. Zoo, who died of natural causes in September, describes how Tim once turned up at the zoo with hundreds of dead animals.
Initially, Cowie is seen chuckling to himself as he smokes a cigarette on top of a haybale. ‘I’m going to set my balls on fire,’ he laughs.
‘When Tim Stark left his park in Indiana and headed this way, it was July-August. It was freaking hot and he had a lot of animals just jammed in the back of his gooseneck trailer,’ he continues.
‘The air conditioning unit had broken down. We opened that trailer up, the smell, the heat, the faecal matter, it was everywhere and the dead animals, they were everywhere.’
Defending the dead animals, Tim hits back: ‘I didn’t have my business partner there to help me like we were scheduled to do. He abandoned me and the animals and now he wants to black it on me.’
Jeff Lowe jokes about putting Lauren on street corner to make money for second zoo
Jeff Lowe opens up about the financial strains of opening up a new zoo in Thackerville, Oklahoma, and even goes as far as joking about getting Lauren to work the streets to fund it.
‘Everything takes a lot longer than you think, but it will get there,’ he says in episode four. ‘If I have to put Lauren on a corner earning, then we’ll do whatever we have to do.’
It’s then revealed that Jeff has plans to turn the zoo into a strip club combo, because why not.
Oh, and on top of that, the workers on the original zoo disclose that Lauren and Jeff, and other employees use the term ‘Code 69’ whenever there are ‘hot girls’ on the grounds.
‘Code 69, that means it’s a pretty girl in the park,’ former volunteer Tyrone Jackson explains.
‘I am the one that picks out the cute girls,’ Lauren adds.
Carole Baskin allegedly ordered Don Lewis’s right-hand man to take guns from their house day before disappearance
The mystery of Carole’s husband Don’s disappearance is examined with a fine-tooth comb in Tiger King 2.
According to one newcomer, Carole allegedly called her husband’s right-hand man Kenny Farr to remove guns from her home the day before Don went missing.
Trish Payne, Kenny’s ex-wife, tells the camera: ‘He had one of Don’s vans. He had a load of guns in the back. He said, “Carole gave these to me.”’
She adds: ‘I do think Kenny had some hand in Don’s disappearance.’
Carole addresses Trish’s claims in the documentary, saying: ‘She [Trish] makes a lot of false claims, but Kenny did often drive our vehicles and could have been getting the guns ready for the barge trip to Costa Rica.’
She also told Metro.co.uk: ‘I had traded the guns to Kenny for moving the bath house to the sanctuary from across town.’
Kenny, however, seems unsure over who traded him the guns, stating that Don had given him the riffles after previously saying it was Carole.
It’s later revealed that Don’s van was later located at the Pilot Country Estates.
Jeff Lowe accused of fraud and taking money from women’s charity
Jeff Lowe allegedly posed as an employee at a women’s aid charity and was able to divert millions of dollars in donated goods and then sell them through his liquidation business.
It’s claimed he then made a profit for himself. The money never went to the victims of domestic abuse, but instead was said to be pocketed by Jeff.
‘The feds were watching my bank account, they wanna charge me with five counts of wire fraud,’ Jeff tells the cameras.
The zooekeeper is said to have been sentenced to a halfway house but according to Exotic, then blackmailed the people working there.
‘He sold the people working there stolen watches and TVs and got released from the halfway house because he got everybody in trouble,’ Exotic claims.
‘Jeff’s a scam artist,’ he adds.
Wild.
Joe Exotic was engaged to fire chief’s daughter before coming out as gay
At the beginning of Tiger King 2, viewers are given an even closer look at Exotic’s past relationships and it turns out he was engaged to a woman before he came out as gay.
During his late teens, Exotic was working for the police and began dating the fire chief’s daughter, Kimberly Craft.
‘I was at a point in my life where I had two children and no husband,’ Kimberly shares in the documentary, adding that they dated for quite some time.
‘My ex-husband beat me on a regular basis and Joe was the one who got the warrant for his arrest.’
Exotic popped the question to Kimberly on Christmas Day.
‘I was dating the fire chief’s daughter and was with her for several years, never had sex one time,’ Exotic states.
Kimberly says she felt special that Exotic wanted to wait before having sex, however now realises she was naïve.
She later found out that Exotic was stripping for the mayor and all of her friends at parties and that he stripped down to a G-string for money to buy a fire truck.
After Kimberly found out that Exotic was gay, the pair broke off their engagement but remained close friends.
Exotic later moved on with his first husband, Brian Rhyne, who he was married to for 16 years before he died in Exotic’s arms of lung cancer.
Joe Exotic has found love again with a new boyfriend – but they’ve never met
It was revealed earlier this year that Exotic’s marriage to Dillon Passage had ended after three years.
Both parties have since found love again and Exotic is completely smitten by his new partner.
‘I have a boyfriend in Arkansas,’ he shares. ‘Drop-f*cking-dead gorgeous. I have never met Seth, but we talk 15 times a day and we have a pretty strong connection.’
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