Tiger King is the Netflix true-crime documentary that swept lockdown. Now, some fans think that Jeff Lowe is actually Carole Baskin's first abusive husband, Michael Murdock.
Tiger King is a complex tale of queerness, rural poverty, animal abuse, and addiction. It's also an absolute circus, replete with gun-totin', country singin', gay cowboy, zookeeper Joe Exotic. No wonder we all got so into it eh?
Tiger King tells the tale of a murder for hire, multiple animal rights cases of abuse, and constant catastrophes popping up all over the place.
We watch one zookeeper have his arm ripped off by a tiger. Another zookeeper is almost definitely running a sex cult. And then there's Carol Baskin.
Carol Baskin
Tiger King hinges on its main character's complete hatred for the flower-crown wearing, bike-riding Carol Baskin.
Baskin, like Joe, also runs a facility for big cats. However, unlike Joe, Carol opposes cub breeding and charging the public money for photos and play sessions with tiger cubs.
As Tiger King reveals, over the years, Joe developed an intense and burning hatred for Carol. Seriously, just check out the YouTube videos.
As we've seen in Tiger King, the Joe-Carol feud ended up costing millions of dollars. And ultimately, this feud ended up with Joe being locked up for life.
Conspiracy time
Obviously, just watching a series isn't enough for serious fans of true crime.
As with Making a Murderer, or The Keepers, legions of fans continue to try and solve the crimes featured in their favorite Netflix documentaries.
Fans on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter have been coming up with their own Tiger King theories. Some think Joe was framed by dodgy dealer Jeff Lowe, and others are keen to see nefarious Doc Antle get the comeuppance he deserves.
Jeff is Carol's First Husband
The latest online fan theory is that skeeze-ball Jeff Lowe is Carol's abusive first husband.
Jeff Lowe shows up towards the latter half of Tiger King, but he's as dodgy as everyone else on the show.
The bandana-wearing, nanny-ogling conman slid in to 'help' Joe Exotic in his fight against Carol. It just so happens that now he owns the zoo, while Joe lives in a jail cell.
The theory is that Carol paid her first husband Michael Murdock (aka Jeff Lowe) to frame Joe Exotic. Facebook fans argue that Jeff and lemur-owning James Garretson admitted to setting Joe up.
The theory argues that Carol paid everyone involved off, including the ex-convict's Joe Exotic hired to work at his park.
One similarity between the men is that both Michael Murdock and Jeff Lowe have been reported as physically abusing and assaulting women.
In this case though, that's hardly enough evidence. Carrying out physical abuse seems sadly common for some men in this universe.
Does It Add Up?
This theory being true would be extremely exciting, and not out of the ordinary for a story as wild as Tiger King (excuse the pun). However, for this case, the numbers simply don't add up.
Carol Baskin's first husband Michael Murdock would be 81 years old now. Jeff Lowe claims to be 67 and looks fairly young for being that age.
However, fans of true crime (and Jane the Virgin) know that facial plastic surgery isn't out of the question for super-criminals. I guess there's some chance Jeff Lowe isn't who he says he is.
But married to Carole Baskin? I don't know about that.
