Tiger King star Carole Baskin’s missing first husband Don Lewis has reportedly been found “alive and well” in Costa Rica.

Mr Lewis went missing six years after the couple married in 1991 and was legally declared dead in 2002.

His disappearance and the suggestion that the Big Cat Rescue owner was somehow involved was a huge plotline in the hit Netflix show’s first season. His family even featured and pointed the finger of blame firmly at Carole.

Now, the second series, which began streaming this week, has vindicated her of any wrong-doing claims Carole, who has always maintained her innocence.

Appearing via video link on ITV’s This Morning, she discussed how she was represented on the show, saying: “They said we just want your answer on this so that we can lay that to rest. That’s not what they did, they turned it into this huge mystery.

“But I tell you what, one of the really exciting things that came out of Tiger King 2 is that they produced a letter from Homeland Security and it says that a special agent in charge with the FBI at Homeland Security reached out to the sheriff’s detective George Fernandez, which means this had to have happened after 2002, because Homeland Security wasn’t even around until 2002.

“And they said that my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica.

“And yet all of this hay has been made about me having something to do with his disappearance, when Homeland Security has known where he is at least since back then.”

Addressing the comments made by Lewis’s family, she said: “I think maybe they should check with Homeland Security, who seems to know where he is.”

Asked if she believes Lewis is alive, she said: “I didn’t think that he was capable of supporting himself.

“He took about $1m down into Costa Rica and I had agreed to let him do that so he could prove to himself that he could make a living.

“And when we recovered what we could out of that years later, it was only about $80,000 because the investments he had made were so bad.

“So I don’t know how it is that Homeland Security says he’s alive and well in Costa Rica but I’m glad to hear it.”