Dogs have picked up the scent of human remains near the lake house of Carole Baskin's missing husband, reports claim.
The Tiger King star's former husband disappeared in 1997 and was declared dead five years later - but his body has never been found.
Cadaver dogs - that are trained to detect human bodies - allegedly picked up a scent of remains just meters from the lake house belonging to Don Lewis in Brandon, Florida.
The discovery is set to be revealed in a new documentary named Tigers, Lies And Cover Ups airing on Sunday on Investigation Discovery (ID), according to The Sun.
Detective Jim Rathmann told the publication: “Cadaver dogs can detect human remains 20 feet below water and the fact we have her alerting on the same spot was extremely exciting.
“But after 23 years whatever is in there is covered in mud, makes a search, there is zero visibility and there’s alligators there.
“We are not going to find a body, but if Don, hypothetically, had gone through a meat grinder we are looking for soft bone fragments, clothing or maybe a tooth. Best case scenario is you find a tooth or bone that you extract DNA from."
The highly-trained animal allegedly located a hit spot meters from the back of Don’s property but when detectives and divers searched the area they did not discover anything due to 'poor conditions'.
In 1997 millionaire Don Lewis - who was married to Carole - went missing after leaving his home in Tampa, Florida on 18 August.
Lewis was declared dead in 2002 and Carole has adamantly denying any knowledge or wrongdoing.
Local police had reopened the disappearance case in June after the release of the hit docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness on Netflix earlier this year.
In the popular series, Baskin's longtime rival and exotic animal keeper Joe Exotic accused her of killing Lewis, an accusation which she firmly denies.
In August Lewis' three daughters held a press conference with attorney John Phillips where they announced a fresh search for answers surrounding Don's disappearance.
They also announced a $100,000 (£76,500) reward for information on what happened to Lewis.
Four billboards have now been erected around Tampa advertising the cash reward for information on what happened to Lewis.
Tip-offs have been arriving from cold case groups on Facebook, which have been described as "promising leads".
"We're going to serve (Baskin) with a lawsuit, but not a lawsuit for damages, it's a lawsuit for equity," revealed Phillips at the press event.
This suggests that depositions and subpoenas could possibly on the cards for Baskin.
Since it came out in March, Netflix say a staggering 64 million households globally watched the series which follows big cat owners and their intense rivalries across the US.
