Wisconsin husband and father of two Ryan Borgwardt, 45, turned out to be alive and well after faking his own death. It was on August 11 that he flipped his kayak on Green Lake, dropped his belongings there, and fled the country with the help of a Russian-speaking woman from Uzbekistan. Police found out he was alive in recent weeks and managed to contact him.
Borgwardt’s plan
According to the ABC News report, Borgwardt stashed an e-bike near the boat launch. He then paddled his kayak into the lake in a child-sized floating boat. He purposefully overturned the kayak and dumped his belongings in the lake. He then paddled the floating boat to shore and fled on his e-bike.
Borgwardt’s movements
Borgwardt fled on his e-bike to Madison, Wisconsin, where he boarded a bus and went to Detroit. From Detroit, he crossed the Canadian border and took a plane. According to the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Borgwardt’s current location is still unknown but is believed to be in Eastern Europe.
The sheriff contacted Borgwardt
It is through the Uzbek woman that they were able to establish contact with Borgwardt. The sheriff’s office asked him questions only he could answer and to film a video of himself as proof of life, to which he obliged. In the video, Borgwardt said: “I am safe, secure, no problems.”
The Thursday press conference
Sheriff Mark Podoll believes that Borgwardt is not in any danger and has maintained contact with the sheriff’s office since November 11, which was a “big turning point,” according to Podoll. “He has not yet decided to return home,” Podoll said at the conference.
What awaits Borgwardt
The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office seeks $35,000 to $40,000 in restitution for the money used in searching for Borgwardt. According to ABC News, a lot of resources have been used in an attempt to find him including divers, drones, sonar and cadaver K-9s, and more. The sheriff also said that Borgwardt is at the risk of facing obstruction charges.
When and if he is coming home
Sheriff Podoll is hopeful that Borgwardt will come back home to his family. “He needs to come home to his kids,” Podoll said at the press conference. The officers are also trying to “pull at his heartstrings” in the hopes that it might move him to come back.
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Borgwardt has a new passport
Borgwardt’s stunt cost the authorities 54 days in search for him. On November 8, they concluded that he faked his death. Investigators revealed that Borgwardt obtained a new passport and a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
More thorough planning
Borgwardt left his original passport at home and used the new one in Canada, a day after he went “missing.” Police also revealed that he attempted to cover his tracks by removing his laptop’s hard drive and wiping his search history clean. Furthermore, he changed all his email addresses that were linked to his bank accounts and moved money to a foreign bank account.
Borgwardt’s point of view
According to an NBC News report, Podoll said: “His biggest concern is how the community is going to react.” He also added, “One of the things that he did say was he didn’t expect us to go more than two weeks in searching for him. I hate to tell you, he picked the wrong sheriff and the wrong department.”
His devastated family
Borgwardt’s wife, Emily, and her children have been grieving their father’s loss. Now that they’ve learned that his loss was a hoax, it has become a game changer. Her friends and community recommended that she should support groups for women with “runaway husbands.” They celebrated their wedding anniversary last July.
