Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was reported missing on Aug. 12 after he failed to return home from a kayaking trip in Green Lake, WI. Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll stated his belief that Borgwardt had faked his own disappearance and fled the country according to a Nov. 8 news conference.
Borgwardt’s car, along with his trailer, was parked near Green Lake at Dodge Memorial Park. Two deputies found a capsized kayak belonging to Borgwardt in the western part of the lake, in an area where the average depth is around 220 feet deep.
Podoll contacted Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources as well as the nonprofit search and rescue organization, Bruce’s Legacy, to aid police while searching the lake for Borgwardt’s body. All search teams had probed the deep waters of central Wisconsin’s Green Lake for 54 days and found nothing indicating Borgwardt had drowned.
After months of no evidence, Podoll stated that he had made the decision to take the investigation “in a different direction.” Shortly after this decision, Borgwardt’s name was checked by law enforcement in Canada after he seemingly went missing, meaning he had contact with Canadian law enforcement.
Partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, authorities had discovered more evidence that suggested Borgwardt had not drowned in the lake. A forensic analysis of a laptop Borgwardt’s wife had given to investigators raised suspicions that he had faked his death to flee to Europe.
Borgwardt had replaced the laptop’s hard drive before he vanished and cleared its browsing history on the day of the kayaking trip, after syncing the laptop’s contents to the Cloud on Aug 11. He had also photographed his passports and taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy in the months leading up to his disappearance. Authorities also stated Borgwardt had moved funds into a foreign bank, changed his email address and was communicating with an unidentified woman in Uzbekistan prior to his disappearance.
Podoll asked the public to report any information related to Borgwardt’s disappearance to the Green Lake Sheriff’s Office or the local Crime Stoppers line. He additionally told reporters that it was too early to comment on any charges that could potentially be brought against Borgwardt and anyone who might have helped him.
