Ryan Borgwardt, the husband and father of three who authorities said faked his own death at a Wisconsin lake before fleeing the U.S., is now in contact with police but the local sheriff says he won’t reveal his location.
Search and rescue teams searched tirelessly for Borgwardt’s body in Green Lake for 54 days, after he was last heard from on Aug. 11, when he called his wife to let her know he was finishing up his paddle but never returned home.
While they found his truck, kayak, life-jacket, fishing rod and tackle box in the days after he went missing, his body was never recovered, and in recent weeks the investigation turned to his personal life.
Last week, after weeks of probing, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll dropped a bombshell: police believed Borgwardt, 45, had fled the country to eastern Europe after faking his own death.
Ryan Borgwardt faked his own death and fled the U.S.
Green Lake County Sheriff's Office
On Thursday of this week, Podoll told reporters they had finally tracked down the missing dad, confirming their suspicions.
Podoll said they began making contact with Borgwardt last week after investigators connected with a woman who speaks Russian.
“The great news is that we know he’s alive,” Podoll told reporters, according to WJBF. “The bad news is we do not know where he exactly is, and he has not yet decided to return home.”
Podoll said they still believe he is somewhere in eastern Europe and urged Borgwardt to return home to the U.S. and “clean up the mess he’s made.”
He also suggested that Borgwardt may be ashamed of the negative attention the case has received and hesitant to return out of fear.
“I can see that,” Podoll continued. “He staged his death, and unfortunately, one of the things he did say is that he didn’t expect us to go more than two weeks searching for him. I hate to tell him that he picked the wrong sheriff and the wrong department.”
Last week, Podoll said his department learned that Canadian law enforcement authorities had run Borgwardt’s name through their databases the day after he was reported missing, but did not clarify why they ran his name or offer further details.
Further investigation revealed that Borgwardt had reported his passport lost or stolen and had obtained a new one in May. His family easily found his original passport, the sheriff said.
An analysis of a laptop — police did not say whose — revealed a digital trail that showed Borgwardt had planned to head to Europe and tried to mislead investigators.
The laptop’s hard drive had been replaced and the browsers had been cleared on the day Borgwardt disappeared. Investigators also found passport photos, inquiries about moving funds to foreign banks and communication with a woman from Uzbekistan. They also discovered that Borgwardt also took out a US$375,000 life insurance policy in January.
On Thursday, they played a cellphone video for reporters that Borgwardt sent them on Nov. 11.
“I’m in my apartment. I am safe, secure,” Borgwardt said in the video, per CBS News.
Podoll said Borgwardt has admitted to staging his death. He overturned his kayak, paddled back to shore in a smaller, inflatable boat, rode his e-bike more than 100 kilometres to a bus station in Wisconsin and left for Canada before hopping on a flight to Europe.
This image made from a WKOW video shows Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll speaking at a news conference Friday, Nov. 8, 2024.
WKOW via AP
ABC News reports Podoll became emotional during Thursday’s press conference, ending the event with a heart-wrenching plea.
“Christmas is coming, and what better gift he could give his kids is to be there for Christmas with them.”