Sheriff urges Wisconsin kayaker believed to have faked disappearance to contact family
GREEN LAKE, Wis. ( WFRV ) – A Wisconsin sheriff is calling on a kayaker believed to have faked his disappearance to contact his family, nearly three months after he was reported missing.
Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was reported missing on Aug. 12 after he failed to return home from kayaking on Big Green Lake, the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office said at the time.
Deputies found an unoccupied kayak with a life jacket attached to it when they went searching for Borgwardt. His vehicle was also found near Big Green Lake.
Keith Cormican runs a nonprofit search-and-rescue operation called Bruce's Legacy and was part of the search for Borgwardt in Green Lake. He said he felt like something was off after the search began to drag on past a few days.
"After about 10 days of searching the area I was probably thinking something was up after 20 days I was just in awe," he said. "I couldn't believe somebody could swim this far from the last ping."
For 54 days, numerous search efforts were conducted to find Borgwardt. In early October, multiple law enforcement groups decided to go in a different direction .
Investigators revealed last week that that decision led them to find out Borgwardt's name had been run on Aug. 13 by law enforcement in Canada. An analysis of a laptop given to them by Borgwardt's wife revealed that he had planned his disappearance and tried to conceal his efforts to mislead investigations.
Borgwardt allegedly replaced his hard drive and cleared the browser on the date of his disappearance, syncing it into the cloud on Aug. 11, and took photos of his passports. Authorities said he also moved funds into a foreign bank and changed his email address while communicating with a woman from Uzbekistan.
In addition, Borgwardt reportedly took out a $375,000 life insurance policy and purchased airline cards.
At this time, officials believe Borgwardt is alive and likely in Eastern Europe.
"Ryan, if you are viewing this, I plead that you contact us or your family," Sheriff Mark Podoll said last week. "We understand that things can happen but there is a family that wants their daddy back."
The Green Lake County Sheriff's Office said that no charges have been decided upon at this time.
Sheriff Podoll said the family is doing "rather well" right now given the circumstances, although it's been a very tough couple of months for them. He thanked the Borgwardt family for their help throughout the investigation, adding that he hoped Ryan would give them the answers they seek and that he would seek forgiveness for what they've been through.
It is unclear if anyone helped Borgwardt leave the country, Podoll said. The agency is now focused on making sure they get restitution for the expenses incurred for their search efforts.
No additional details were immediately available.
