Reason why kayaking legends Ryan Bargwardt fake his death ……

Why did a man fake his death while kayaking and flee overseas? Officials are learning more

A Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning this summer so he could abandon his wife and three children has been communicating with authorities

 

Ryan Borgwardt has been talking with authorities since Nov. 11 after disappearing for three months, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said at a news conference. The sheriff later showed a video that Borgwardt had sent the sheriff’s office that day.

 

“The great news is we know that he is alive and well,” Podoll said. “The bad news is we don’t know where Ryan exactly is, and he has not yet decided to return home.”

 

Borgwardt, wearing an orange T-shirt and not smiling, looked directly into the camera in the video, which appears to have been taken on his phone. Borgwardt said he was in his apartment and briefly panned the camera but mostly showed just a door and bare walls.

 

“I’m safe and secure, no problem,” Borgwardt said. “I hope this works.”

 

Borgwardt told authorities he fled because of “personal matters,” the sheriff said. Podoll did not elaborate.

 

“He was just going to try and make things better in his mind, and this was the way it was going to be,” Podoll said.

 

Borgwardt told authorities he traveled about 50 miles from his home in Watertown to Green Lake, where he overturned his kayak, dumped his phone in the lake and then paddled an inflatable boat to shore. He told authorities he picked that lake because it’s the deepest in Wisconsin at 237 feet.

 

After leaving the lake, he rode an electric bike about 70 miles through the night to Madison, the sheriff said. From there, he took a bus to Detroit, then boarded a bus to Canada and got on a plane there, the sheriff said.

 

Police were still verifying Borgwardt’s description of what happened, Podoll said.

 

The sheriff suggested Borgwardt could be charged with obstructing the investigation into his disappearance, but so far no counts have been filed. The sheriff’s office said the search for Borgwardt’s body, which lasted more than a month, cost at least $35,000. Podoll said that Borgwardt told authorities that he didn’t expect the search to last more than two weeks.

 

Whether Borgwardt returns will be up to his “free will,” Podoll said. Borgwardt’s biggest concern about returning is how the community will react, the sheriff said.

 

“He thought his plan was going to pan out, but it didn’t go the way he had planned,” the sheriff said. “And so now we’re trying to give him a different plan to come back.”

 

The sheriff said authorities “keep pulling at his heartstrings” to return home.

 

“Christmas is coming,” Podoll said. “And what better gift could your kids get than to be there for Christmas?”

 

Borgwardt’s disappearance was first investigated as a possible drowning after he went kayaking on Green Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee, in August. But subsequent clues — including that he obtained a new passport three months before he disappeared — led investigators to speculate that he faked his death to meet up with a woman he had been communicating with in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia.

 

The sheriff declined to comment when asked what he knew about the woman, but he said police contacted Borgwardt “through a female that spoke Russian.”

 

Prior to the sheriff’s office speaking with Borgwardt last week, he had not been heard from since the night of Aug. 11 when he texted his wife in Watertown shortly before 11 p.m., saying he was headed to shore after kayaking.

 

Deputies located his vehicle and trailer near the lake. They also found his overturned kayak with a life jacket attached to it in an area where the lake’s waters run more than 200 feet deep. The search for his body went on for more than 50 days, with divers on several occasions exploring the lake.

 

In early October, the sheriff’s department learned that Canadian law enforcement authorities had run Borgwardt’s name through their databases the day after he was reported missing. Further investigation revealed that he had reported his passport lost or stolen and had obtained a new one in May.

 

The sheriff’s office said the analysis of a laptop revealed a digital trail that showed Borgwardt planned to head to Europe and tried to mislead investigators.

 

The laptop’s hard drive had been replaced and the browsers had been cleared the day Borgwardt disappeared, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators found passport photos, inquiries about moving money to foreign banks, and communication with a woman from Uzbekistan.

 

 

 

Kayaker who faked death confirms he is ‘safe.’ Police ask him to come home to his children

Police, who have been trying to locate Ryan Borgwardt since August, said the father staged his disappearance and appeared to flee to Eastern Europe.

 

“His biggest concern is how the community is going to react to him” possibly coming home, Podoll said in the Nov. 21 press conference. “I can see that, OK. He staged his death and unfortunately one of the things that he did say was he didn’t expect us to go more than two weeks in searching for him. Well, I hate to tell you, he picked the wrong sheriff and the wrong department.”

 

Officials and family initially worried that Borgwardt had drowned after his kayak was found adrift in Green Lake on Aug. 12.

 

But about two months later during a Nov. 8 press conference, Podoll revealed the investigation shifted based on evidence that suggested Borgwardt was alive and had run away.

 

“We know that he’s not in our lake,” Podoll said at the time following a lengthy search effort that included canine searches and divers.

 

During the Nov. 21 press conference, Podoll shared how Borgwardt staged his kayaking accident and if he would face any charges.

 

Read on for everything to know about Ryan Borgwardt, the missing Wisconsin father who faked his kayaking accident and possibly fled to Europe.

 

Who is Ryan Borgwardt?

Ryan Borgwardt is a resident of Watertown, Wisconsin, who was believed to have gone missing on Aug. 12, 2024, after he failed to return from a kayaking trip on Green Lake.

 

He is married and a father to high school and grade school-aged kids, according to Podoll

 

 

Three cadaver dogs and a dive team were also brought in to help with the search on Aug. 24. After an almost eight-week effort, they could not find him.

 

What did officials think happened to Ryan Borgwardt?

In the Nov. 8 press conference, officials said evidence suggested Borgwardt could have faked his own disappearance and left the country for Europe.

 

At the time, Podoll said that on Oct. 7 they discovered Borgwardt’s passport was “run” on Aug. 13, a day after he went missing. As they continued their investigation, detectives discovered that law enforcement officials in Canada ran his name and that Borgwardt obtained a new passport, Green Lake County authorities said, per NBC News.

 

Investigators then conducted a digital forensic analysis of Borgwardt’s laptop, which his wife gave them, and concluded “that he was in some place in Europe.” Podoll alleged that Borgwardt replaced the laptop’s hard drive and cleared the browser on the day he went missing.

 

“We found out that he moved funds to a foreign bank, changing his email and communication with a woman from Uzbekistan,” Podoll remarked, noting that Borgwardt took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January and purchased airline cards. “Due to these discoveries of the new evidence, we were sure that Ryan was not in our lake.”

 

“Everything that we have found — we’re in a really good position that we know he is someplace out there,” Podoll continued. “All we want to know is he’s safe.”

 

How did Ryan Borgwardt stage his kayaking accident?

In the Nov. 21 press conference, Podoll said Borgwardt told him how he staged his accident.

 

The Wisconsin resident left an electric bike near the boat launch and paddled his kayak out onto Green Lake, where he “overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the lake.”

 

Then in a “child-sized” inflatable boat, he paddled back to shore, grabbed the bike and rode to Madison. There, he boarded a bus to Detroit, crossed into Canada and got on a plane.

 

What did Ryan Borgwardt say in his video?

In the video shared Nov. 21, Borgwardt is seen inside a building and wearing an orange shirt.

 

“Good evening, it’s Ryan Borgwardt,” he says in the video. “Today is Nov. 11, it’s approximately 10 a.m. by you guys. I’m in my apartment. I am safe, secure, no problem.”

 

What’s next?

Officials are pressing on with their investigation into Borgwardt, focusing the

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