Borgwardt
A Wisconsin man who faked his own death in Green Lake 69传媒 is alive, although his whereabouts are unknown, Green Lake 69传媒 Sheriff Mark Podoll said.
At a press conference Thursday, Podoll played a short video of Ryan Borgwardt, 45, of Watertown, Wisconsin, in which he appears in an unidentified apartment and states the date and time. That is the only video police have seen of Borgwardt, Podoll said, but authorities have remained in regular contact with him over email after tracking him down with the help of an associate on Nov. 11.
The location of that apartment, however, is unknown, although officers still believe he鈥檚 in Eastern Europe. The main goal now, Podoll said, is to persuade Borgwardt to come home to his family, an effort that has been unsuccessful thus far.
鈥淐hristmas is coming, and what better gift he could give his kids is to be there for Christmas,鈥 Podoll said as he closed out the press conference, tears welling in his eyes.
People are also reading…
Borgwardt was reported missing just after 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 after not returning home from a kayaking trip to Green Lake, just hours after texting his wife to say he was heading back to shore.
Early searches of Green Lake resulted in finding multiple items from Borgwardt spread throughout the area: His kayak was capsized and a fishing pole was sunk in the lake; his truck and boat trailer were found parked at Dodge Memorial Park. Days later, a tackle box with his keys and license were found.
Borgwardt had faked his own death over 鈥減ersonal matters,鈥 Podoll said, and the $375,000 life insurance policy he had taken out was for his family.
Borgwardt had chosen Green Lake to stage his death after researching the deepest lake in Wisconsin, Podoll said. On the day of his disappearance, Borgwardt had hidden an e-bike near the boat launch before taking a child-size inflatable boat to drag his kayak into the middle of the lake, overturning it and dropping his phone in the water. After paddling back to shore, Borgwardt then rode his e-bike through the night to Madison, where he boarded a bus to Detroit and then to Canada, where he boarded a plane.
What Borgwardt hadn鈥檛 counted on, Podoll said, was the extensive search for him undertaken by the Green Lake 69传媒 Sheriff鈥檚 Department and a monthlong scan of Green Lake by Bruce鈥檚 Legacy, a nonprofit organization that helps find people in drowning or other water incidents. Borgwardt had thought authorities wouldn鈥檛 have spent more than two weeks looking for him.
鈥淲ell, I hate to tell you, he picked the wrong sheriff from the wrong department,鈥 Podoll said. 鈥淗e did research ... and he thought his plan was going to pan out, but it didn鈥檛 go the way he had planned. And so now we鈥檙e trying to give him a different plan, to come back home.鈥
While Podoll said he couldn鈥檛 speak to any federal charges Borgwardt may face upon returning home, he would be met with a state charge of obstructing justice and an expectation to pay somewhere between $35,000 and $40,000 in restitution toward the department for costs incurred, including $7,000 in equipment fees. That doesn鈥檛 include the costs incurred by Bruce鈥檚 Legacy.
Labor accounted for the bulk of the search costs, the county paying out between $28,000 and $33,000 for the 832 total hours of work put into finding Borgwardt, Chief Deputy Matt Van de Kolk said Thursday. An additional $7,000 or so went toward material costs like fuel and equipment. Bruce鈥檚 Legacy volunteers spent a total of 23 days on the water, according to nonprofit founder Keith Cormican, and some of their travel costs were covered by the county.
