A married man and father of three went on a kayaking trip on August 12th and never returned.
On August 12th, Ryan Borgwardt, 45, of Watertown, Wisconsin, went kayaking on Green Lake, informing his wife he was heading to the shore.
A day passed without Ryan returning from his solo trip, and his family reported his absence to the sheriff’s department. When deputies arrived at Green Lake, they found his vehicle and trailer parked near a boat launch. His overturned kayak, with the life jacket attached, was found floating in the lake.
The kayak was located in an area where the water is over 60 meters deep, and Ryan’s fishing rod was also found nearby. The search for his body continued for 54 days, as he was presumed dead.
The sheriff’s department enlisted Bruce’s Legacy, a non-profit organization specializing in recovering drowning victims, to assist in the search using sonar technology. During the search, they recovered his fishing rod, keys, and wallet.
In early October, Mark A. Podoll, the Green Lake County sheriff’s department learned that Canadian authorities had run Borgwardt’s name through their databases the day after he was reported missing, though the release did not clarify why.
Further investigation revealed that Borgwardt had reported his passport lost or stolen and obtained a replacement in May, though his family found the original passport at home, indicating it had never been lost.
A forensic analysis of his laptop, approved by his wife, confirmed Borgwardt had planned to go to Europe. He had moved money to a foreign bank account, purchased airline gift cards, and had been in communication with a woman in Uzbekistan. Additionally, he took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January. To cover his tracks, he removed his hard drive, deleted his browser history, and changed his email address, according to the Mark A. Podoll, the Green Lake County sheriff.
Two months before his disappearance, Borgwardt appeared in a TikTok video on June 4th on the @authenticalpha page, which posts street interviews. In the video, a woman holding a board that reads “Ask Me for Free Advice” engages with Borgwardt, who appears on a bicycle and asks her if he should move to Uzbekistan or stay. He confirms he wants to go there to meet a woman. The video has recently gone viral as news about him spreads.
“At this time, we believe that Ryan is alive and likely in Eastern Europe,” Podoll said in a news release.
He added that the agency would continue working with federal and international law enforcement to determine if Borgwardt committed any crimes or had any accomplices. The sheriff also plans to seek restitution for the search expenses.
Podoll did not immediately respond to a request for further details. Attempts to contact Borgwardt’s family by phone were also unsuccessful.
Keith Cormican, who runs Bruce’s Legacy in memory of his brother Bruce, a firefighter who drowned during a rescue in 1995, called the search “disheartening.” He noted that the time spent searching for Borgwardt could have been used to help other families.
“You meet all kinds in the world, and I guess this guy went to extremes faking his disappearance, so it’s a first,” Cormican said.
“He definitely cost us a lot of grief, money, and equipment repairs. I just hope he comes forward sooner rather than later so the family can move on.”
